Copyright © 2021 Tiwahe Foundation
332 Minnesota St., Suite W1520, Saint Paul, MN 55101
612-722-0999
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Spotlight on John Hunter, founder of Twin Cities Native Lacrosse, who started the first lacrosse organization for Indigenous people in the Minneapolis area.
Maggie Lorenz knows how important the Tiwahe Foundation is as both a giver and receiver. Maggie, executive director of the Lower Phalen Creek Project, a Native-led environmental nonprofit in St. Paul, has been a multiple grant recipient and a donor the past five years.
“The Tiwahe Foundation has given to me a lot personally and this concept only works if our community makes it work and puts money back in,” says Maggie, who contributes to the organization monthly. “For me, $17 a month isn’t a lot of money when it’s put together in a pool – it helps give people in our community money when they need that support.”
Maggie, who is Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and Spirit Lake Dakota, has also experienced that support as well. She received her first Tiwahe grant as a senior trying to finish college. A few years later, she applied for a culture grant to help her and family purchase a thípi which was used for daughter’s and nieces’ coming of age ceremony, išnáthi.
“Ultimately, that was a great gift from the Tiwahe Foundation to allow my family to have that,” Maggie recalled, remembering the importance of those ceremonies in the transition to womanhood for the Dakota.
Recently, she was awarded the Oyate Network Community Project Grant to produce a play that will accompany the opening of the Wakáŋ Tipi Center, a 9,000-square-foot environmental and cultural center along the Mississippi River. The Wakáŋ Tipi, which means Dwelling Place of the Sacred in Dakota, is a cave where the Dakota believe sacred beings dwell. The petroglyphs in the cave honored these spirits but are now gone after explorers discovered the area.
Maggie is working with the New Native Theater organization on the play that will be in the Dakota language and will debut when Wakáŋ Tipi Center opens in spring 2023. Maggie was eligible for Tiwahe’s Oyate grant after participating in the Oyate Network program, which focuses on collaboration and American Indian leadership across Minnesota in urban, tribal and rural communities to move projects from isolation to transformation to action and social change.
“The grants that the Tiwahe Foundation offer to community members give us the flexible support that we need to not only get projects going that are important for the community but are just as important for individuals as these also support our own cultural vibrancy,” she said. “We would have a much less vibrancy if we didn’t have Tiwahe.”
Reciprocal giving and communal generosity are what drew the Lino Lakes business owner to Tiwahe more than a decade ago after being recruited by the organization’s leadership.
In August 2020, Tiwahe Foundation’s board of directors met for a full day retreat (via Zoom) to update our strategic plan and take other steps to strengthen our governance, ensure our sustainability, and reinforce how we are living our values in our day-to-day work. Our new strategic plan, which is still a work-in-progress that will be finalized with our next Executive Director in early 2021, emphasizes continuing and expanding the American Indian Family Empowerment Program and re-envisioning the Oyate Leadership Network.
We appreciate the wisdom and insights from our grantees, partners, donors, elders, and other community members who have given us feedback, amplified and refined our stories, and helped us to understand and meet the community’s evolving needs and desires. We also appreciate your patience as we have gone through several changes over the past few years. We are so excited and hopeful for the future. We are grateful to have the opportunity to continue work for and with this community.
And, finally, we are very excited to announce that Tiwahe Foundation’s American Indian Family Empowerment Program endowment has finally reached our goal of $6 million, which will allow us to continue making grants to our relatives long into the future!
The Tiwahe Foundation Board of Directors extends our congratulations to the 21 American Indian Family Empowerment Program grantees and 1 Oyate Leadership Network grantee from our Fall 2020 grant making cycle.
In addition to the grants that were awarded, Tiwahe Foundation also gave $400 gifts to the remaining 64 AIFEP/COVID relief grant applicants who were not awarded a grant, in recognition of the significant need our relatives are facing due to the COVID pandemic. Thanks to the generous grant we received from the Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund, we were able to increase the number and amount of AIFEP grants given to the Twin Cities American Indian community this year. However, we recognize there is still significant need as well as many great ideas, plans, and strengths to build upon within our community, and Tiwahe Foundation will continue to support and honor our relatives through ongoing grantmaking and programs. Please join us in congratulating all of the grantees! WE CELEBRATE YOU!
