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.