About the Intergenerational Indigenous Women's Fellowship: Circle 6 

Our Knowledge, Our Homelands, Our Future: Environment & Climate Change

Spirit Aligned Leadership desires to support Indigenous women leaders working in their communities to protect, restore, and adapt to climate change by utilizing traditional knowledge and innovative practices. 

Today, we are living in a time that requires transformative thinking and doing to address big challenges like “Climate Change and Ecosystem Collapse”.

Restoring Indigenous cultures is one important solution to climate change.  

Indigenous people manage 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. This is due to our traditional knowledge and understanding of the natural world and our tradition of stewardship and relationship with it. 

As the first peoples, we have lived on these lands for far longer than any other human beings. We have acquired a deep understanding of our natural world. 

Indigenous philosophies begin with our Creation Stories and make clear that we, as human beings, are an integral part of what the Western world today describes as “the environment”.

We are in a hopeful time as younger generations seek out traditional knowledge and wisdom to help address contemporary challenges. Indigenous Peoples are reclaiming their ancestral knowledge to heal, protect, and plan for a better future. Indigenous communities are embracing the need to bridge intergenerational knowledge for future impact. They are rallying to protect and sustain elders, knowledge keepers, and the intergenerational transfer of wisdom to sustain strong Indigenous futures. 

Program Summary

The Spirit Aligned Leadership Program invites a one year fellowship circle of Indigenous women from the United States and Canada who are currently applying their traditional knowledge to the care of their homeland. As the first peoples, our ancestral knowledge from living in our homelands for generations is helpful in crafting solutions to climate change.  

This is a 12-month fellowship that comes with $250,000. The way you use this money is completely up to your team (Legacy Leader plus at least one Future Legacy Leader). We want you to dream big while also being cognizant that 12-months is not a lot of time. This fellowship can be used to plant seeds for something bigger or to finish something already started or to do something in between. It can be used to pay salaries, to buy equipment, to fund travel, to hire consultants, and many other things. Ultimately, what this fellowship offers is freedom to do whatever you want to build climate resilience and address climate justice in your community as Indigenous women.

INTERGENERATIONAL FELLOWSHIP DESIGN/STRUCTURE/FRAMEWORK

Collaboration & Sisterhood

We desire to support Indigenous women’s leadership structures that are working.  We invite you to tell us what works for you, given your community culture and context.  

We ask that you include in your application at least one elder Indigenous woman, who we call a Legacy Leader.  Elder Indigenous women are 55 years and up. Indigenous women who are 18-54 years, we call Future Legacy Leaders. 

A total of $250,000 for a one-year fellowship is available. Share with us in the application what you will be doing and who will be doing what. A minimum of two Indigenous women is required, at least one Legacy Leader and one Future Legacy Leader. There can be more women.  You will self-determine who is included in your project and their role.  The women in your application must all be Indigenous because this is an Indigenous women’s leadership fellowship.

You may already be doing work together that centers on the environment. This fellowship may be the spark to do what you’ve been dreaming about.  

We desire to lift up what works for you and your people, as defined by you.

As Indigenous women, we know first-hand how difficult it is to fit our lives into all the guidelines & obligations of grants, governments, schools, etc.  

ELIGIBILITY & REQUIREMENTS

• Open to Indigenous women who are enrolled members of a Federally Recognized Tribal Nation, Native Hawaiian, First Nations of Canada, Inuit, or Métis.  You will need to verify this with documentation.
• At least one person in the group must be an elder (55 or over) who we call a Legacy Leader.
• Indigenous women between the ages of 18-54 years, arel Future Legacy Leaders.
• Have basic smartphone skills to take photos and answer emails.
• Individuals who are urban-based must demonstrate active ties and relationships to an ancestral indigenous community and homeland.

LEGACY LEADERS:

The Spirit Aligned Leadership Program remains committed to indigenous women elders, who we name as Legacy Leaders. They are connected knowers, empowered by living their values and experiences in self-determined ways for their people, their communities, and the sustainability of the worlds they hold up. They know the importance of passing on their ancestral knowledge and love to younger generations. 

FUTURE LEGACY LEADERS:

Future Legacy Leaders are younger women who are committed and hold deep in their hearts the belief that Indigenous ways really matter and must not be lost. They are connected learners and know the importance of passing on her people’s ancestral knowledge to current and future generations. From her own lived experiences, she understands the challenges of life that she and her community confront. She can prioritize aspects of her Legacy Leader’s knowledge and experiences and strategically adapt it to address today’s challenges. Most importantly, she can envision and strategically implement a bold collaborative path forward. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Big picture thinking: Strategically identify how to move your knowledge and experiences to improve your community. This can include utilizing existing community programs and frameworks or developing new ones. (incorporate this in the application)
2. Engage as a “thought partner” with the program, other Legacy Leaders and Future Legacy Leaders to share knowledge, stories, and strategies.
3. Work closely with each other in a trusting and collaborative sisterhood.
4. Participate in occasional zoom meetings to share knowledge and build relationships with other indigenous women in the program.
5. Minimum requirement: have/use a smartphone
6. Participate and engage in regular communications with staff, consultants, other Legacy Leaders, and Future Legacy Leaders via phone, email, and virtual meetings.
7. Implement and report on the status of your project by submitting two written reports: midway and final.

We look forward to welcoming our next Circle in February 2025. In the meantime, we encourage you to get to know the incredible women of Circles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 at our website: www.spiritaligned.org

PLEASE NOTE: If selected, all income/funds are considered individual income, and may affect or disqualify you from income restricted programs, such as social security, public assistance, snap benefits (food stamps), etc.  Spirit Aligned Leadership Program offers Tax Information sessions at no cost.
 

ABOUT THE APPLICATION PROCESS

This application (one application) is to be filled out by the team or by one team member on behalf of the team. One login and password will be shared by your team.

• Include all documentation requested for each applicant. We encourage teams of 3-4 people.
• At any time in this application process, you may SAVE your work and return to application later. You'll see this icon ⚠️ throughout the application as a reminder to save your work and take a break.
• At least one Legacy Leader, age 55+, and up to three (3) Future Legacy Leaders, ages 18-54.

APPLICATION CONTENTS

1. Basic Information for Team
2. Team Application Questions
3. Project: Narrative & Budget
4. Supporting Documents to be uploaded for the Legacy Leader(s) & Future Legacy Leader(s)
5. E-Sign, Date, & Submit the Application

*Incomplete applications will not be considered.

**Applications are reviewed upon submission.

***Should your Team be selected, you will complete Phase II of the application:

Section VI: 

1. Timeline Finalized
2. Budget Finalized
3. Onboarding and Payment Set Up
4. Tax Information Session

Section VII:

1. Upload Headshots/Photos
2. Upload Homeland Photos
3. Upload Introduction Video

USING SUBMITTABLE

• Please know that any technical questions can be addressed via https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/. Spirit Aligned Leadership will not be responding to any programmatic questions.
• You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook to submit these forms.
• You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date.
• If you need to make changes to your form, please withdraw your submission, make edits, and resubmit.
• Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
• You will receive confirmation of your application submission by email. Please be sure to safelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.
• Please feel free to refer to these articles for help navigating Submittable: Here's an article on inviting collaborators and here's an article on receiving a request to collaborate. For additional support navigating Submittable, please refer to the Submitter Portal at https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/