Page 27 - 2025 April Report

Grant Program Committee minutes (draft)
Members Present:
Member Absent: Others Present:
Minutes of Grant Program Committee Meeting March 16, 2025 @ 9:00 a.m.
Angelique Albert, Bea Awoniyi, Sherry Salway Black, William Corwin (via Zoom), I. King Jordan, Jr., Richard Krause, Robert Krause (non-voting), Malcolm Macleod, Mike Miller
David Blaikie
Hannah Deadman-Arnst, Hugh Brown, Mabel Colón, Lisa Loomis, Tommy Pence, Sharon Wood
Malcolm chaired the meeting.
Prior to the start of the meeting, Bobby asked Mabel Colón, the new Program Officer, and Ian Record, the new Entrepreneurship Scholarship Program Consultant, to introduce themselves. Ian, who had joined the meeting virtually, left the meeting following his introduction.
1. December 2024 meeting minutes
The minutes of the Committee’s December 2024 meeting had been circulated. Two spelling
typos were noted. Minutes were approved with spelling typos corrected.
2. Businessarisingfromtheminutes/Updateonprograms The Action Items list had been circulated.
Bobby notified the Committee that Northwest Indian College’s tax-exempt status with the IRS has now been reinstated as of November 2024. The NWIC Foundation’s status had been reinstated earlier in 2024. He plans to visit the school this spring.
3. Updateonprograms
Reports and updates involving University of Alaska - Fairbanks, VIA, the scholarships for the
children of UPS employees, and a thank you from Heritage University had been circulated.
It was pointed out that in several places in the report from the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, there is reference to students receiving a Johnson Foundation Scholarship rather than a Johnson Scholarship Foundation Scholarship. Concern was also expressed about the use of corporation or village references rather than tribal affiliations.
Mabel highlighted the current applications report from Scholarship America indicating that they anticipate being able to award grants in the same amount as last year. Tommy pointed out that in 2024, Scholarship America had carryover funds on hand which were added to the JSF grant. They awarded $1,205,000 in scholarships in 2024.
4. DiscretionaryandMatchinggrants
The following Director Discretionary Grants were unanimously approved:
Native Forward Scholars Fund
National Indian Child Welfare Association American Indigenous Business Leaders
First Peoples Fund
The Harvard Project – Honoring Nations IndiJ Public Media
National Center for Am. Ind. Enterprise Devel. Sante Fe College
$ 2,000 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 5,000 $ 2,000 $ 5,000 $ 5,000 $25,000
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