Deadline: 19-Aug-21
Applications are now open for the Native Youth and Culture Fund Grant Opportunity 2021 to strengthen American Indian economies to support healthy Native communities by investing in and creating innovative institutions and models that strengthen asset control and support economic development for American Indian people and their communities.
First Nations began investing in Native youth by launching the Native Youth and Culture Fund (NYCF) in 2002 to partner with tribes, Native nonprofit organizations and Native community groups working in rural and reservation-based communities and seeking ways to preserve, strengthen and/or renew Native cultures and traditions among youth.
First Nations believes that Native youth represent the future of Native communities, and that their health and well-being determine the future health and well-being of a community overall. By investing in youth and giving them a sense of place and tradition in the community, a community ensures that it will have bright and capable future leaders.
Priority Areas
Specifically, they are seeking programs that focus on one or more of these four priority areas:
- Preserving, strengthening or renewing cultural and/or spiritual practices, beliefs and values.
- Engaging both youth and elders in activities that demonstrate methods for documenting traditional ecological knowledge systems, practices and/or beliefs.
- Increasing youth leadership and their capacity to lead through integrated educational or mentoring programs.
- Increasing access to and sharing of cultural customs and beliefs through the use of appropriate technologies (traditional and/or modern), as a means of reviving or preserving tribal language, arts, history or other culturally relevant topics.
Funding Information
- First Nations expects to award approximately 30 grants of between $5,000 and $25,000 for one year of general operating funding.
Eligibility Criteria
- All entities that apply must be located in the United States or U.S. Territories and must be Native-controlled nonprofit organizations or Native-controlled community organizations. First Nations considers “Native-controlled” to mean that the majority (more than 50%) of the organization’s Board of Directors is tribally affiliated.
- Native community organizations may submit applications through a sponsoring organization if the sponsor has 501(c)(3) status, and can provide written authorization confirming its willingness to act as the fiscal sponsor. Urban groups that serve only off-reservation tribal members are unlikely to be funded, as this program is primarily for rural and reservation-based communities.
- Examples of eligible applicants include, but are not limited to:
- Federal- and State-Recognized Tribal Governments.
- Native-Controlled 501(c)(3) Nonprofits.
- Native-Controlled Community Organizations with fiscal sponsorship.
- Native 7871 Organizations.
- Grants under this project will not be made to public schools.
For more information, visit https://www.firstnations.org/rfps/native-youth-and-culture-fund-grant-opportunity/