Staff

The NDN Foundation team is led by Managing Director Gaby Strong (Dakota), in collaboration with a team of grantmaking professionals who are committed to re-matriating wealth back to the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and related Island Nations.

NDN Collective Staff

Grants and Fellowship

Janet Maylen (Muscogee (Creek)), Program Officer: [email protected]
Focus areas:  Radical Imagination-U.S. based artists; Community Self-Determination-U.S. based grantees; Community Action Fund, U.S. based


PennElys Droz (Anishinaabe/Wyandot), Program Officer[email protected]
Focus areas:  Radical Imagination-Canada; Changemaker Fellows, U.S. based and Canada; Community Self-Determination-Canada; Community Action Fund, U.S. based and Canada


Nicole Yanes (Opata), Program Officer:  [email protected]
Focus areas:  Radical Imagination – Mexico and Spanish-Speaking Artists; Changemaker Fellowship-U.S. and Mexico regions; Community Self-Determination-U.S. and Mexico and Spanish Speaking Fellows; Community Action Fund – U.S. and Mexico


KamiRae James (Hopi), Program Officer:
Focus area:  Community Action Fund, Community Self-Determination


Teresa Peterson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota and Member of the Upper Sioux Community), Program Manager: [email protected]
Focus Area: Collective Abundance Fund – Planning, design and implementation of the Collective Abundance Fund for individuals and families in the tri-state region of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota


Tina Kuckkahn (Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Director of Grantmaking:  [email protected]
Focus areas:  All NDN grantmaking programs and resources across all regions 


Technical Support

Tiana Begay (Diné/Hopi), Grants Manager:  [email protected]
Focus areas:  Grant portal and online grants management program 


Billie White (Oglala Lakota), Grants Manager:  [email protected]
Focus areas:  Grant portal and online grants management program 


Crystal Standing Bear (Osage Nation), Program Associate: [email protected]
Focus areas:  Grant portal and online grants management support


Dakotah Jim (Diné), Technical Support Specialist:  [email protected]
Focus areas:  Grantee/partnership technical support


Administration, Strategy and Partnerships

Gaby Strong (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), Managing Director:  [email protected]
Focus areas: Oversight of all grantmaking, programming and partnerships

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