WFA Grantee Spotlight: Northwest Indian College (NWIC)
Intergenerational Mentoring for Young Indian Women
Since 1992 the NWIC Women and Girls Conference has brought together women and girls from multiple tribal nations to celebrate the Northwest region’s rich tribal heritage. Mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins, aunts, and grandmothers from all over the Pacific Northwest gather for three days, creating opportunities for one-on-one intergenerational mentoring that build a sense of leadership and accomplishment in young women.
For women and girls who cannot afford to attend this amazing event, funding from WFA is there to help.
Since 2005, funding from WFA has allowed NWIC to provide stipends and scholarships to women and girls who could otherwise not afford to attend. Ruth Solomon, organizer of the event, praises WFA for their support: “About 75 percent of our families are low income...without WFA support we would have a really hard time making the conference happen.”
These scholarships have helped women like Lora Boome, who, at a young age gravitated toward conference workshops where she received mentoring on traditional plants and herbal remedies. Over the years Lora started doing her own workshops at the conference, and eventually began mentoring her younger cousins and nieces in traditional plants. Now 26, Lora will be graduating from Northwest Indian College with a BA in Native Environmental Science this spring. She will use her considerable knowledge of traditional plants and mentoring skills to help women as the Coordinator for the Women’s Wellness program at NWIC.
Susan Given-Seymour, Director of NWIC, says Lora’s story is emblematic of the life-long impact the conference has on women and girls: “As a result of the conference, women and girls are encouraged to become more involved with their families, in their cultural traditions, and in their communities. In turn, their efforts create community change. This strategy transforms the lives of the women and girls who participate in our programs and activities.”
