Native American Advised Fund

The Native American Advised Fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation enhances Native lifeways now and for future generations in New Mexico by promoting a spirit of sharing and supporting community initiatives. Since 1993, the Native American Advised Fund has granted over $500,000 to 50 different tribes, schools, and organizations. The Fund will operate in perpetuity, benefiting this and future generations.

The Native American Advised Fund was established at the Santa Fe Community Foundation with a gift from the late Allan Houser (Chiricahua Fort Sill Apache), a humanitarian and one of the world's great artists. Grants are made from the fund based on the recommendations of an advisory committee whose members reflect the diversity of our region's 23 pueblos, tribes, and nations.

We invited requests from Indigenous-led and -serving organizations across New Mexico that emphasize a commitment to Native core values of community, language, culture, and environment.

Film Prize Foundation

filmprizenm.com

Mission | To promote economic development, workforce development, youth job training, art based and entrepreneurial business development through film production, education, live and recorded music events, conferences, competitions, and festivals. Proposal | Film Prize Jr NM seeks to expand its statewide youth film education and festival competition program, which supports middle and high school students to tell their stories, learn crucial skills, and access career pathways in New Mexico’s growing film, television, and media industries. Funding will support increasing our partnerships with colleges, studios, nonprofits, and film professionals to better serve our teachers and students, including the creation of the Film Prize Jr Native Division. Noteworthy | UCLA's 2021 Hollywood Diversity Report showed Native representation in film stagnant at 0.6%. The report also found that creative roles, like writers or directors, showed virtually no Native representation.

National Indian Youth Leadership Project

projectventure.org

Mission | To help Indigenous youth embrace their potential through outdoor adventure and service. The National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP) is an Indigenous-led, New Mexico-based nonprofit working for over 30 years to empower the lives of Indigenous youth through positive youth development programming. NIYLP envisions a world with generations of healthy, capable, caring, resilient Indigenous youth who contribute to their groups, families, communities, and nations. Proposal | Gardening Project Venture is a positive youth development program that connects Indigenous elementary school-aged children to their ancestral traditions around sustainable agricultural practices and the natural world through gardening and other outdoor experiential activities. Engaging Indigenous children in traditional agricultural methods and showing them why these methods are critical to their community’s overall health and wellbeing ensures cultural continuity and sustainability. Noteworthy | In New Mexico, the poverty rate for children living in some tribal communities is as high as 42% versus 28% statewide. The relationship between poverty and a child’s health is significant. These children experience poor living conditions, are often food insecure, and have limited access to food with high nutritional value. Indigenous children also have the highest prevalence of childhood obesity. Increased obesity correlates with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.

New Mexico Kids Matter Inc.

nmkidsmatter.org

Mission | We advocate for abused and neglected children in the foster care system by working on behalf of their best interests and speaking up for them in the courts, schools, and our communities. We empower community volunteers to work as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) to ensure that foster children are safe, get the services and support they need to overcome the trauma they have experienced, and can achieve permanent homes so they can thrive as they grow. Proposal | We are requesting support for our advocacy project on behalf of Native American children in foster care in New Mexico. The goal of this work is to achieve better outcomes for children, families, and tribes when Native American children are in the foster care system. Noteworthy | Native American children have historically been separated from their parents, extended families, and communities by state child welfare agencies. Studies show that Native American children in foster care, disconnected from their family and culture, are at high risk for behavioral and mental health problems. To address these issues, we provide advocacy services focused specifically on the needs of Native American foster children and the requirements of the Federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

Santa Fe Film Institute

santafefilminstitute.org

Mission | To advance independent film, filmmaking, and support of the local community and underserved youth. Santa Fe Film Institute (SFFI) is also the fiscal sponsor of the Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF), which is the premiere forum for international and independent cinema in the area. SFiFF serves as a creative center for film yearround, provides professional opportunities for artists, and presents the year's top films each October. Proposal | Santa Fe Film Institute presents the Santa Fe International Film Festival each October, including SFiFF’s Indigenous Film Program, which features acclaimed films created by Indigenous filmmakers or depicting Indigenous subjects or motifs. Encouraging cinematic creativity while also promoting awareness, appreciation, and sincere representations of Indigenous people in film, this program also creates opportunities for inclusion on both sides of the camera for Indigenous filmmakers. Noteworthy | Data from UCLA’s 2022 Hollywood Diversity Report demonstrates that Native American directors represent 0.8% of all Hollywood film directors, and Native American actors represent just 0.6% of all film leads. SFiFF helps Indigenous filmmakers gain recognition through juried awards, film distribution, and other professional opportunities. These films frequently depict authentic Native experiences and often feature Indigenous actors, which also increases representation of Indigenous people in film.

Santa Fe Indigenous Center

santafeindigenouscenter.org

Mission | The Santa Fe Indigenous Center is designed by and for Indigenous Peoples with the mission of supporting, promoting, and enriching our vital, diverse community by identifying and serving the needs and interests of our people. Proposal | The Santa Fe Indigenous Center (SFIC) strives to continuously provide support services to the rural and urban Indigenous population of Santa Fe County. The purpose of our programs are to increase wellbeing, knowledge, cultural awareness and to actively engage Indigenous community members through outreach and special events. Noteworthy | SFIC wants to address the existing hardships over half of our constituents suffer from—food insecurity, health disparities (diabetes and heart disease), unemployment, and the current housing crisis. Since last year, SFIC has served 4,600+ members with food, emergency financial assistance and basic needs support. It's reported that 60% of Native Americans living in Santa Fe County experience food insecurity due to high cost of living or income restraints.

Silver Bullet Productions

silverbulletproductions.com

Mission | To encourage educational achievement in New Mexico’s communities through a filmmaking program that empowers students, impacts academic opportunities, and preserves community culture and heritage. Proposal | Silver Bullet Productions is a nonprofit educational film company that encourages cultural preservation and educational achievement through a filmmaking program for tribal students, teachers and leaders. Noteworthy | The Pueblo of Picuris is a small rural farming pueblo. They have faced challenges to their land sovereignty, conflicts with federal agencies, water diversion, and loss of economic and cultural identity. Picuris should be provided the skills necessary to tell their stories of land, culture, and sovereignty. Picuris has asked us for the filmmaking skills to secure history, record archaeological sites, follow their bison herd, support film and media career choices.

Trees, Water & People

treeswaterpeople.org

Mission | To improve people’s lives by helping communities protect, conserve, and manage the natural resources upon which their long-term wellbeing depends. Proposal | Founded in 1998, Trees, Water & People (TWP) invests in helping rural, Indigenous communities in Central America and on U.S. Tribal Lands to preserve and protect their natural resources. TWP is actively partnering with New Mexico-based Tribal Nations centered around post-wildfire restoration and collaboration. Building Tribal capacity, advancing equity, and implementing on-the-ground projects are all key objectives to support communities' climate resiliency and recovery in the Jemez Mountains. Noteworthy | Recent wildfires in the American Southwest affect the environmental, cultural and social functions of important landscapes for Tribal Nations. Historically, conservation on tribal lands is undervalued by non-tribal communities and is therefore inherently under-resourced. Trees, Water & People works to address conservation and equity through meaningful engagement with Tribes, adhering to their unique ecological knowledge systems and goals for culturally-based restoration projects.