ThreeHoops.com

ThreeHoops note: Funding Direct (NonNative Foundation to NA Nonprofit) Benefits Direct & Indirect

The grant is one of several totaling $440,000 from the Native American Outreach Program, announced Tuesday by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. The program's goal is to develop and deliver outreach activities that will inform American Indian farmers and ranchers about USDA programs. more

ThreeHoops note: Funding Direct (Federal funding to NA Nonprofit) Benefit Direct & Indirect

ARCATA - The Curriculum Resource Center operated by Humboldt State University's Indian Teacher and Educational Personnel Programs recently received several grants and donations that will be used to improve Indian education in K-12 public schools, tribal communities and HSU programs. The Humboldt Area Foundation notified the Indian Teacher and Educational

Personnel Programs of a $5,000 award from its Vera P. Vietor Trust and Marian Coffman Larson Fund to purchase student desktop publishing equipment for the Curriculum Resource Center. Also, several grants will support the second annual Native Children's Authors Festival planned for March 5-6, 2004. A $4,000 grant from the Humboldt Area Foundation's Native Cultures Fund and donations from the Hoopa Valley Tribe, Smith River Rancheria and United Indian Health Services Inc. at Potawot Health Village will go toward the festival. Carolyn Dunn, Joy Harjo, Shaunna McCovey, and Cynthia Leitich Smith are among the native authors who will participate in a variety of activities, including visits to public schools on the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Reservations and a public gathering at Potawot. more

ThreeHoops note: HSU Program: Funding Indirect (NonNative Foundation to NonNative University) Benefits Direct & Indirect

Native Children's Authors Festival: Funding DIRECT (Tribal Nations, NA Nonprofits & NonNative Foundation to NA Festival) Benefits Direct

JACKSON, Miss. - A get-tough program to reduce alarming incidences of family

this month for programs ranging from home loan initiatives to peacemaking groups. more

ThreeHoops note: Tribal Program: Funding Direct (Federal funding with Tribe's own matching contributions) Harvard Award: $10,000 to Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians for replication efforts with other Tribal Nations.

Aetna Announces 2003 Regional Grants; Focused on Health Care Disparities
HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 25, 2003--Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced the recipients of nearly $2.5 million in funding through the Aetna Foundation's regional grants program. Focused primarily on addressing disparities in health and disease prevention, the grants will support 102 initiatives across the country. Founded as Aetna's independent charitable and philanthropic arm more than three decades ago, the Foundation has provided over $260 million in community-based support since 1980. "Aetna has a special interest in addressing health concerns in communities across the country," said John W. Rowe, M.D., Aetna's chairman and CEO. "We are especially interested in reducing the gap in health care among racial and ethnic populations, and anticipate devoting significant funding to support various regional and national disparities in health initiatives and cultural competency this year. The $2.5 million in grants announced today, directed at local organizations, are part of a coordinated, multidimensional approach that includes research, education, data collection and support of a variety of initiatives regarding racial and cultural diversity." more

ThreeHoops note: Aetna Foundation reprentative Kelly Miller states,"Aetna Foundation has no focus area, nor interest in developing a grantmaking focus for Native American communities or issues. Our minority population grantmaking focus is African American and Latino communities, with some grantmaking to Asian/Pacific Islander's." "We have no interest in increasing outreach, or expanding our interest in Native American communities." concluded Miller in a Dec 09 03 phone call to ThreeHoops. When contacted for verification/clarification of their policies, Aetna's Office of Diversity did not respond.

. . . According to the latest Department of Health statistics, black, American Indian and Hispanic people in Minnesota were up to four times less likely than whites to be insured. more

Emerging Leaders Class of 2004. The program was established to attract the best and brightest Bachelor and Masters level graduates. The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is a two-year challenging, career development program for individuals seeking an opportunity of a lifetime within the Federal Government. The program includes:

Eligible candidates enter the Emerging Leaders Program at the GS-9 grade
level with promotion potential to the GS-12 grade level. For application
procedures, join us at one of the many career fairs throughout the country.
Please be advised, to apply to the Emerging Leaders Program, candidates must
attend a career fair. A career fair will be held in Washington D.C. on February 12, 2004 at the Humphrey Building. more

Haithcock, chief of the Catawba tribe of Carr's Run, received a letter this month recognizing his tribe and its culture. The letter was from the Ohio Senate and signed by Sen. John Carey, R-Wellston, among others...

