A new song is being written by Indigenous youth. In late June 2024, our New Songs Rising Fellows gathered in the Pueblo of Isleta to embark on the New Songs Rising Initiative (NSRI)’s first participatory grantmaking process, where they built solidarity, refined their leadership skills and showed commitment commitment to Native and Globally-Indigenous girls and gender-expansive youth as they engaged in philanthropy.
“I feel that this fellowship has inspired me to ground myself into my identity and community so much more. Everyone’s powerful aura allowed me to also embrace mine,” said one fellow in an anonymous post-convening survey.
The initiative was created in July 2021 in partnership with Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous People’s Thriving Women’s Program, and expands opportunities for Native American and Globally-Indigenous girls and gender-expansive young people through grantmaking, convening, and community building with a specific emphasis on Indigenous cultural work.
Although the core of the June convening was our participatory process, fellows also visited local Native-owned businesses, heard from Isleta community leaders, and met with grantees and other connections in the Albuquerque area.
The New Songs Rising Fellowship developed after a series of listening circles focused on the needs of Native and Globally-Indigenous girls and gender expansive young people.
After an application and interview process resulting in a cohort of 10 young people, ages 13-24, from seven different Indigenous communities. The 18-month fellowship will end in March of 2025.
“I loved the participatory grantmaking and everyone’s projects. I loved being in community with everyone,” said one fellow anonymously.
The group of Indigenous young people meet monthly to deepen their sense of identity and belonging, learn life and career skills, inform the NSRI strategy through participatory grantmaking and other forms of feedback, receive mentorship, access mental health support, personal coaching and more.
At the convening in June, each fellow presented a project they felt should be funded within the New Songs Rising Initiative. This process allowed G4GC to learn of small projects with deep impact in communities that otherwise may never have connected with us as a funding organization.
This process also served as an opportunity for fellows to practice their public speaking and presentation skills and to learn more about the field of philanthropy.
All 10 projects varied largely, ranging from education reform to addressing the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) crisis to youth leadership development, and more.
“The process made me realize how important it is to have people from the communities that need funding choose where the funding goes, and not an outsider assuming where funding needs to go,” said one fellow anonymously.
Upon presenting, fellows uplifted one another with individual feedback on presentations, then worked in small groups to prioritize which projects they felt should be funded first. Our fellows showed incredible leadership and shared commitment to Native and Globally-Indigenous girls and gender-expansive youth by putting aside their personal investment in projects in order to assess urgency and analyze each project’s alignment with G4GC’s mission and purpose.
“It felt like I was making a difference and using my voice,” said one fellow anonymously.
In addition to proposing projects, fellows strategized around the New Songs Rising Initiative’s Funding Priorities. This is an ongoing project, as they felt it was important to create a graphic to capture the interrelated components of each area of funding. A final image explaining the fellows’ views of the New Songs Rising Initiative’s funding strategy will be released later this year.
Throughout the convening, there was a consistent sense of siblinghood, from the fellows amongst one another to consultants, relatives and G4GC staff.
“The convening helped me gain confidence in myself and my Indigeneity. I’ve never felt more connected to myself and my culture,” said one fellow anonymously.