Grants for Native Californians: Native Cultures Fund Evaluation
Background Values and Public Perceptions
In an effort to better serve Native artists and communities, the Native Cultures Fund has hired an outside evaluator to conduct outreach (listening sessions around California, interviews, and this fun questionnaire!) to determine how effectively past, present and future grantees have been and are being served. The Native Cultures Fund, which was founded by Native people themselves, set out to support the art and cultural work of Native communities with a vision of grounding this work in Native needs and values. The organization and its sources of funding have changed over time and the fund would like to make sure it is still doing what the people want it to do. We, the evaluators would like to gauge the effectiveness of NCF'S work over time by looking at their adherence to the values identified by YOU, the California Native community--artists, knowledge holders, language speakers/teachers, elders. For the purpose of identifying Native cultural values so the we can create a framework for this information, we are asking that you think and share some Native language-based values, ones that are specific to your tribal group as well as ones that are shared intertribally or inter-regionally. The Section One of this questionnaire addresses these values as well as public perceptions of the NCF. Section Two is for PAST grantees, and Section Three looks forward, to help shape NCF's future. There are two questions that will help the California Endowment serve the needs of Native Californians, as well. Thank You for taking the time to equip these organizations to better serve Native communities!