"I'm very thankful to the Ohio General Assembly and Ohio Senate for acting as the commission to recognize us in the state of Ohio," he said. Carey, however, said the resolution was not a legally binding document. "It was basically just honoring a constituent request and honoring their heritage," he said. He said the resolution does not formally recognize the tribe because legal standing could lead to the possibility of gambling. Haithcock said he was disappointed

when he received the second letter from Taft, especially since he is not interested in being federally recognized. "We're not interested in gaming, casinos, slot machines or anything like that," he said. Instead, he said, recognition opens doors for grants and tuition breaks at certain universities.

"ALL states in the United States have American Indian and/or Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations."

". . .glaring disparities that revealing the health challenges facing tribal communities. For example, Indian alcoholism death rates are 770 percent higher than in the rest of the nation, diabetes death rates 420 percent higher, accidents 280 percent higher, suicides 190 percent higher and homicides more than 200 percent higher, Grim said. Tribal leaders have voiced concerns this week that federal officials seem to have a grasp on the problems but have failed to provide resources for improvements. They pointed at underfunding for the Indian Health Service.

Providing 3,000 turkeys to 37 local charities, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians will make its largest turkey donation in history, accounting for 15,000 Thanksgiving meals for families primarily in the Riverside area. Started in the 80's, the distribution of Thanksgiving meals is the Morongo tribe's way of continuing the tradition that started 380 years ago when the Indians helped hungry settlers off the coast of Massachusetts. This significant donation takes place only two weeks after the Morongo tribe made a $1 million-dollar donation to the Riverside Chapter of the American Red Cross and provided more than 6,000 early Thanksgiving meals for local families displaced by the Southern California fires. more info direct from Morongo Band of Mission Indians

ThreeHoops note: Funding Direct (Tribal Nation to NonNative Nonprofits/neighboring Tribal Nation members)

and Monumental Venture Partners, LLC, today announced the official launch of Native American Capital, LP (NAC), a social venture capital fund that will make equity investments in promising new and developing high growth businesses in Native American and Alaska Native communities.

"NAC is the first venture capital fund specifically targeting all Native American communities," says Walter Hillabrant, president, Support Services International, Inc., a founding general partner, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma. "Unemployment and poverty are widespread in Indian Country," Hillabrant adds. "Venture capital can provide the critical link to economic development and job creation."

Roland Oliver, chairman and president, Monumental Venture Partners, LLC, and a founding general partner, notes, "We have an opportunity to create wealth for investors - including Native American tribes - and to do good." ...

NAC will seek business development opportunities in several sectors "of compelling interest to Indian Country," reports Hillabrant. These include basic infrastructure industries (information technology, communications, housing technologies, alternative energy technologies and services), health care goods and services, rural environmental-based businesses, education (distance learning and teaching content), basic commerce and retailing (native arts and

crafts, organic farming, recreation), and tourism...NAC general partners anticipate raising $25 million for the first limited partnership fund - NAC, LP, Fund. NAC will take direct equity positions in businesses it supports, but does not anticipate taking controlling positions.

It will provide technical assistance to its investment portfolio...In addition to its own direct equity investments, NAC plans to partner with tribally-operated funds through "fund to fund" investments. It expects to make its first such investment in the Pathfinder Fund, a Northwest Regional American Indian Venture Fund formed by Patrick Borunda, managing principal, The Navigator Group. Borunda is of Tarahumara-Mescalero descent...

