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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2019)
S moke S ignals MARCH 15, 2019 13 Community Fund tops $80 million in giving By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer Spirit Mountain Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, surpassed the $80 million mark in giving when it awarded $544,500 in grants on Wednesday, March 13. Sixteen large grants and eight small grants were awarded during the first-quarter check presenta- tion held in the Governance Center Atrium. The grants included three arts and culture projects, nine edu- cation projects, one environmental preservation project and 11 health projects. Since its inception in 1997, the Community Fund has awarded 2,727 grants to 1,139 nonprofit organizations for a total of $80.47 mil- lion in giving. The Com- munity Fund receives 6 percent of Spirit Moun- tain Casino’s proceeds to distribute to non- profits in 11 northwest Oregon counties. Tribal Elder and for- mer longtime Tribal C o u n c i l C h a i r w o m - Mid-Valley Healthcare Education Coordinator an Kathryn Harrison Nancy Leon is wrapped in a blanket her opened the check pre- organization won in a raffle at the end of the first sentation with a prayer quarter Spirit Mountain Community Fund check and Tribal Lands De- partment Manager Jan presentation held in the Tribal Council Chambers Looking Wolf Reibach in the Governance Center on Wednesday, March performed on Native 13. Spirit Mountain Community Fund Director Michael Cherry and Tribal Council member American flute. Spirit Mountain Com- Kathleen George presented the blanket. munity Fund Executive founder Janice Levenhagen-Seeley Director Michael Cherry intro- said her experiences of trying to duced Tribal Council members in get hired and then work in a field attendance, which included Tribal dominated by males prompted Council Secretary Jon A. George her to start the nonprofit, which and Kathleen George, who also now has 27 chapters across North serves on the Community Fund America and had 1,500 volunteers Board of Trustees. in 2018. Attendees then watched a “Our mission is to get more girls 14-minute video that surveyed the interested in technology,” Levenha- Tribe’s history and featured orga- gen-Seeley said. “We’re excited to nizations that have been helped by envision a future for the technology Community Fund grants. industry that includes all women Community Fund Program Co- across the United States.” ordinator Angela Sears discussed She added that she felt “uplifted new initiatives the fund is current- and joyful” following the site visit ly working on, including starting conducted by Cherry and Sears. a podcast and newsletter, as well Sears then read off this quarter’s as the creation of a wall dedicated grant recipients while Cherry and to the Community Fund that soon Kathleen George distributed the will be erected at Spirit Mountain checks. Casino. Large grants recipients were: The Community Fund features a • Clackamas Women’s Services of different nonprofit organization at Oregon City, $50,000 for expand- every quarterly grant presentation. ing its children’s program; The first quarter featured Chick- • Portland Homeless Family Solu- Tech, which helps young women get tions, $50,000 to help prevent interested in the male-dominated homelessness for families with field of technology. children; Chief Executive Officer and Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon Community Relations Manager Felicia Wells-Thomas, right, shakes hands with Spirit Mountain Community Fund Grants Coordinator Jesse Knight and Tribal Council member Kathleen George during the first quarter Spirit Mountain Community Fund check presentation. • St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County Inc. of Eugene, $50,000 for its transitional hous- ing project; • ChickTech of Portland, $35,000 to foster technology education for girls in rural Oregon; • Dental Foundation of Oregon in Wilsonville, $50,000 for its tooth taxi; • Boys & Girls Clubs of Emerald Valley in Eugene, $20,000 for its Healthy Habits program; • Children’s Institute of Portland, $35,000 for culturally responsive support to infants and toddlers at Earl Boyles Elementary School; • Long Tom Watershed Council of Eugene, $25,000 to fund Native youth internships to support traditional ecological knowledge; • All Hands Raised of Portland, $25,000 to strengthen kindergar- ten transition; • Bridgeway House of Eugene, $25,000 to fund a home therapy program for autistic children; • Downtown English of Springfield, $20,000 for its literacy program; • KindTree-Autism Rocks of Eu- gene, $12,000 for its Training for Success program; • Willamette Riverkeeper of Port- land, $20,000 for its Pearl Shells of Wisdom effort; • Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon, $30,000 to provide busi- ness training and capital for immigrants and entrepreneurs of color; • Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, $7,500 for afterschool programs to build Pacific Islander youth leadership skills; • August Wilson Red Door Proj- ect of Portland, $40,000 for its “Evolve!” project. Small grants that were distribut- ed included: • Tyron Life Community Farm, $7,500 for its “Staying Sacred in a Violent Society” project; • Oregon Children’s Theater Com- pany of Portland, $5,000 for “Ticket to Read: Linking Literacy to Live Theatre”; • Gleaners of Clackamas County Inc. of Oregon City; $7,500 to purchase a warehouse forklift; • Florence Food Share, $2,500 for health projects; • Philomath Youth Activities Club Inc., $7,500 for its special dietary needs project; • Kukatonon of Portland, $5,000 to expand its African dance troupe; • Mid-Valley Healthcare Inc. of Lebanon, $7,500 for its “Next Steps” project; • William Temple Housing of Port- land, $7,500 for its family coun- seling program. The Community Fund also raffled off an Ikanum Pendleton blanket at the closing of the check pre- sentation that went to Mid-Valley Healthcare. “On behalf of Spirit Mountain Community Fund, the Board of Trustees and Tribal Council, we want to say hayu masi for every- thing that you do to make Oregon a brighter and better place,” Cherry said. “Today, we celebrate you, your organization and your steadfast work to fulfill our mission and our vision at Spirit Mountain Commu- nity Fund.” “I want to thank you all, each and every one of you, for the work that you do in your community,” said Kathleen George. “This is what Spirit Mountain Community Fund was created for, to invest in our communities at the grassroots level, to invest in the citizens who in their community see a problem, see a need and they step up and say, ‘I can make that better.’ So I want to thank each and every one of you for doing that.” Tribal grants also were funded in the first quarter, which totaled $650,000. Those grants included: • $84,000 to the Burns Paiute Tribe to fund a cultural and heritage center; • $75,000 to the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw Indians for a Tribal museum and cultural center; • $80,000 to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians for phase one of Siletz River habitat resto- ration; • $75,000 to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde for the Grand Ronde Depot preservation project; • $84,000 to the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Res- ervation for furniture, fixtures and equipment for an education facility; • $84,000 to the Coquille Indian Tribe for construction and site preparation for the Ko-Kwell Wellness Center; • $84,000 to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs for the Old Historic Commissary reha- bilitation construction project; • And $84,000 to the Klamath Tribes for a water preservation project.
