Press Release from Nalgene Outdoor
Nalgene Outdoor, maker of reusable water bottles and the steward of The Nalgene Water Fund, pledges its support to Navajo Nation (Diné) with the launch of its exclusive “Tó éí iiná” (Water is Life) bottle, from which five dollars from every sale will benefit Navajo Nation. Additionally, Nalgene recently donated nearly $30,000 in funds and critical supplies to combat the water crisis facing America’s largest Indigenous tribe.
Available for purchase at Nalgene.com for $15.00, the new bottle was designed in partnership with Jaden Redhair, age 20, an accomplished designer, member of the Jemez Clan, and life-long Navajo Nation resident. His unique design features a striking landscape of Monument Valley framed within the map of the Navajo homeland. Displayed prominently on the bottle is the Navajo phrase “Tó éí iiná” (Water is Life) to raise awareness of the Navajo’s core belief that water is essential to all living things.
“The design symbolizes the sacred role water plays in the Diné people’s lives,” says Redhair. “I hope it draws attention to my people’s plight. Right now, one in three Navajo Nation households struggle daily because they do not have access to running water.”
The exclusive bottle is a way to involve Nalgene fans in a mission to support the Navajo Nation, expanding the Nalgene Water Fund’s greater commitment:
Every Nalgene bottle is BPA- and BPS-free, durable, leak-proof, dishwasher safe and made in America with its tried and true, one bottle and one cap simple design that has become iconic to Nalgene.
For more information on The Nalgene Water Fund or to read more about Jaden Redhair and his design for the new Navajo inspired Nalgene bottle, visit https://nalgene.com/nalgene-water-fund/
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About the Artist: Jaden Redhair
Jaden Redhair is from the Jemez Clan and born for the Charcoal Streaked of the Red Running into the Water Clan. His maternal grandfather’s clan is Water’s Edge and his paternal grandfather’s clan is Bitter Water. In Navajo, “Tó éí iiná” translates to “Water is Life.” Water is the essence and the focal point of the Diné people, but many of the homes on the Navajo Nation do not have access to running water or electricity. With the Nalgene Water Fund, Jaden created a bottle design to help raise funds for accessible water throughout the Navajo Nation, a nation of well over 300,000 people.
Jaden helps progress the Navajo Nation forward through his education and design work. He is currently an undergraduate studying electrical engineering at Stanford University (’22), but for all his life, he has known Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Nation as his home. Eldest of seven children, Jaden seeks to be a role model to his younger siblings, teaching them to be proud of their community and give back in any way they can. His work not only raises awareness about and funds for Navajo issues, but also enables Navajo people to make a change for the better, one person and one community at a time.
About NALGENE Outdoor
NALGENE® Outdoor Products is based in Rochester, New York. Founded in 1949 as a manufacturer of the first plastic pipette holder, the company soon expanded its product line to include state-of-the-art polyethylene labware under the NALGENE brand. By the mid-1970s, outdoor enthusiasts had discovered the taste and odor-resistant, leak-proof and rugged properties of NALGENE’s large selection of plastic containers. In response to this emerging demand, NALGENE Outdoor Products was formed and today the consumer-oriented business offers its customers a wide choice of safe, environmentally friendly, BPA- and BPS- free products that meet their lifestyle needs. For more information, contact NALGENE Consumer Products or visit www.nalgene.com.
The Nalgene Water Fund
The Nalgene Water Fund (NWF) was created in August 2019 to raise funds and awareness for [domestic] U.S. communities struggling with access to clean water by supporting grass-roots nonprofits serving those communities. By fall 2020 the NWF had identified programs in both Flint, MI and Navajo Nation to benefit from donations. In Flint, MI the NWF is helping to support The Flint Community Lab, a community-run lab that is for and by the local community, instilling trust as the City rebuilds from its water crisis. For more information visit www.nalgene.com/nalgene-water-fund/.