For additional information about Native American Capital, LP, call (301) 587-9003 or visit the web site at www.nativeamericancapital.com

Compiled from reports by staff writer Walter Pincus, the Associated Press and Reuters, Washington Post.com, DC

American Indians are more likely than any other minority group to face discrimination when trying to rent homes, a government-sponsored study concluded. American Indian renters were discriminated against about 29 percent of the time last year, according to the study conducted for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank. Data previously released by HUD had

MOUNDVILLE - Every fall, Moundville Archaeological Park's Native American Festival educates and entertains more than 17,000 people with art, history and portrayals of American Indian culture...park officials are eliminating programs and reducing staff in the face of cutbacks in state spending, especially in the education budget. Even the Native American Festival could be in danger. An appropriation from the state-funded Alabama Indian Resource Center provides

the principal chunk of Moundville's operating budget and covers the cost of holding the annual fall festival, its biggest money-making event. Three years ago, the park got $100,000 from the center, but that was cut to $59,000, then to one-quarter of that this year. The money will be gone next year...more

ThreeHoops note: Funding Indirect (State to NonNative University) Funding & Benefits Cut

APPLETON - The Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region's Board of Directors approved grants totaling $1 million during the quarter ending Sept. 30. Grants support a variety of nonprofit projects and programs in the arts and culture, community development, education, health, human services and the environment. Donor advised funds, which allow donors to recommend recipients, made grants to 107 nonprofit organizations totaling $173,900. Grants from designated funds, which benefit specific agencies or projects, totaled $720,154 and benefited 93 agencies. Field of interest and Opportunity Fund grants are awarded through a competitive grants process. Field of interest funds, which benefit a specific area, made $55,160 in grants to seven nonprofit organizations. The Opportunity Fund, which uses the expertise of the foundation's staff and volunteer Grants Committee to meet community needs, distributed $51,250 to 14 nonprofit organizations...Appleton Art Center: An exhibit titled "The Native American Experience" included a Native American Festival featuring musicians, dancers, storytellers and entertainers. A $2,000 Opportunity Fund grant supported the Oct. 4 community festival.

ThreeHoops note: Funding Indirect (NonNative Community Foundation to NonNative Community Arts Center) Benefit Indirect.

Example: $2000 "Native American" grant is nearly 4% of total giving from the "Opportunity Fund"

of the Community Foundation, although $2000 represents only 1/20th of 1% of this Community Foundation's annual grantmaking, per this article. Native American people represent 1.4% of the total Wisconsin population, however many WI counties have Native American populations ranging from 1.5 to 24.9%, and some counties have 95.1% Native American population.

Bill key to open doors: Legislation makes housing easier on reservations
by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today, SD
WASHINGTON - Legislation that would bring housing opportunities closer to reality at affordable rates for American Indians on reservations was introduced in Congress. The legislation introduced by Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. may not see light of day before next year's session, but it appears to have no visible opposition and a bi-partisan effort could determine passage. The bill amends the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act of 1996 in a number of areas that will be more beneficial to Indian country... Grant funds from HUD could be retained over successive grant years allowing tribes for better latitude for planning. It will amend the Civil Rights Act to clear tribes to qualify for USDA funding without violating the Civil Rights Act and it will place the tribes and housing authorities and other designated entities to qualify for Youthbuild grants. "I've been listening to tribal housing authorities in South Dakota and across the nation and noticed that there are a myriad of modest legislative changes that could make a big difference in the tremendous goal in

getting tribal people appropriately housed," Sen. Johnson said. With a poverty rate twice that of the rest of the country, housing conditions in Indian country are substandard on most reservations with overcrowding, lack of good water,

housing authorities more flexibility in their ability to manage their housing needs

burden of serving extremely low income families but allowing for supplemental subsidy to support their efforts; it has been narrowly defined in a way that doesn't allow for the same flexibility as we see in public housing," said Russell "Rusty" Sossaman, chairman of the National American Indian Housing Council. "This amendment would prevent those situations." The Native American Housing Enhancement Act of 2003 provides that Indian tribes are to be given Indian preference for housing programs so that funds can be leveraged with other federal or privates funds... Sen. Johnson said Indian preference in this case has nothing to do with civil rights, but is a relationship between the USDA and other agencies on a government to government basis... The establishment of reserve accounts allowed for in the amendment will afford tribes a manageable fund resource in times when funding is either slow or non-existent. "By allowing the establishment of reserve accounts is simply just good business practice. Tribes like all businesses need to be prepared for contingencies when funds stop flowing in," Sossaman said...more

