Red Feather Development Group

RED FEATHER DEVELOPMENT GROUP PARTNERS WITH AMERICAN INDIAN NATIONS TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS TO THE HOUSING NEEDS WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

We envision a world where healthy and safe housing is available to all and we are all inspired to work collectively to create self-sustaining communities.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Hire new community-based positions that are permanently on the Hopi and Navajo reservations to extend the rapid-response to homeowners

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: Increase the direct work we can provide to homeowners outside of major structural repairs, including allocating money for each client household that can be flexible (i.e. for doors and windows)

Goal Type: New program(s) based on observed changes in needs among our constituencies/communities served.

Goal Three: Increase number of grants applied for annually, and scale up PR efforts including a quarterly newsletter sent to all donors and partners and develop a major donor program

Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).

Describe an investment in leadership

Red Feather has allocated $800 per employee for continuing education, which ALL staff including management can use to for professional development trainings and workshops. In 2021 Red Feather hired a Fund Development Manager to oversee and grow the fund development, grants and donor relations departments. Red Feather also sought and received a major capacity building grant that allowed for the hiring of a Grants Management and Non-profit Management Consultant, that worked closely with the Fund Development Manager and Executive Director in the development of Logic Models for all program facets. The Board of Directors as expanded in the last years, with the new Board President Chrystel Cornelius bringing extensive knowledge and experience to the organization. As the CEO of the Oweesta Corporation, the only CDFI serving only Native populations, Chrystel's financial acumen has supported Red Feather's broader vision and goals.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Red Feather collaborates in strategic partnerships with both non-profit and governmental organizations across Hopi and Navajo to deliver our services. We partner with the Chapter Houses and Villages (local tribal government) to provide emergency firewood, heating services, and handwashing stations to those without running water. We also partner with non-profits, such as Collective Medicine/ Water Warriors, to provide services. A major partner is the Hopi Foundation, which distributes emergency supplies on behalf of Red Feather, such as roof sealant and tarps following flooding events. Red Feather's Education initiatives work on a community building model, hosting DIY home repair workshops in local communities, training individuals to be able to carry out their own home repairs. Red Feather actively posts on Social Media and distributes flyers to tribal government houses, and develops PSA's on healthy home issues for local radio stations.

Responding to the extremely high rates of infection and devastation from Covid-19 in Indian country, Red Feather pivoted our program focus to deliver over 700 mobile handwashing stations to families without running water, making the hygiene access necessary to stop the spread of the virus a priority. Following the closure of a local coal mine that supplied whole communities with affordable heating, Red Feather implemented an emergency firewood program, delivering hundreds of cords of firewood to those at risk of freezing to death. Red Feather’s recent focus on safe heating and air purifying options is a prime example of this community based process. This work has revealed that most families are dependent upon coal and wood to heat their homes. Solid fuel burning in the home can release high levels of pollution resulting in poor indoor air quality and a host of health complications. Strong scientific evidence has linked poor indoor air quality to complications with COVID-19. The need for improved indoor air quality and low-cost, safe heating drew Red Feather's attention to solar furnaces, which can warm a small home, and supplement larger homes, with free heat throughout the numerous clear southwest winter days. Working with Northern Arizona University engineering students in the trialing of different designs has illuminated system effectiveness and potential cost savings and health benefits from using solar furnaces. To date, Red Feather has installed 8 solar heating systems on the Hopi and Navajo Nations. As a result of positive client feedback, we are now expanding this work more broadly.