A Profile on Dana Arviso

First Nations Development Institute staff recently visited with the newly appointed executive director of the Potlatch Fund, Dana Arviso of the Diné Nation.  The Potlatch Fund, based in Seattle, Washington, is a Native-led grantmaking and leadership development organization serving Native communities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Dana started as a volunteer with the organization in 2007, where she primarily focused on resource development while undertaking postgraduate studies at the University of Washington.  She has been with the organization for four years, and is also a graduate of First Nations’ Leadership and Entrepreneurial Apprenticeship Development (LEAD) program. 

LEAD is an intensive one-year program that brings current Native nonprofit leaders together with young Native professionals identified as having the potential to become the next generation of Native nonprofit leaders.  Dana was a member of the program during the 2007-2008 cohort year, and what she learned during her experience helped prepare her for her new role as an executive director for the Potlatch Fund.  The following is a short excerpt of Dana’s interview:

First Nations:  What does Native leadership mean to you?
Dana:  Contemporary Native leadership is learning how to be a leader in many contexts. It is being knowledgeable, skillful, and confident in your abilities to advocate on behalf of Native people in tribal, urban, and non-Native contexts. One of the most important lessons that I have learned is the importance of planting seeds and cultivating allies within Native communities, across communities of color, and with non-Native allies. In order to build the kind of movement that will reverse the effects of the last 500 years of colonization, we need allies at every level, from the grassroots organizations to the highest levels of government and business.

First Nations: What does Native community development mean to you?
Dana:  Native community development is quite simply about rebuilding our Native nations. As tribal people indigenous to this land, we were once prosperous. We shared generously with our families, tribal members, and allies. I want to see our Native nations make a return back to that level of prosperity. I know that times have changed and we no longer live in the same reality as our ancestors, but we should strive not just to survive, but to thrive once again.