ThreeHoops note: Funding Direct (Legislator introduces beneficial legislation for Tribal Housing efforts)

(AP) -- The University of North Dakota Center for Rural Health is studying chronic disease among American Indian elders across the country.
The study's leader researcher -- Patricia Moulton -- says the study includes

*MORE ways to help tribal members hurt by the CA Wildfires see Nov 4 03 listing.
by: Mark Fogarty / Today Correspondent, Indian Country Today
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The tribal co-operative that self-insures Indian housing

wildfires in California. Amerind Risk Management Corp. has donated $100,000 to start the Amerind Family Emergency Fund and is appealing to Indian country for

and that of 132 homes destroyed on five Southern California reservations or rancherias, the great majority were uninsured. Just 10 homes are definitely covered by Amerind's risk pool, according to chief executive Kent Paul, with another 20 possibly covered. According to a tally by Amerind, homes were destroyed at Rincon (20), San Pasqual (67), Barona (40), Inaja (3) and San Manuel (2). The money will be given to displaced families for clothing, bedding and other personal needs. Amerind is appealing to its more than 200 members (serving more than 400 tribes) for donations of at least $500.

ThreeHoops note: Funding Direct (Tribally-owned member based not-for-profit to members of various Tribal Nations)Benefits Direct

By Lona O'Connor, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer, FL
BIG CYPRESS SEMINOLE RESERVATION -- A daughter, a mother, a warrior, they called her. Florida's Seminole community closed a protective circle around one of its own Thursday, honoring Lori Piestewa, the first American servicewoman killed in the Iraq war. Though Piestewa was a Hopi living on a reservation in Arizona, Seminole war veterans called her death a loss to the entire Native American nation. Steve Bowers, a Seminole veteran of the Vietnam War, was one of several men old enough to be Piestewa's father whose voices grew husky with emotion when they spoke of her sacrifice. more

*The Lori Piestewa Memorial Fund: Contributions can be made at any Wells Fargo bank,

for locations click here. Friends & family of Lori Piestewa have established a memorial fund for her 4-year old son and 3-year old daughter. Contributions to the fund will be used to raise the children and provide for their future educational needs.

The Lori Piestewa Memorial Fund has been set up under the auspices of the Hopi Nation.

Flowers, cards or letters may be sent to: Percy Piestewa, PO Box 957, Tuba City, AZ 86045

Larger items may be sent to: The Piestewa Family, Juniper Drive, No. 67, Tuba City, AZ 86045 via UPS or FedEx.

* In partnership: The Tuba City Community Foundation, Arizona Community Foundation and

the Hopi Foundation have set up a permanent endowment fund to help Native Americans with their education. The Pfc. Lori Piestewa Memorial Scholarship Fund is in memory of Army Pfc. Piestewa's service to her country and the Hopi Tribe. Contributions can be made by contacting the Hopi Foundation.

As two semi-trailers came around the bend in the highway Wednesday, Dustin Rockmen, 11, cried out, "Mommy...my house is here!" Dustin's mother, Linda Rockmen, peeked out from the doorway and not even a crisp November wind could wipe the smiles off their faces or the tears that flowed down their cheeks. And while their new modular home was being set up, Linda and Dustin could still not believe what was in front of their eyes. "I don't know what to say," Linda Rockmen said, while Dustin, nursing a broken collarbone

from playing soccer, stood next to his birthday cake. It was hard to tell what Dustin was more excited about - his new 768-square-foot home or his 12th birthday...Two nonprofit organizations also joined forces to help the Rockmens.

*To help tribal members hurt by the CA Wildfires DIRECT see the HOOPriority Alert Nov 4 03 listing.

About $1 million in fire damage repairs on the San Manuel Indians' reservation will be billed to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Jim Fletcher, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Southern California agency, said Wednesday that the department, as tribes' trustee, has an obligation to pay for the rehabilitation. The work is necessary to avoid mudslides and flooding.

