Native Voices Rising, a community-driven partnership between Native Americans in Philanthropy and the Common Counsel Foundation, has announced grants totaling $2 million in support of 88 Indigenous and Native-led advocacy and organizing groups. 

Grant partners work on an array of issues, including the promotion of Indigenous worldview, Native sovereignty, climate and water justice, economic development, language preservation, and voting rights. Native Voices Rising is a participatory grantmaking model that engages Native community reviewers to screen, review, and ultimately make grant recommendations. Over a six to eight-month period, Native community members work to ensure that the process and grantmaking are held in the hands of Native leaders and advocates. 

“Native Voices Rising plays a critical role in resisting overwhelming institutional forces in this country that are persistent in trying to systematically erase the experience of Native American communities,” said Common Counsel Foundation executive director Peggy Saika. “Native Voices Rising is committed to calling for more and deeper investments in the future of Native communities by supporting Native leaders and Native-led institutions. This work is far from finished.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Cool Photography)