Back in March our amazing partner Raving planned to host the sixth Native Strong Comedy Slam and Jam at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Expo benefitting NB3 Foundation. Due to the pandemic the event has been postponed until further notice. However, you can still support the guitar auction by making a bid through April 2021: https://one.bidpal.net/comedyslam/browse/all
Donated signed guitars from Los Lonely Boys, Styx and other artists are featured.
Thank you to our sponsors:
AGEM
Barona Band of Mission Indians
Bold Concepts
BMM Test Labs
Bristol Associates, Inc.
California Indian Legal Service
Casino Science
Catalyst Marketing Company
Etix
Everi Holdings
Gary Platt Manufacturing
IGT – International Gaming Technology
Imagine This
Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures
National Indian Gaming Association
New Horizon Kids Quest, Inc.
PNM
Pueblo of Sandia
Raving Consulting Company
Dennis Conrad
George Hiller Jr., NB3 Foundation Board
Audrey Martinez, NB3 Foundation Board
Red Circle
ROI Solutions, Inc.
Sagebrush Hill Group, LLC
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Seminole Tribe of Florida
Talisman Group
University of Phoenix
Like so many other organizations, we were unsure how to go about our annual events. In 2020, many of our events were canceled for the safety of our youth and communities. However, we were able to host NB3FIT Week and our NB3FIT Community XC Race virtually!
“We are so thankful we had the ability to go virtual and that our Native youth and communities, near and far, showed up and participated,” Cyanne Lujan, director of advancement said. “Though we couldn’t see our community members in person for the race, going virtual allowed everyone the opportunity to participate no matter where they live.”
NB3 Foundation has been hosting NB3FIT Week every November since 2016. NB3FIT Week has always been a week-long initiative dedicated to getting Native youth and communities healthy and active! Each year, NB3 Foundation calls on Native organizations and tribes to host health and fitness events for their youth and community members. This year, Native communities across the country hosted their own virtual and socially-distanced events that provided their community the opportunity to stay active while staying SAFE.
Going virtual for the NB3FIT Virtual XC Race was also a new scene for the NB3 Foundation, and served as a great learning experience for the years to come.
“Going forward, I think we will always provide the virtual aspect,” Lujan said. “We learned this is a great way to be inclusive of Native youth and communities who cannot travel and participate in person.”
We especially want to recognize the organizations, communities and families that joined us for our virtual events. For the first time, NB3 Foundation provided instructional videos to participants to help promote physical activity and healthy nutrition during NB3FIT Week.
“Like everyone else, we were limited on what we could do safely this year. We tried our best and were able to try some new things this year with the videos and NB3FIT Week Bingo,” Lujan said. “We look forward to learning from 2020 and making 2021 an even better experience for Native youth and families.”
It’s been a busy few months for Leroy “Buster” Silva as he been the recent recipient of two awards celebrating the work he does in community. Silva was first recognized by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development as a recipient of their 40 under 40 award! The award is bestowed upon individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership, initiative and have made significant contributions to their community.
“We are so grateful to have Leroy on our NB3 Foundation team. The energy and true passion he has for strengthening communities is apparent in all that he does,” COO/Acting President and CEO Jon Driskell said. “It is great to see him being recognized for all his hard work and dedication.”
Silva was also recognized as the Con Alma Health Foundation’s 2020 Hero of Health! Fellow NB3 Foundation team member Simone Duran, who works closely with Leroy, nominated him for the award.
“He is a passionate leader who loves to help communities create positive changes to live healthy, strong and resilient,” Duran said.
In such a challenging year, it makes us feel good to see one of our own receiving such well-deserved recognitions.
“Da’wa’eh (Thank You) to everyone who has supported me along my leadership journey. Leaders are made in many different ways. All I can say is that I have been groomed by the best minds and hearts in the world,” Silva said. “Thank you for challenging me, thank you for the opportunities to grow, and thank you for taking a chance on me. When I shine, YOU shine!”
The Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation is excited to announce the release of its new report,“Getting to the Heart of Community: Creating a Culturally Responsive Evaluation Framework.” This report presents a process for Indigenous communities and organizations interested in designing an evaluation framework that prioritizes their own values and objectives.
“A primary goal of this report was for it to be another helpful resource for Indigenous communities working to create an evaluation methodology that responds to and reflects their community’s needs,” said Renee Goldtooth-Halwood, NB3 Foundation director of evaluation and research.
The report tells the story of how the NB3 Foundation and Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP) built on current Native-led research and the NB3 Foundation’s Indigenous Health Framework to strengthen ZYEP’s current evaluation process. Over the course of eight months, through a series of gatherings and meetings, the NB3 Foundation and ZYEP teams worked through the Indigenous Health Model to: 1) develop outcome statements at the community level with indicators for cultural connections; and 2) examine ways to define and measure successes that are significant to Zuni.
“With children at the center, ZYEP utilized the Indigenous Health Model as a guide to be inclusive of inter-generational voices when keeping track of what matters most to them,” Goldtooth-Halwood said. “In the report you’ll see the challenges and opportunities along the way, and the love, patience and dedication ZYEP has for the youth and families in their community.”
“NB3 Foundation’s Indigenous Health Framework showed us how to bring Zuni community leaders, parents and youth together in a collective effort to promote the health of our youth participants,” Executive Director of ZYEP, Joseph Claunch, Ph.D. said. “This project has been a source of inspiration for our team and continues to provide us with a model for culturally responsive youth development . We are thankful for NB3 Foundation’s leadership in the field of Indigenous Evaluation.”
This report also shares with communities and funders key offerings to reclaiming Indigenous evaluation methodologies, and highlights the importance of respecting and valuing these methodologies and outcomes.
The NB3 Foundation understands communities are not homogenous, differing in culture, governance, geography and priorities. Therefore, we invite communities and organizations to review this report utilizing the tools and recommendations that make sense to their evaluation journey.
DOWNLOAD report here!
This report is supported by a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Health Impact Project, The Pew Charitable Trusts or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
About Zuni Youth Enrichment Project
The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP) believes cultural connection and expression are essential to community health. Since our inception in 2008, we have cultivated broad community support, developing close partnerships with Zuni: youth, families, Tribe, artists, cultural leaders, school system, health organizations, businesses, and other partners like the Notah Begay III Foundation to offer innovative programs to thousands Zuni youth free of charge. Through a culture- and evidence-based model, ZYEP has developed a series of year around programs that include summer camps, after school programs, and sport leagues that aim to improve the health of Zuni youth and give them a deeper connection to Zuni traditions. ZYEP has also learned that healthy youth need access to spaces that can support healthy activities. To this end, ZYEP has developed 50+ miles of walking trails, eight community gardens, and recently opened a state of the art youth center and park in the heart of Zuni’s main village. Learn more about ZYEP at: www.zyep.org
About the Notah Begay III Foundation
The Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation is a national, award-winning Native-led nonprofit dedicated to improving Native American children’s health. Each day, thousands of Native youth wake up facing significant health challenges and barriers to living full lives. The good news is that most are preventable and together we are changing this reality. NB3 Foundation is changing the lives of Native American children by supporting and funding Native-driven, culturally centered programs and by providing direct opportunities for Native youth to live healthy, active lives. We believe that success must be driven at the local level and focus on holistic prevention, including child, family and community. To learn more about the NB3 Foundation, please visit at: www.nb3foundation.org
On August 26, NB3 Foundation hosted our last meeting with the Native Youth on the Move Community Team.
Over the last two years, we had the pleasure of working with nine organizations, from the Albuquerque area and surrounding Pueblo communities, to create more opportunities for Native youth to participate in play, physical activity and sports.
