Our Program Areas
Youth and Community Leadership
Leadership Drives Change. The Wind River Indian Reservation is home to highly motivated and effective civic and cultural leaders. The Wind River Foundation seeks to support their work to move past immediate remedy and toward long-term planning and growth capacity. It will be through the endeavors of these indigenous leaders that communities on the Wind River Indian Reservation achieve self-determined cultural revitalization, social progress, and economic prosperity. Empowering indigenous community leaders and future leaders inspires and motivates entire sectors of the community toward visionary, positive change and development.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS PROGRAM
Our Community Partners Program is our core offering, and sits at the center of all of the Foundation’s work. The Partners Program supports tribal community leaders and their organizations in realizing the visions and goals they have for their communities.
The Community Partners Program offers dynamic support to tribal community leaders and their organizations. The Foundation does not seek to shape programmatic offerings. Rather, we aim to provide culturally attuned connections to philanthropic resources, platforms and tools that will empower tribally-led programs, native-led organizations and individual tribal community leaders to deliver on their core missions. Our support is customized and dependent upon a partnership of mutual design. It is not “top-down,” or modeled on sponsorship. Together, we develop a mutual strategy of holistic support within three areas:
Peer support, mentoring and training
Philanthropic resources
Partnerships and collaborations
Peer Support, Mentoring and Training
Typically, peer support and mentoring are long-term and relational in content. We respond to the specific programmatic needs of the partner, seeking to collaboratively and creatively meet challenges. Training or coaching is typically a short-term offering and content is industry specific, such that it might include board training, strategic planning or financial management. Often, content specific trainings are available through existing structures. Where appropriate, the Foundation will work to identify and facilitate appropriate peer, mentor and training supports from the wider field.
Philanthropic Resources
The Foundation works to connect community partners to nonprofit and philanthropic resources with similar missions or objectives. Our goal is to serve as a centralized nonprofit resource for tribal community leaders and their programs on the Wind River Reservation.
Partnerships and Collaborations
The Foundation may engage in formal partnerships or collaborations where there is a compelling reason to have a nonprofit sector partner-- for example, to serve as a fiscal or administrative partner for specific projects or programs. We may host and convene tribal community leaders to facilitate collaboration and support. In addition, the Foundation may provide administrative, research, or other forms of support to facilitate tribal community leaders achieving their goals.
Cultural Revitalization
Indigenous Cultures are the Solution. Both the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho are the inheritors of strong and distinct cultural traditions, languages, values and ways of life. Indigenous societies have endured many losses and violations; the loss of their historical and cultural homelands, violative attempts to eradicate their unique cultures, languages, social, economic, family, and leadership structures. In adjacent society dominated by non-indigenous culture, indigenous people endure racial hostility, insensitivity, and lack of cultural awareness. As a result, indigenous communities face the internal challenges of complex multi-generational trauma. Cultural reclamation and revitalization heal, transform and redefine what a community envisions as possible for itself, laying the groundwork for long-term transformational progress. This is an essential precursor to authentic social and economic prosperity.
Connections, Knowledge and Experience
Empowering Action. Indigenous community leaders and future leaders will benefit by leveraging the shared knowledge and experience of the wider network of both indigenous- and non-indigenous-led philanthropic organizations that share similar missions and objectives. Providing connections to networks of practice, knowledge and experience empowers indigenous community leaders and future leaders with tools and resources. Similarly, non-indigenous communities will be awakened and empowered through increased cultural awareness, education and opportunities to develop respectful, authentic relationships with indigenous societies and cultures.
OUR TOOLKIT:
Inspire Create and support opportunities for indigenous youth and community leaders to pursue their goals
Empower Indigenous youth and community leaders to make meaningful impacts in their communities
Connect Wind River Indian Reservation programs with local, regional or national nonprofits and nonprofit resources
Support Wind River Indian Reservation programs to achieve long-term success
Fund Serve as a fiscally responsible grant making entity
INDIGENOUS CULTURAL CONNECTIONS PROGRAM
Wind River Foundation’s Indigenous Cultural Connections Program produces events, media, partnerships and projects that bring cultural awareness, education and authentic indigenous presence to the greater Jackson Hole community.
VISION
Though a relatively young community, Jackson Hole has a history deeply entwined with that of the indigenous communities on the Wind River Reservation and elsewhere. We aim to awaken this history and facilitate the greater Jackson Hole community’s commitment to authentic and meaningful engagement with the indigenous communities connected to this land.
We envision the greater Jackson Hole community as an innovative and forward-thinking partner to indigenous leaders who are spearheading the transformation of cultural relationships here and around the world.
Indigenous peoples’ reclaiming their narratives is a major social and cultural undertaking with broad-based social support; a rising tide. Jackson Hole has already led the way in stewardship of magnificent natural riches; now, together with our indigenous partners, the greater Jackson Hole community has the opportunity to become a national and international leader in this cultural arena as well.
GOALS
We envision a multi-pronged program of engagement and collaboration:
A. Enrich the greater Jackson Hole community with cultural awareness, education and authentic indigenous experiences
B. Empower and amplify the voices of local, national and international indigenous cultural and thought leaders
C. Honor the mutuality of our relationships and cultivate an authentic sense of place
D. Foster engagement that benefits local indigenous communities and elevates the dignity of discourse for all indigenous societies
TOOLS
1. Events Cultural events to celebrate, educate and raise awareness of contemporary indigenous presence that will enhance the greater Jackson Hole community’s seasonal offerings for locals and visitors alike
2. Media Publications and other media to inform the greater Jackson Hole community of locally-connected indigenous communities, their contemporary presence and histories, and how our timelines intertwine
3. Partnerships Mutually beneficial collaborations with entities in the greater Jackson Hole community that serve the mission of the Wind River Foundation
4. Projects Specific endeavors in the greater Jackson Hole community that serve the mission and vision of the Wind River Foundation.
Northern Indigenous Arts and Cultures Festival
May 28th-May 31st, 2020 in Jackson, Wyoming