Education is a cornerstone for self-sufficiency and the long-term challenges facing Indian country.

Long-Term Solutions

Capacity Building

Our Capacity Building services equip our reservation partners who want to make a greater contribution to their communities. Capacity building supports expanded skills, expanded leadership and/or expanded effectiveness of community resources and initiatives. PWNA is continually receiving feedback from our reservation program partners and next steps that will help them be more effective, and this has resulted in several new long-term solutions services.

The Four Directions Development Program (4D) is a key capacity building service designed around a six-month cohort-based model. Participants commit to personal and professional development goals and work with keys/mentors and professional instructors for support in attaining their goals. Our first 4D cohorts completed in 2015, and PWNA is tracking the graduates’ progress after program completion.

Train-the-Trainer (T3) is another six-month, cohort-based training service focused on nutrition skill building. This service targets cooks, cooks' aides, and local practitioners working in K-12, senior center, community program and healthcare settings with a responsibility for nutrition and wellness. T3 training covers healthy cooking, Native food history and food as medicine, and the skills to teach other members of the community and beyond. Our nutrition focus has also expanded to encompass Food Sovereignty and food access solutions.

Disaster Response & Preparedness (DRP) builds capacity by helping tribal communities focus on readiness to respond when disaster or environmental emergencies strike. DRP supports tribal communities in end-to-end disaster planning, from asset mapping to detail their community resources and gaps, to identifying effective response strategies and organized response plans for specific types of emergencies, to training tribal citizens in CPR, First Aid and use of AAEDs.

PWNA offers Capacity Building services for partners in the Southwest and Northern Plains.