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| Photo by John Running/courtesy the Ford Foundation -- The Hopi Foundation's Barbara Poley and Loris Ann Taylor merge Hopi ways with community activism to find solutions to the challenges facing the Hopi Nation. They recently won the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World award, with accompanying grants of more than $100,000, to aid the foundation's programs. |
The Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World selected the Hopi Foundation for the award - with more than $100,000 in grants - for the creation of projects for rock stonemasons, seamstresses, solar energy, a tribal radio station and an international treatment center for indigenous victims of torture.
''We can really use the money. We have so much work to do,'' Barbara Poley, Hopi Foundation's executive director, told Indian Country Today.
Poley said the funding is critical for the Center for Prevention and Resolution of Violence in Tucson and Hopi Radio station KUYI on tribal land in Kykotsmovi.
Speaking of the torture prevention and treatment center, Poley said, ''It has been difficult to obtain funding for the project.''
The Center for Prevention and Resolution of Violence provides clinical treatment for indigenous people from 35 countries who are political exiles or victims of torture.
Barbara Chester, clinical director for the Hopi Foundation until her death, founded the center which treats refugees crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, including indigenous from Chiapas and other Latin American states.
Torture survivors from Bosnia, Vietnam and Moldavia have been welcomed at the center. Along with its rare program aimed at a torture-free world, the center provides ''Owl and Panther'' creative writing celebrations for the youngest victims of torture and exile in Tucson.
Hopi Radio KUYI celebrated still another victory on Oct. 4, two days before the Ford Foundation award was presented.
''We just received our license renewal,'' Poley said. The Hopi Foundation was recognized in the award for assisting the first Hopi radio station to raise $400,000.
With an all-Hopi staff, KUYI has been broadcasting since 2000 from the Hopi mesas south to Interstate 40. Karen ''Sister Parrot'' Abeita hosts Rez Rasta Riddums, guaranteed to keep Hopi, Navajo, reggae-lovers and travelers between Flagstaff, Ariz. and Gallup, N.M. tuned in.
Radio station sounds include local bands such as the Hopi Clansmen, Casper, Blind Destiny and Descendent. Casper's ''Honor the people,'' blends with the traditional, folk and reggae for eclectic listening with George Strait, Louis Armstrong, the Indigo Girls and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Poley had more good news to share. One of the Hopi Foundation projects, the NativeSUN solar energy project, is now standing on its own.
''They are on their own now; that's the way we want all our projects to go,'' Poley said.
NativeSUN, created in 1985, was founded on Hopi beliefs. ''The Hopi belief is that the sun is our father. He provides for us, he takes care of us,'' said Doran Dalton, former chair of the Hopi Foundation.
In an area where 10,000 Hopi and Navajo lack electricity in their homes on tribal lands, NativeSUN has installed more than 300 solar systems on the Hopi and Navajo nations. While marketing solar energy systems, NativeSUN brings modern conveniences to Hopi mesa villagers who prefer not to have electric lines as they retain traditional villages.
Barbara Poley and Loris Ann Taylor, great-great-granddaughters of Chief Loololma of Oraibi Village, assumed leadership of the Hopi Foundation in 1993 at the urging of Hopi members, the Ford Foundation said in its announcement of the award.
Poley and Taylor believe in the Hopi concept of ''Naya,'' which means people working together for a common good. Naya means that every Hopi has a valued role in building a better community.
Neither Hopi women had experience with nonprofit work. Today, the Hopi Foundation has almost $1 million in endowed assets. Poley and Taylor also assisted the Hopi tribal government to establish the Hopi Education Endowment Fund, a separate $10 million endowment, to fund scholarships.
Poley and Taylor skillfully retool elements from the community, while respecting and building on Hopi cultural values. For example, putting money aside for the future is not a traditional Hopi custom, so the two women shaped the discussion by comparing saving money to seed corn - that part of the harvest set aside for the future. The comparison resonated, according to the Ford Foundation.
The Hopi Foundation uses economic initiatives to bring jobs to the mesas. Gentle Rain was established by local Hopi women who wanted to create jobs and to use their talents as seamstresses to produce coats, jackets and other garments from recycled plastic, also known as eco-spun material.
Meanwhile, the Hopi Foundation helped preserve traditional homes and gathering places by bringing together clan leaders, religious leaders, the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office and architectural experts to rebuild structures.
At the Rock Quarry Project, master quarriers from Zuni Pueblo, N.M., trained young Hopi in the ancient craft of mining and shaping sandstone for building structures. The National Park Service then hired these trained stonemasons to preserve ancient Hopi ruins.
The Ford Foundation selected the Hopi Foundation as one of 17 recipients of the Leadership for a Changing World awards for 2005. The awardees were chosen by a national selection committee from a pool of nearly 1,000 nominations.
The Ford Foundation said the Hopi Foundation was selected because the individuals and leadership teams are tackling some of the nation's most entrenched social, economic and environmental challenges.
Each awardee will receive $100,000 to advance their work and an additional $15,000 to support activities over the next two years.
Poley said a proposal and budget is required in order to obtain the funds.
The Hopi Foundation's mission statement tells of the essence of the organization.
''Our basic mission is to 'help people help themselves.' The Hopi name, Lomasumi'nangwtuwsiwmani, signifies the process of furthering unity of aspiration blossoming into full maturity over time.
''We believe in attending to the community in which we live and in the skills of our people.''
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