NIWRC Receives Grant from Metabolic Studio
The staff and board of the NIWRC at a retreat in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in November 2019. (Photo courtesy of NIWRC.)
Contribution will support development of NIWRC’s Tillie Black Bear Safety and Sovereignty Center and NativeLove Project
This spring, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) received a generous grant from Metabolic Studio to provide the seed funding for its Tillie Black Bear Safety and Sovereignty Center and the development of its NativeLove youth project.
“On behalf of the staff and board of directors of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, we are incredibly honored and grateful to Metabolic Studio and Annenberg Foundation for supporting our advocacy work,” said Lucy Simpson, NIWRC Executive Director and a citizen of the Navajo Nation. “These funds will help initiate the foundation-building needed for our policy center, as well as help us build staff capacity in support of our NativeLove project goals.”
The intention behind the Tillie Black Bear Safety and Sovereignty Policy Center is to strategically advance and support the grassroots movement for the safety of Native women through unity in action. The policy center would focus on research and deep analysis of federal policy that intersects with the safety of Native women and tribal sovereignty, the development of a tribal framework on the current foundational legal and policy barriers to safety, and the creation of comprehensive national grassroots educational campaigns highlighting the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
NIWRC proposes a multi-year project to lay the foundation for the policy center to further advance a strategy of increasing the safety of Native women through strengthening the sovereignty of Indian nations. A portion of the Metabolic Studio contribution will help initiate these first steps of development.
A portion of the grant will also help support the expansion of staff for NIWRC’s vision for its NativeLove project. Current needs involve developing an advocacy curriculum for educating youth about healthy relationships and dating violence, virtual trainings on dating violence prevention and healthy relationships skills for Indian tribes and advocates working with Indigenous youth, and ongoing social media advocacy to reach Native youth.
The goal for NativeLove is to change the narrative that Native youth and teens should accept the realities of living with dating or domestic violence. Native youth deserve healthy relationships grounded in our shared Indigenous values of equality, kindness and respect.
Donate to NIWRC Online
To support the Tillie Black Bear Safety and Sovereignty Policy Center or the NativeLove project, make a contribution to NIWRC at niwrc.org/donate.
