The Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) named Chelysa Owens-Cyr (Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux, Pasqua First Nations Plains Cree and Saulteaux) as its 2022 Creative Native Grand Prize Winner. The Creative Native is an annual Call for Art event within CNAY’s Generation Indigenous program.
Lionel R. Bordeaux, Wakinyan Wanbli, (Thundering Eagle), age 82, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Nation in South Dakota and the President of Sinte Gleska University, departed for the Spirit World on November 16. This is a tremendous loss for his family, Sinte Gleska University, the Rosebud Lakota Nation, and Indian Country. For all who knew him, he was a grounding force in stormy times; a paragon of goodwill, solidarity, and wisdom; and the heart and soul of the Tribal College Movement, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the American Indian College Fund, to which he was fiercely devoted.
In the first column in a series on Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), the Center for American Progress partnered with the American Indian College Fund to examine how expanded funding for Tribal colleges and universities would help protect highly endangered languages, address systemic poverty, ensure Native students have access to a wide range of careers, and upgrade school infrastructure to assure safe classrooms and housing for students.
As part of the American Indian College Fund’s Native American Heritage Month activities, president and CEO, Cheryl Crazy Bull, will lead a discussion of the book A Calm and Normal Heart with the author, Chelsea T. Hicks (Osage/Wazhazhe heritage).
In keeping with its mission to positively impact the lives of American Indians by supporting their higher education and career goals and to support Native-led research, the American Indian College Fund launched a post-baccalaureate fellowship program within its Research and Evaluation Department to explore the impact of its programming, research, and work enhancing the capacities of tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Taylor Lucero (Laguna Pueblo) was selected to serve as the College Fund’s first Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in the program.
Cheryl Crazy Bull, CEO and President of the American Indian College Fund shares how important tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) are and how critical it is for mainstream institutions to have support readily available for Native students.
A guest post from Heidi K. Brandow (Diné, Kanaka Maoli), Communications Manager at First Peoples Fund. As the fall season conjures memories of vivid colors, pumpkin-spiced lattes, and celebrations such as Halloween, we ask the public to refrain from participating in racist and inaccurate portrayals of Indigenous people through “Native American” themed costumes. These practices in no way honor Indigenous people but rather reinforce false narratives and dehumanize Indigenous people into caricatures.
On November 9, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments of Haaland v. Brackeen, the case concerning the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The stakes are high. The Supreme Court’s decision will ultimately determine whether the 44-year-old law that ensures Native children have the legal right to remain connected to their familial network, culture, and community will remain intact.
