Cover image: A prom dress designed by Crow tribal member Della Bighair-Stump, in honor of the missing and murdered Indigenous women movement. It is now being exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum.

News from our partners

• The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CHNA) is partnering with Kamehameha Schools to launch the Mahi‘ai Scale-up, which will help local farmers and food distributors grow businesses. CNHA will provide participants with business training through a special edition of its KuHana Business Program focused on food system businesses. The 10-week intensive program will offer technical assistance services and various courses to help participants grow and strengthen their businesses. Mahi’ai is the Hawaiian word for farmer or the act of farming. West Hawaii Today

• Rural LISC and Hawaiian Community Assets are partnering to launch a statewide network of Financial Opportunity Centers (FOCs). FOCs provide families with services across three areas: employment services; financial education and coaching; and public benefits access. The core services are offered through an integrated, data-driven model in order to reinforce one another and to provide a multi-faceted approach to income and wealth building. Data has shown that clients receiving this integrated approach through the FOC model, are more likely to be employed year-round, reduce non asset-related debt, build a positive credit history, and be employed longer.The statewide network of HCA FOCs has a goal to collectively support more than 500 individuals and families in the first year with customized financial stability action plans. West Hawaii Today

• Autumn Adams, a Yakama Nation citizen and Aspen Institute Center for Native American Youth Champion For Chang, is among recipients of the 2021 Casey Excellence for Children Family Awards. Adams has had legal guardianship of her young sister, Kaya Tahmalwash, since September 2015 and their teenage brother, John Adams III, since February 2016. Throughout that time, Adams attended Central Washington University, where she was a McNair Scholar. She graduated in June 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and minors in museum studies and American Indian studies, and plans to attend law school. “I’ve curated my own home where they know they’re safe and happy,” Adams said. An alumna of foster care, Adams lived in numerous homes and attended several schools while growing up. Yakima Herald Republic

• Regenerative agriculture, in which topsoil is conserved and enriched each harvest while sequestering carbon, is trending. It’s a concept first pioneered by Native farmers. ““People are finally hearing the message,” says A-dae Romero Briones, the director of the Native Agriculture and Food Systems program at the First Nations Development Institute, “We can no longer be ignored.” Civil Eats

• The pandemic is pushing more Native American residents of South Dakota to seek homeownership. This is beneficial in the long-term, says Casey Lozar, director of the Center for Indian Country Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. “With homeownership, tribal families really have the opportunity to stay in their community, to be involved in and to participate in their cultures and their traditions, to pass their language on to their children and to just really be engaged at the community level.” Community groups and financial institutions are working to help first-time homebuyers. Cap Journal

• Covid-19 has only worsened the country’s housing crisis, especially for young people. To make housing more attainable for prospective homebuyers, we need to expand our definition of what housing is and what it could be. Manufactured housing could be key. Housing Wire

Native stories in the national media.

• Inside the world of Native American Rodeo, where family traditions are passed on, even during Covid 19. National Geographic

• Profile of fashion designer and Crow tribal member Della Bighair-Stump, whose prom dress honoring the missing and murdered Indigenous women movement is now being exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum. NBC Montana

• Distributing Covid vaccines in Alaska is an incredible challenge. Luckily, that’s what Rural Alaskans do best. US News
• It's time to acknowledge Native Hawaiians' special right to housing. Civil Beat
• Native communities prioritize vaccinating Elders who are essential for preserving their language. New York Times