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Help us tell the stories that could save Native languages and food traditions

At a critical moment for Indian Country, Native News Online is embarking on our most ambitious reporting project yet: "Cultivating Culture," a three-year investigation into two forces shaping Native community survival—food sovereignty and language revitalization.

The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.

Our dedicated reporting team will spend three years documenting these stories through on-the-ground reporting in 18 tribal communities, producing over 200 in-depth stories, 18 podcast episodes, and multimedia content that amplifies Indigenous voices. We'll show policymakers, funders, and allies how cultural restoration directly impacts physical and mental wellness while celebrating successful models of sovereignty and self-determination.

This isn't corporate media parachuting into Indian Country for a quick story. This is sustained, relationship-based journalism by Native reporters who understand these communities. It's "Warrior Journalism"—fearless reporting that serves the 5.5 million readers who depend on us for news that mainstream media often ignores.

We need your help right now. While we've secured partial funding, we're still $450,000 short of our three-year budget. Our immediate goal is $25,000 this month to keep this critical work moving forward—funding reporter salaries, travel to remote communities, photography, and the deep reporting these stories deserve.

Every dollar directly supports Indigenous journalists telling Indigenous stories. Whether it's $5 or $50, your contribution ensures these vital narratives of resilience, innovation, and hope don't disappear into silence.

Levi headshotThe stakes couldn't be higher. Native languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Food insecurity plagues many tribal communities. But solutions are emerging, and these stories need to be told.

Support independent Native journalism. Fund the stories that matter.

Levi Rickert (Potawatomi), Editor & Publisher

 
 
About The Author
Native News Online Staff
Author: Native News Online StaffEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at [email protected].

June 24, 2025 Elyse Wild
A 2022 study by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control made headlines for revealing that Native Americans die on average 6.5 years younger than the general population. But new research shows that the life expectancy gap is likely much larger.
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Red Hoop Talk , the Association on American Indian Affairs’ signature Native news and talk show, continues to serve as a dynamic platform for conversation, cultural celebration, and collective healing. Relaunched in 2024 with a renewed vision and a new host, the show centers Native voices—highlighting lived experiences, humor, and wisdom across generations and Nations.
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June 25, 2025 Pete Upton Opinion 284
Guest Opinion. Twenty-three years ago, Congress confronted a hard truth: Indian Country faced systemic financial exclusion — and Native-led solutions were the key to change. At a Senate hearing prompted by The Native American Lending Study , witnesses like Elsie Meeks of First Nations Oweesta Corporation and Roger Boyd of the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund called for a new federal commitment to Native-controlled lenders.
June 25, 2025 Judith LeBlanc Opinion 2396
Guest Opinion. The U.S. Senate has added an attack on Tribal Sovereignty to it’s Big Ugly Budget.
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June 25, 2025 Native News Online Staff Sovereignty 904
On June 17, the Native Nations Center for Tribal Policy Research—partnering with Tana Fitzpatrick, associate vice president for tribal relations at the University of Oklahoma, and the OU Center for Faculty Excellence—hosted the latest session in its Ethical Tribal Engagement Series at the OU Health Sciences Center. The event drew nearly 70 in-person participants and more than 120 virtual attendees.
June 24, 2025 Native News Online Staff Sovereignty 474
On Wednesday, June 18, members of the 25th Navajo Nation Council joined the Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission, LeChee Chapter leadership, the Navajo Department of Water Resources (DWR), and other key stakeholders to celebrate the blessing ceremony and groundbreaking of Phase I of the Western Navajo Pipeline – the LeChee Water System Improvement Project.
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On Tuesday, June 17, Speaker Crystalyne Curley and Council Delegate Dr. Andy Nez met with representatives from the Department of Diné Education (DODE), Diné Bi Oltá School Board Association (DBOSBA), and the BIA Navajo Region to develop a unified response to the Bureau of Indian Education’s recent “Dear Tribal Leader” letter.
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The Bureau of Indian Education has appointed Mackie Moore (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) as the interim president of Haskell Indian Nations University. He will serve in this role while a national search is conducted for a permanent president.
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The Navajo Technical University (NTU) Rodeo Team is proud to announce its participation in the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR), taking place at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper, Wyoming, from June 15 to 24, 2025.
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Sitting Bull, the revered leader of the Great Sioux Nation, stood as a powerful figure among Plains Tribal Nations resisting colonization. Feared by American forces during the settler wars and vilified after his death, his legacy was deliberately distorted by those who sought to diminish his influence. Yet, a new chapter is being written—one that sheds light on his true role as a patriot, song composer, and cultural icon of the Hunkpapa Lakota.
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Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III, the former director of the National Park Service, has been named by the University of Oregon School of Law as the first Oregon Tribes Scholar-in-Residence and Senior Fellow with the Native Environmental Sovereignty Project. The position is part of Oregon Law’s top-ranked Environmental and Natural Resources Law (ENR) Center. A native of Pendleton, Oregon, Sams is Cayuse and Walla Walla and is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He brings more than 30 years of leadership in natural resource management, conservation, and sustainable stewardship. Currently, he serves on the Pacific Northwest Power and Conservation Council as Governor Tina Kotek’s appointee and Co-Chairs the Oregon Environmental Restoration Fund. Sams made history under the Biden Administration as the first Indigenous Director of the National Park Service. In that role, he advanced agency-wide priorities focused on climate resilience, Tribal sovereignty, and the future of public lands nationwide. “We are tremendously honored to have Chuck Sams join our community and advance our school’s commitment to the Oregon Tribes,” said Dean Jennifer Reynolds, who collaborated with the ENR Center and campus partners to bring Sams to Oregon Law. In his new role, Sams will contribute across multiple areas: sharing expertise in and out of the classroom, mentoring students, guiding research on Tribal co-management of lands and resources, and building stronger partnerships with Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. “I am thrilled to have such a visionary thinker with national stature contributing to our innovative research,” said Mary C. Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the ENR Center. One of Sams’ first engagements at Oregon Law will be co-presenting in the widely attended Oregon Law Perspectives webinar series. Alongside Professor of Practice Howard Arnett, he will lead a session titled “Treaties, Trust, and Tomorrow: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Native Lands” on August 8, 2025. One of Sams' first endeavors is participating in the popular Oregon Law Perspectives webinar series, where, with Professor of Practice Howard Arnett , he will co-present "Treaties, Trust, and Tomorrow: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Native Lands" on August 8, 2025. Learn more about Oregon Law Perspectives .
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The Department of the Interior today announced a new step toward strengthening U.S. energy independence by proposing expanded access to Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. A draft analysis released for public comment recommends adopting a new alternative from the 2020 management plan that would reopen up to 82% of the 23-million-acre reserve to oil and gas leasing and development—advancing the Trump administration’s goals of energy dominance and regulatory reform.