"It is not only for the tribe, it is for the residents living downstream,' Fletcher said . . . Most of the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians' reservation burned, but homes were not damaged. Tribal officials said they already have crews working on the erosion problem. The tribe also donated $1 million Monday for fire victims and the recovery effort. Fletcher said San Diego County tribes suffered worse damage from the fires. The Barona Band of Mission Indians lost 39 homes and eight people died. The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians lost 70 homes and two people died.

Tribes pay nearly $88 million into fund for cities and counties
By: WYATT HAUPT - Staff Writer, NCTimes.com, CA
One of the final pieces of legislation approved by Gov. Gray Davis last month was a bill authored by state Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, that paves the way for cities and counties to gain access to money for improvements to local roads as well as other necessary work. Senate Bill 621 will allow those jurisdictions to tap into a special distribution fund that American Indian gaming tribes have been paying into during the last two years for the purpose of dealing with impacts caused by casinos in their areas.

While the tribes have paid nearly $88 million into the fund, a program had not been set up to oversee the distribution of that money, Battin said... Cities and counties that border tribal casinos will receive the largest share of the grants. As a result, Riverside County will receive between $8 million and $10 million annually. "The money has been there. We just needed a system to allocate the funds," Battin said in a statement. more

ThreeHoops note: Funding Direct (Tribal Nations to State, for benefit of NonNative Communities)

Virginia tribes one step closer to federal recognition
by: Bobbie Whitehead / Correspondent / Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - Virginia's Indians moved a bit closer to gaining federal recognition in the past week, but they still have a ways to go before achieving the recognition they've so long been denied. The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee voted Oct. 29 in favor of Senate Bill 1423, introduced by Sen. George Allen, R-Va., which would give Virginia's state-recognized tribes federal recognition. Six of the eight state-recognized tribes - the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock, the Nansemond, the Chickahominy,the Monacan and the Eastern Chickahominy - have sought recognition under the bill. The other two state-recognized tribes, the Mattaponi and Pamunkey Indian tribes

Budgeteer News, WI
The Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation Board of Trustees, has awarded two rounds of grants to the region's not-for-profit organizations. At its June 25 meeting, the Community Foundation awarded 33 grants totaling $161,439 to organizations in its nine-county service region. More recently, at its Oct. 1 meeting, the Community Foundation awarded 31 grants totaling $54,250 . . .The Anishinabe Fund provides grants which foster cultural awareness and respect of the Anishinabe/Ojibwe cultural traditions and objects. Three grants were made from this fund:
Bois Forte Reservation, Nett Lake - $510 for the Elders Activities Program.
Grant Community School Collaborative, Duluth - $510 for the Pow Wow

and Traditional Crafts Groups. Northland College, Ashland, Wis. - $510 for the Native American Museum.
ThreeHoops Note: Funding Direct (NA Donor Advised Fund within NonNative Community Foundation to Tribal and other programs). $1530 goes from Anishinabe Fund to Native American Tribe & Nonprofit efforts.

financial justice to 500,000 Native Americans. Although Congress narrowly passed the Interior spending bill with the trust fund delay provision, many members spoke impassionedly against it, and 17 Republicans on the Resources Committee split with the Administration. (The Senate passed the same bill with Senator Daschle and Senator Bayh voting against it.) The last minute rider forbids the Department of Interior from conducting historical accounting even though Interior was required to do so by a federal district court. The Indian accounts for individuals and families date from 1887, but Interior has poor and

missing records and may have underpaid and mismanaged royalties for individuals and families. A lawyer in the Cobell trust fund lawsuit explains that under common law "You owe what you can't show."

