AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG INC

Dreamstarter program dreamstarter, dreamstarter teacher, dreamstarter creative, dreamstarter scholarship, keep the dream alive, dreamstarter gold. In his travels throughout the nation, our spokesperson billy mills has witnessed what he calls a "poverty of dreams," wherein native youth do not dare to dream. Dreamstarter aims to support native youth in pursuit of their dreams through a combination of financial support, hands-on mentorship, communications training, and networking. Running strong recognizes that today's native youth are our future leaders and despite the many challenges that native youth face, we can help them follow their dreams. Each year, 10 native youth are selected and through mentorship, networking, and financial assistance, helps them realize their dreams for their communities(see schedule o for continuation)each receiving a dreamstarter grant of $20,000, the 2025 dreamstarters ranged from age 16 to 30 and represented 9 diverse tribal communities: catawba indian nation, shinnecock nation, tlingit & haida, ute indian tribe, navajo nation, chickasaw nation, lumbee tribe, otoe-missouria, and northern arapaho. 2025 mentor organizations included indigenous health and wellness connections in ut, tlingit and haida washington chapter, wampum consulting and turtle funding foundation in ny, triangle native american society in nc, lindy waters iii foundation in ok, nation ford land trust in sc, the raices collab in ca, wind river family & community healthcare in wy, and vision maker media in ne. This year's dreamstarter theme was seventh generation and dreams ranged from community pottery workshops to traditional plant restoration, from increasing educational opportunities for youth to film and media workshops. Each dreamstarter is also eligible to apply for a "keep the dream alive" grant once their grant year is complete. These outstanding native youth are building a network of community change which will strengthen indian country for generations to come. For more information, visit www.indianyouth.org/dreamstarter.additionally, we awarded the 2024 dreamstarters with the second half of their dreamstarter grants. 2024 dreamstarter organizations included local environmental action demanded agency, indigenous journalists association and remember the removal legacy in ok, university of wisconsin stevens point in wi, northern arizona university in az, tribal adaptive organization in nm, underscore news in or, alpine school district in ut, ho'ola in hi, the bridge foundation in mt, and amerinda in ny.we announced the second class of dreamstarter gold grant recipients, a program designed to foster native excellence and support the expanding dreams of our dreamstarters through $50,000 grants and continued mentorship to five native youth over a three-year period. Dreamstarter gold grants were issued to northern arizona university in az to launch an indigenous trans, queer, and two spirit research center, to sacred healing circle in sd to create an environmentally sustainable solar panel, to through piscataway eyes for tribal data sovereignty, to nebo school district to increase native student represenation in nursing schools through workshops and educational programs, and to the earth law center for first ever indigenous youth led rights of nature tribal for ocean justice.in 2017, running strong launched dreamstarter teacher, a new grant that gives native teachers and teachers who teach native children the opportunity to make a dream come true in their classroom. In fy25, 12 teachers were selected with dreams ranging from supporting after school enrichment programs to cultivating school gardens. Each teacher and their school received $5,000. Schools awarded were montessori american indian childcare center in mn, nebo school district in ut, pensar academy and maricopa christian village in az, temalpakh farm corporation in az, tahlequah public schools and shawnee public schools in ok, round valley unified school district in ca, mineral county school district in nv, cherokee central schools in nc, and the school district of bowler in wi.in fall of 2021, we launched a new dreamstarter companion program: dreamstarter creative. Dreamstarter creative supports the artistic and cultural endeavors of native youth by awarding $2,500 grants to 10 youth each so they can create, connect, and celebrate their culture. In fy25, 10 more native artists representing 7 tribal communities received this grant. We were able to award $29,507.09 in scholarships to 2 dreamstarters through our dreamstarter scholarship program, designed to help dreamstarters pay for tuition or student loans for undergraduate or graduate school. This past year, we operated the third year of our dreamstarter incubator program, a microenterprise development initiative. By working directly with running strong to operate new running strong programs created in collaboration with dreamstarters, dreamstarter incubator provides dreamstarters the infrastructure to pursue their dreams on a larger scale. The microenterprise development program, created by running strong and a 2019 dreamstarter, awards small $5,000 no-interest business loans to native entrepreneurs and small businesses. Additionally, we provide business development and marketing workshops throughout their grant year. In fy25, we administered 16 $5,000 no-interest microloans to native american small businesses: 4 loans in oklahoma, 6 loans in montana, and 6 loans in south dakota.more information about all of our programs can be found at www.indianyouth.org, where you can read updates, join our email list or follow us on social media as we work to build a strong generation of native youth.