Leadership Programs
Native Place-Based Leadership
Indigenous Visionaries
By connecting Native women students at TCUs with faculty within their academic disciplines, and providing support for strong mentoring relationships, the College Fund is helping to develop the next generation of Native leadership in early childhood education, environmental science, and traditional Native arts.
Leadership Initiatives
Embrey American Indian Women’s Leadership Project
In March 2010 the American Indian College Fund (the Fund) received a grant from the Embrey Family Foundation to initiate a women’s leadership program. The Embrey American Indian Women’s Leadership Project was a four-year leadership program for 20 American Indian women attending tribal colleges who have a high potential for future leadership and the desire to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Through individual and group training sessions and projects, this program is designed to develop participant’s leadership skills to create the next generation of Native female leaders. To provide the resources and foundation needed to help ensure success, participants receive annual scholarships to obtain a bachelor’s degree and annual funds to initiate leadership projects.
Six tribal colleges were identified to participate in the program. The program is limited to select group of tribal colleges in order to support the development of student cohorts at each school. The colleges were selected based on their legacy of strong female leadership, and diversity of geographic regions and degree offerings. Colleges selected include: Cankdeska Cikana Community College (N.D.);College of Menominee Nation (WI); Aaniiih Nakoda College (MT);Northwest Indian College (WA); Sitting Bull College (N.D.); and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (NM).
In 2014, The College Fund developed a more “place-based” model to the Native Women’s leadership program by designing the “Place-Based Leadership and Community Organizing” program. The vision remains the same, to “train and develop the next generation of Native women leaders, with more of a localized approach and mentoring philosophy.” Five of the six original cohorts are continuing their participation and the new TCU to the cohort led by strong female leadership is Diné College (AZ).
Indigenous Visionaries
Our Programs
Early Childhood Education
Native Culture and Language Preservation
Environmental Stewardship
Indigenous Visionaries
Infrastructure
Infrastructure involves design, implementation, and sustainability of systems and structures. We support tribal colleges and universities expanding their education offerings for students in this area, with opportunities to create well-designed learning spaces with the appropriate equipment, and to sustain or expand infrastructure.
Student and Institutional Success
Leadership Programs Blogs
Sharing of a Culture – A Collaborative Joining of Resources
LouAnne Hoskinson (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe) Tribal College and University: Salish Kootenai College...
Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College Earth Week: It’s a Small World
Emily Lockling (Fond du Lac and Leech Lake) Tribal College and University: Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College ...
From Surviving to Thriving: Sisseton Wahpeton College Fellows
LaVerne Whitebear (Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux) Tribal College and University: Sisseton Wahpeton College Degree Major:...
The Voices of Indigenous Visionaries: Highlights of the 2019-2020 Grant Year
The Indigenous Visionaries program has worked with three Tribal Colleges and Universities for three years (2017 –...