At least 150,000 more Natives since census
By: Mark Fogarty / Today Correspondent, Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - More than 150,000 more Native people have been added to the United States population since the 2000 Census, government estimates state. The Census Bureau, in its annual thumbnail report on American Indians and Alaska Natives, reported an estimate of 103,000 additional Native people between the April 2000 census and July 2002, using a growth rate of 2.4

percent from the 4.1 million Natives it tallied in 2000. (For the first time in 2000, people were allowed to declare more than one racial identity, increasing the Native count greatly.) Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders grew at a 4 percent rate, meaning there were about 38,000 more of these groups on July 1, 2002 than the 943,000 tallied in the Census. If they continued to grow at that rate, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders would have topped one million by now.

ThreeHoops Note: Census undercounting of American Indian/Alaska Native populations impacts federal

funding to Native communities. The U.S. Census 2000, 1990 and 1980 all note Census undercounting regarding Native American populations.

ANCHORAGE - Sen. Ted Stevens got $17 million to combat Alaska's alcohol problems added to a funding measure approved by the U.S. Senate, but made some changes in how the money will be administered. The money was included in next year's funding for the Interior Department, which was approved Monday. Stevens, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,

changed the funding process this year. Instead of giving the money to the Alaska Federation of Natives to administer _ as he has in the past three years _ Stevens specified which Alaska programs should benefit.

The House has already approved the bill so its next stop is the White House, where the president is expected to sign it into law. Stevens, R-Alaska, directed that none of the anti-alcohol money in the bill "be used for tribal courts or tribal ordinance programs or any program that is not directly

ThreeHoops note: Funding prohibited to Tribal Courts or Tribal Ordinance programs for Tribal Nations

Albuquerque Indian Center to hold fundraiser
Eileen Garvin, NMBW Staff, New Mexico Business Weekly, NM
The Albuquerque Indian Center is holding a fundraiser in an attempt to revive a youth art program, which has been discontinued due to a lack of funds. . . According to its Web site, the Albuquerque Indian Center offers youth mentoring programs and also works to empower Albuquerque's American Indian community by promoting "wellness, healing, self-sufficiency and traditions." The Albuquerque Indian Center reports that there are 35,000 American Indians

ThreeHoops.com note: Funding Sought to bring direct benefit to one of the scores of American Indian Centers serving urban Indian populations across the United States.

Indian reservations devastated by Calif. wildfires
KIM CURTIS, Associated Press Writer, SFG.com, CA

The wildfires in Southern California have burned at least 29,000 acres of tribal

land in San Diego County and destroyed more than 100 homes on that land.

"When you look at the tribal impact, it's devastating," said Nedra Darling, a

spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Phones and electricity at most of the county's 14 reservations, including at nine Indian-owned casinos, have been out since Oct. 26. Darling said the bureau received 200 requests for financial assistance in one day, though she had no estimate on the total losses. In all, wildfires burning across Southern California over the past week have charred more than 745,000 acres, destroyed nearly 3,400 homes and killed at least 20 people. Eleven people died on or near reservation land, but it was unclear whether any were tribal members. Sixty-seven homes were ruined on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation. "We were hit the first and the hardest," said tribal chairman Allen Lawson. "It looks like Vietnam after a napalm attack."

More than 6,000 acres of the 8,000-acre Barona Indian Reservation were burned and 31 homes were destroyed. But the Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino escaped mostly unscathed. "There's no question we were very fortunate," general manager Karol Schoen said. "We're surrounded by concrete, asphalt and green." On the Viejas Indian Reservation, 60-foot flames destroyed four mobile homes and tore through a burial ground.

more: Viejas' Charitable giving, Barona's charitable giving

The DIRECT ways to help:

Tribal Disaster Relief Fund to help victims of the California Wildfires

Contact by mail or call 619 668 8147 or 619 659 9770

CNIGA 's Tribal Disaster Relief Fund was set up in immediate response

Barona Indian Reservation burned, killing seven and destroying at least 35 homes, a day care center and part of a school, according to James Fletcher, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Southern California. Overall, almost 30,000 acres of Indian land burned, 132 homes were destroyed

the victims are tribal members. The 15,700-acre Capitan Grande and 852-acre Inaja reservations were completely burned. more info , Barona's charitable giving

The above map references neighboring Tribal Nations to those Tribes hurt by the California Wildfires