[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Spotlight #2

August 2019

NAAF Trustee Sherry Salway Black (Oglala Lakota) is the 2019 John W. Gardner Leadership Award recipient. The award is presented by Independent Sector, a national membership organization that brings together a diverse set of nonprofits, foundations and corporations to enhance the charitable sector. The award honors “an individual whose leadership in or with the nonprofit community has been transformative and who has mobilized and unified people, institutions, or causes that improve the quality of life on our planet.”

[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”3520″ img_size=”medium”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]”The NAAF staff and Board of Trustees extend a heartfelt congratulations to Sherry on receiving the Gardner Award,” said Elsie Meeks (Oglala Lakota), chair of the NAAF Board of Trustees. “I have worked with Sherry for 30 years and seen firsthand her immense dedication to the advancement of Indian Country through affirming tribal sovereignty and centering indigenous values.”

Ms. Salway Black has an impressive legacy in Native economic development and her contributions to the role of nonprofits in Indian Country is foundational to current approaches. She was an early advocate for the establishment of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), an area of expertise that gets to the heart of NAAF’s core mission of increased access to agricultural credit for Native farmers and ranchers.

In addition to her service on the NAAF Board of Trustees, Ms. Salway Black is chair of the First Peoples Fund and Board Vice President of the Johnson Scholarship Foundation. Again, we congratulate Sherry Salway Black for receiving the 2019 John W. Gardner Leadership Award.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]