In response to Native communities being an underinvested demographic and receiving less than half of 1 percent of all private philanthropic dollars, in 2018 the Better Way Foundation Board of Directors made a 10-year, $10 million dollar commitment to organizations serving Native children and families.

Now, halfway into that commitment, we have invested $6.4 million dollars in partners that are strengthening and expanding access to early childhood development that centers on Indigenous cultures and languages. Pictured left are total grants by year for investments in Indigenous ECD.

Our ECD partners extend across the upper Midwest and Southwest regions of the country, and we applaud the role they play to preserve Indigenous languages and cultures through such initiatives as development of Indigenous curriculum, educator development and support on teaching Native languages, and launching bilingual preschool programs.