News.

Running Strong for American Indian Youth’s 2023 Dreamstarter,

Loren Waters, is dedicated to combating the underrepresentation of Native voices and stifling of environmental injustice coverage.

By bringing together Indigenous environmental activists and showcasing Indigenous environmental films, including “ᏗᏂᏠᎯ ᎤᏪᏯ (Meet Me At The Creek)”  – a documentary highlighting Cherokee elder Rebecca Jim’s fight to restore Tar Creek, Loren will inspire her community to fight for clean water rights, demand visibility, revitalize Native culture, and tell their own stories.

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This year’s theme is “Environmental Justice”, with each Dreamstarter using their $20,000 grant in ways such as increasing the visibility of indigenous environmental efforts, using storytelling to create more awareness of social and environmental injustices faced by tribal nations, strengthening tribal sovereignty and supporting tribal emergency management systems by using drone technology to increase accessibility to federal disaster relief funds, and others.