Thursday, April 3, 2025

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Photo: 2025 NAJS Ambassador Taylor Begay (Diné). (Courtesy Native American Jump Start / Facebook)

The group Native American Jump Start has been providing grants to Native students, interns, and young workers for decades and, this year, has added an ambassador program.

Kathleen Shannon reports.

Nine ambassadors across the country will help spread the word on Native American Jump Start opportunities, up to 100 microgrants per year to help, among others, students at any level of higher education.

Wicahpi Chaddlesone-Yankton, grant and operations coordinator for the group, said they want to highlight more student voices and half of ambassadors in the first cohort are current students.

“We wanted to have our ambassadors work with their Native student centers or organizations on their campus and just help bring NAJS’s voice into a bigger light.”

The group is funded by private donations and therefore will be directly affected by cuts from the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, the Native American Rights fund in March sued the U.S. Interior Department and the Office of Indian Affairs over the federal administration’s cuts to the Bureau of Indian Education.

O’Shay Birdinground comes from the Great Apsaalooke Nation and will graduate this spring from the University of Montana.

He first used Jump Start funding to attend a conference.

Now, as an ambassador, Birdinground encouraged “future Indigenous leaders” to take advantage of educational opportunities.

“There are a lot of opportunities out there for education and leadership development. I wouldn’t hesitate to jump on any one of those opportunities that is provided to you.”

The application period for Native American Jump Start’s education grant funding for this fall opened April 1.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Alaska already imports most of its food, but for many tribes in rural areas, cuts to federal grants and staff by the Trump administration could make food security even tougher, including for farmers and reindeer herders.

Alaska Desk reporter Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Spring is a busy time at Tyonek Grown, a community farm located on the west side of the Cook Inlet.

Local students come to plant seeds and then harvest organic fruits and vegetables.

This summer, the farm managers wanted to set up a community food forest that would include Indigenous plants. But the forest – and many more of Tyonek Grown’s plans – are now up in the air because of cuts to federal staff and funding.

That’s according to Laurie Stuart, the executive director for Tyonek Tribal Conservation District that manages the farm.

“The loss of those funds in the coming years is going to have a big impact on the growth that we were building.”

In Alaska, nearly all produce is imported, which makes the food supply vulnerable.

Some support to local producers comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The department is among many agencies that cut programs and staff in response to Trump’s executive orders. In recent weeks, the agency reinstated some of its employees, but then put them on administrative leave.

Tyonek is located about 40 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Produce needs to be flown in, and fruits and vegetables grown at the Tyonek farm give locals a rare chance to enjoy affordable fresh food.

The USDA’s Forest Service in December awarded $900,000 to the conservation district to grow their team and set up a community food forest.

“So even if we were to find that no funding was impacted right now, we’re making decisions as if it might be.”

Meanwhile, about 500 miles northwest around Nome, reindeer herders are asking similar questions.

For herders like Bonnie Suaŋa Scheele, interruptions in federal programs mean that it’s harder to find funds to build temporary housing for workers and corrals for holding animals.

Despite the challenges, Scheele believes the herders will figure out a way to continue the practice.

“We’re still here, we’re still herding reindeer. We’re still providing for communities.”

Several USDA grants remain frozen or terminated.

 

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