$1.7 MILLION TO INDIGENOUS-LED INITIATIVES FOR COMMUNITY HEALING AND CLIMATE ACTION

Over 25 organizations will benefit through Liberated Capital, a fund of Decolonizing Wealth Project, helping Native Californians engage with the California Truth and Healing Council and uplift Indigenous efforts across the U.S. to combat the climate crisis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – December 13, 2023 – Today, the Decolonizing Wealth Project and their funding mechanism, Liberated Capital, announced that they have distributed more than $1.7 million in grants to over 25 Indigenous-led organizations and tribes across the US. The funding will support grantees’ efforts to expand Native American self-determination efforts through both the multi-year grantmaking initiative California Truth & Healing Fund (CATHF) and Indigenous Earth Fund (IEF). 

Since their inception, both funds have distributed nearly $4 million in capital to Native-led organizations in California and across the US. These grant-making initiatives are a testament to the Decolonizing Wealth Project and their mission to put resources back in the hands of the communities that philanthropy has traditionally historically overlooked or marginalized. In this case, the funds seek to center Indigenous leaders in the path toward healing and reconciliation with the State, and effective solutions to the climate crisis.

“As we unveil a new wave of grants for our California Truth and Healing Fund and Indigenous Earth Fund, we continue to honor the importance of reclamation and the power of centering the voices of the communities we seek to serve,” said Edgar Villanueva, CEO of the Decolonizing Wealth Project. “These grants are not just financial investments; they are representative of our shared journey toward decolonizing wealth and fostering lasting change. Together, we embrace the responsibility of restoring balance, equity, and justice for generations to come.”

Established in 2019 through Executive Order N-15-19, The California Truth & Healing Council works to clarify the historical record regarding the troubled relationship between the State of California and California Native Americans, with the goals of advancing truth and healing. Decolonizing Wealth Project is leveraging this historic moment to galvanize the philanthropic sector to invest in CA tribes and leaders being the driving force behind healing and narrative change initiatives. 

Decolonizing Wealth Project and Liberated Capital’s Indigenous Earth Fund is driven by the belief that Indigenous people must lead the fight for climate action and land conservation. Historically, Indigenous-led organizations have contributed the least to the climate crisis and yet receive a small percentage of philanthropic climate funding. Through the IEF, the Decolonizing Wealth Project continues to disrupt the flow of philanthropic capital to save our planet, ensuring Indigenous communities are at the center. The Indigenous Earth Fund centers and resources Native American leadership to use their traditions, wisdom, and cultural practices to protect and steward natural resources.

“Redbud Resource Group is eager to support tribes, educators, and families by providing high-quality lesson plans that portray Native American history and contemporary existence accurately,” said CATH Grantee Partner and Co-founder of Redbud Resource Group, Taylor Pennewell.  “We look forward to applying funds from the California Truth and Healing Fund to write and distribute lesson plans to schools across the state and to train new groups of California Natives on lesson planning so that we can work collectively to improve Native visibility in schools.” he continued,

“We envision a future where colonial-capitalist structures with foundations built on white supremacy no longer dominate the ecological and social landscapes. In 2024 the funds from the Indigenous Earth Fund will help us build capacity to ReMatriate through three buffalo harvests for women and femme folks, fight dirty coal plants in Indigenous communities, stop CO2 pipelines throughout the Midwest, and educate folks on the danger of Big-Ag in Iowa and the harm its doing to communities down river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico,” said IEF Grantee Partner Sikowiss Nobiss, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Great Plains Action Society. 

“The support from the Decolonizing Wealth Project supports Native Movement’s leadership in Alaska to continue to advocate for the rights of Mother Earth and all her living beings,” said Enei Begaye, Executive Director of Native Movement. “Strong matriarchal and Indigenous-led advocacy is what is needed in this time of great transition and Native Movement is grateful for Liberated Capital’s support of our leadership” she continued.

The new grantee partners for the California Truth & Healing Fund are: 

• Amah Mutsun Land Trust – Santa Cruz, CA
• Gabrieleno-Tongva Council San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians – San Gabriel, CA
• Indian Cultural Organization – Redding, CA
• Kee Cha-E-Nar Corporation – Klamath, CA
• Spawning Ground – Eureka, CA
• The San Luis Rey Mission Indian Foundation – Vista, CA

The continuing grantee partners for the California Truth & Healing Fund are:

• Blue Lake Rancheria – Blue Lake, CA
• Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission Indians – San Fernando, CA
• Redbud Resource Group – Rohnert Park, CA
• Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians – Willits, CA
• Wukchumni Tribe – Visalia, CA
• ytt Northern Chumash Nonprofit – San Luis Obispo, CA

The new grantee partners for the Indigenous Earth Fund are

• Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy – Washington, DC
• Amah Mutsun Land Trust – Santa Cruz, CA
• Bering Sea Elders Group – Anchorage, AK
• Great Plains Action Society – Iowa City, IA
• Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice – Honolulu, HI
• Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture Institute – Kykotsmovi, AZ
• INDIGENOUS LED – Santa Fe, NM
• Local Video Productions – Tulsa, OK
• Mālama Loko Ea Foundation – Haleiwa, HI
• Nihikeya – Pinon, AZ
• Nisenan Miwok Collective – the Lands of the Hill Nisenan of the Sierra Nevada Foothills

The continuing grantees partners for the Indigenous Earth Fund are: 

• Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians – Portland, OR
• Aloha Kuamoʻo ʻĀina – Kailua-Kona, HI
• Brave Heart Society – Lake Andes, SD
• Children of the Setting Sun Productions – Bellingham, WA
• Ekvn-Yefolecv – Weogufka, AL
• Flower Hill Institute – Jemez Pueblo, NM
• Honor the Earth – Ponsford, MN
• Native Movement – Fairbanks, AK
• Northern Chumash Tribal Council – Guadalupe, CA
• Resources Legacy Fund – Sacramento, CA
• Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples – Santa Monica, CA
• SAGE Development Authority – Fort Yates, ND
• San Juan Collaborative for Health Equity, Dine’ Centered Research Evaluation – Yatahey, NM
• Save California Salmon – Orleans, CA
• Sicangu CDC – Mission, SD
• Water Protector Legal Collective – Albuquerque, NM
• Wishtoyo Foundation – Ventura, CA

ABOUT DECOLONIZING WEALTH PROJECT

Led by Edgar Villanueva (Lumbee), Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) works globally to disrupt the existing systems of moving and controlling capital using education and healing programs, radical reparative giving, and storytelling. Through its fund, Liberated Capital, DWP moves untethered resources to Indigenous, Black and other people-of-color-led initiatives working for economic and racial justice.

www.decolonizingwealth.com