2023 Bush Prize grant awards announced!

October 17, 2023 - For immediate press release

The newly-formed Good Relatives Collaborative is thrilled to honor two innovative, Native-led community serving organizations based in Minneapolis, MN with the highly-esteemed 2023 Bush Prize. Please join us in congratulating Dream of Wild Health and Little Earth Residents Association for their incredible work!

In 2021, The St. Paul-based Bush Foundation invited Native-led and Native-serving community partners that are working on the ground in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota to lead and administer grantmaking for the prestigious Bush Prize grant and their own grantmaking program. In response to this invite, the Good Relatives Collaborative began a journey of Indigenous-centered grantmaking focused on healing. The mission of GRC is to provide responsive grants to grassroots and Native-led organizations engaged in community-powered solutions.

In 2023, the GRC was pleased to open the Bush Prize grant application portal to Native-led community serving organizations across the 3-state region of MN, ND and SD. The Bush Prize prioritizes organizations who are highly valued within Native communities and have a track record of successful community problem-solving. The Bush Prize is flexible and has a maximum award of $500,000 or up to 25% of the applicant’s most recent operating budget. After being vetted by an independent grant review panel of well-respected Native community members, the GRC is pleased to announce that 2 Minnesota nonprofits have uniquely demonstrated the values of being a good relative, caring for their local communities, and advancing healing and change in their Native communities. Please join us in honoring the following two Bush Prize grant recipients, along with three semifinalists:

·        Dream of Wild Health (DHW). Founded in 1986, DHW’s mission is to restore health and well-being in the Native community by recovering knowledge of and access to healthy Indigenous foods, medicines and lifeways. With this Bush Prize grant, their dream is to grow the number of Indigenous farmers in the region, expand and deepen youth programming, and model a regenerative relationship with the land that adapts to and mitigates climate change. Click here to watch a video about them.

·        Little Earth Resident Association (LERA). Founded in 1973, LERA’s mission is to empower residents by creating a culturally strong, supportive, healthy and unified Little Earth community. With this Bush Prize grant, their dream is to empower Native residents and increase their homeownership, generational knowledge, and wealth. Click here to watch a video about them.

·        While not awarded the Bush Prize grant, the GRC would like to recognize three other incredible community serving organizations who made the semifinalist grant round. They include Racing Magpie, Spirit Lake Youth Sports and Pine Ridge Parks, Recreation & Trails.

Looking ahead, the GRC plans to invite the community to recognize and honor Dream of Wild Health and Little Earth Residents Association at a public ceremony to be scheduled by December. Follow the GRC on Facebook to catch this event, more news, and future grant opportunities.

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