The numbers tell the story. This graphic breaks down the quantitative data which highlights all the work and impact that took place over the last two years.
Pre-COVID, the NYM Community Team attended monthly in-person gatherings where they learned and shared with community partners from across New Mexico. In these gatherings, teams shared their programming, collaborated on various events, and were provided helpful tools, such as Zines, Photo Voice, and Graphic Note Taking, to help them along their journey.
By utilizing a collective impact approach, we were able to gather support from local organizations, businesses, sports teams, and community champions. Each partner played an important role throughout the Native Youth on the Move journey, and we are grateful for their support!
This graphic showcases the tools that the NYM cohort learned and utilized through-out their journey together.
Lastly, we would like to thank the NYM Community Team for their time and commitment to Native children’s health! It was a pleasure watching your programs grow and prosper, but most importantly—it was so nice to build meaningful relationships with you all.
Stay tuned as we share the stories of impact our community partners had on the youth in the programming and communities.
Native youth on the Move Community Team:
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
Cycles of Life (Karuna Colectiva)
Mountain Chief Institute (Spirit of Hoops)
National Indian Youth Council
Native American Community Academy
Native Health Initiative (Running Medicine)
Pueblo of Laguna (Sports & Wellness Department)
Pueblo of Santa Ana ( Youth Programming Department)
Tribal Entities Connect
NB3FIT
We are excited to be featuring Native youth artist, Isaac Boss who recently helped revamp our NB3FIT Week artwork!
Isaac drew the sports icons that make up our updated design. Isaac’s artwork is featured on our official banner (below) and our NB3FIT t-shirts! We are excited our NB3FIT Week artwork that is meant to inspire and motivate youth, now includes work from a young Native artist.
Here’s a little more about Isaac:
Isaac Boss (Kewa/Laguna/Hopi/Akimel O’odham) is currently a sixth-grader at Amy Biehl Community School in Santa Fe, NM. His passion for digital illustration, animation and sewing are among his many skills as a young artist. During his fifth-grade year, Isaac was awarded the Grand Prize for ARTsmart New Mexico’s Painted Ceramics Project in February 2020; over 1,000 Santa Fe Public School fifth-graders participated. He started a YouTube channel, BunnyFox Studios, to share his digital animation work online. Isaac is the son of Leah Boss and Ben Calabaza, the co-founders of Iroots Media, LLC, a design and marketing group in Santa Fe, NM.
Thank you Isaac for sharing your amazing creativity and talent with us. We look forward to seeing where your talent and hard work take you.
Get your NB3FIT Week t-shirt here!
Register for NB3FIT Week!
The Notah Begay III (NB3) Foundation announces the resignation of President and CEO, Justin Kii Huenemann. Since 2015, Justin was a dedicated and valued member of our team who provided valuable leadership to the organization. Under his leadership, NB3 Foundation has been further recognized as a national leader in Native youth and community health. We are grateful for his many contributions which have strengthened our organization and furthered progress towards our mission.
“It has been an honor to serve Native youth and their families through the NB3 Foundation. At no time is it more important than now to have our young ones engaged in healthy opportunities that reinforce and support their abilities to achieve their fullest potential. I look forward to continuing to ensure our Native relatives are able to live life on their own terms” said Justin Huenemann.
Founder and Board Member, Notah Begay III shared, “Justin Huenemann elevated the NB3 Foundation to a position of national prominence through his leadership, creative thinking and networking. As a result of these efforts NB3 Foundation was able to enhance services to Native youth and expand our reach. It is with the deepest appreciation that we wish Justin well in the next chapter of his career.”
The Board and Staff wish Justin great success in his future endeavors. The NB3 Foundation remains committed to carrying on our work and our mission to ensure Native children achieve their full potential by advancing cultures of Native American community health.
The Board of Directors has named Chief Operating Officer, Jon Driskell, interim president and CEO of the Foundation. If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact Mr. Driskell at jon@nb3f.org.
