In this session we will learn about the journey of Native American youth at Elderberry Wisdom Farm, especially their health and wellness resilience. Rose High Bear, founding director of Elderberry Wisdom Farm, will discuss several of their programs and projects including career pathway planning services, and a learning model specifically designed for Native American and other students of color. The farm’s emphasis on training Native youth helps fulfill the organization's mission and vision, assisting Native Americans as they integrate academics, experiential service-learning activities and cultural and ecological knowledge while creating their own agricultural and horticultural career pathways.
Elderberry Wisdom Farm (aka Wisdom of the Elderberry Farm), is a 501(c)(3) Native American nonprofit offering horticultural and farming career pathways and micro-enterprise opportunities for Native American adults interested in restoring local ecosystems; and developing habitat restoration, horticultural or agricultural micro-enterprises which can provide opportunities for multi-generational prosperity for vulnerable Native American workers and their families. Traditional Ecological Knowledge Workforce Project is a 5-year career pathway planning initiative in partnership with Chemeketa Community College which continues to provide experiential service-learning training for Native American and other students of color pursuing environmental conservation, agricultural and horticultural career pathways, including micro-enterprise development.
Rose High Bear developed the Native American Biodiversity Accelerator in 2022, the agricultural micro-enterprise business development initiative for Native American adults and other students of color. This social and economic development initiative created several micro-enterprise businesses, new nonprofit staff jobs, ongoing cohort development, and is supported by eleven partners.
Rose High Bear, Deg Hit’an Dine/Inupiat, was born and raised in a remote subarctic Athabascan village of McGrath on Alaska’s Kuskoquim River. Following graduation from Oregon State University, she co-founded Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. (Wisdom) in Portland, Oregon in 1993. For 26 years, she dedicated herself as Executive Director to Wisdom’s mission. Rose retired in 2019 to rural Marion County where she founded Elderberry Wisdom Farm. She upholds its mission by providing an abundance of resources for Native community development in the greater Salem area and far beyond.
29 окт 2024