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Tiwahe Foundation received a grant from the MN Disaster Recovery Fund that allows us to provide funding to the Twin Cities American Indian community to meet critical needs in response to the COVID crisis. With this additional funding, we will double our grantmaking in the Twin Cities American Indian community in 2020. This includes funding grants in our ongoing focus areas (education, economic self-sufficiency, culture, and health and wellness) and also addressing COVID-related basic needs of our community such as food, housing, caregiving costs, etc. For a short time, we are increasing the maximum AIFEP grant amount to $5,000 (it’s usually $2,500). American Indian who live in the Twin Cities (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties) are encouraged to apply.
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The Oyate Network Alumni are also invited to apply for grants up to $5,000 to address needs in their American Indian community. Only individuals who participated in a Oyate Network Cohort Training are eligible to apply. Alumni must have a 501c3 nonprofit organization identified as a fiscal sponsor in order to receive the grant.
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Congratulations to those that were awarded the Summer 2020 AIFEP grant! We were able to award 10 grantee’s this summer! Please join us in congratulating them! There will be an honoring held for these individuals on November 12th via Zoom 5-7pm!
Oscar Curtis
Annastacia Cardon
Elizabeth Ruiz
Mary Lyons
Deanna StandingCloud
Lonna Hunter
Darren Thompson
Tara Perron
Callie Stubbins
Nancy Swanson
The Tiwahe Foundation announced today that Shirley Sneve, President and CEO, is leaving the organization effective July 24, 2020. The Foundation wishes Shirley the best of luck in the future.
Despite the significant turnover in staffing our organization has experienced in the past three years, Tiwahe Foundation finances are strong. We continue to grow our endowment and build partnerships with funders and individual donors who share our mission and values. The board’s intent is to refine our business practices and policies as needed to ensure a healthy workplace and retention of valuable and effective employees going forward. We appreciate and honor the ongoing support and generosity of our funders, donors, and partners as well as your patience and continued support during this transition.
The Tiwahe Foundation board of directors is taking this opportunity to refresh our vision and strategic priorities. We have always espoused the core values of family, respect, trust, generosity, circle of giving, and Indigenous worldview. We will continue to strengthen our practices, programs, and partnerships to ensure we live these values in all of our work and interactions. In short, we’re going to decolonize our Foundation.Tiwahe Foundation remains committed to racial equity and social justice. Especially during these current times of racial strife, pandemic, and social unrest – when our community needs us most – Tiwahe Foundation continues to work with and for our American Indian relatives.In the coming months, Tiwahe Foundation will be conducting a search for a new President and CEO and other new staff. During this transition period, it will be our priority to find the best qualified individuals to lead and staff the Foundation, while continuing our day to day operations under the interim leadership of Joy Persall and Roger Meyer. Questions during the Foundation’s transition process should be directed to Joy at [email protected] or 612.722.0999.Joy will be serving as the Interim Executive Director, working with the Board and staff on the day-to- day operations of Tiwahe and Roger will be providing general transition support to the Board of Directors and Joy, as well as supporting the Search.Joy brings a wealth of experience working with organizations locally and nationally. Having served as Headwaters Foundation of Justice Associate Director, and Executive Director of Native Americans in Philanthropy and Dream of Wild Health, Joy supports Native American, Indigenous and People of Color in transition and developing community-based leadership. Roger brings over 20 years of working with organizations in transition and experience working in the Twin Cities urban American Indian community, having been Interim Executive Director of the Tiwahe Foundation, St. Paul’s American Indian Family Center and Minneapolis’ Division of Indian Work.
Joy Persall, Ojibwe Metis’ serves as a Leadership Coach, Facilitator, and Strategic Organizational Consultant. Joy has 30 years of experience leading nonprofit, philanthropic and community organizations, guiding transitions and developing leaders. Persall supports leadership and organizations through coaching, team building and strategic facilitation for systemic change. Joy is a Bush Leadership Fellowship Alum. M.A. in Organization Development & Management and CEBC Coaching Certification, is a World Institute for Action Learning Senior Coach, certified in Leadership Circle Profile and Organizational Culture, and the Intercultural Development Inventory. Joy’s leadership experience includes Associate Director of Headwaters Foundation for Justifce, Executive Directors of Native Americans in Philanthropy and Co-Director of Dream of Wild Health.Joy is committed to community, family, working for equity, justice, and caring for Mother Earth. Primarily, Joy is a gardener of people, teams, and organizations, developing their ability to grow, learn and create new solutions in a grounded atmosphere of human dignity and deep respect.
Copyright © 2021 Tiwahe Foundation
332 Minnesota St., Suite W1520, Saint Paul, MN 55101
612-722-0999
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