25 Years of the Native Cultures Fund

A vision of Northern California Native leaders in the 1990s, the Native Cultures Fund (NCF) has supported more than 400 artists, culture bearers, and tribal researchers, sharing over $3 million through grants to Native communities and individuals in the past 25 years of community work.

NCF has three main areas of focus: grantmaking and scholarships, programming, and relationship and field building. Grants are used for the preservation, revitalization, and perpetuation of the rich California Tribal cultures across NCF’s service region. Initiated and led by Native peoples, NCF is a partnership between Native communities, HAF+WRCF, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and other donors. Since 2002, NCF has been housed at HAF+WRCF.

In partnership with community leaders, we create and sustain programming that offers culture bearers, language revivalists, and Native educators the space to build community, share best practices, and strengthen the cultural renaissance in California. NCF also supports programs to promote widespread understanding of Native cultures and history.

NCF continues to reflect and build upon the findings from our 2019 program evaluation. Additionally, through a built-in feedback loop with the communities we serve, we continue to deepen our understanding of what it truly means to be in support of community. We recognize that cultural communities throughout the state are dynamic, living, breathing societies that are in constant movement. As such, we continue to listen, evolve, and develop new ways to support cultural revitalization in Native California.

NCF is honored to have engaged in this community work for over 25 years. Because of our deeply rooted, multi-generational relationships with the many communities across our service region, we have been able to witness firsthand the healing journeys of these communities. We have seen the reclamation and revitalization of California’s first peoples.

Trinidad Rancheria has been hosting ongoing workshops, practices, and camps for youth in the community to engage in herlh-perh, a traditional stick game. Tribal traditions, including herlh-perh, help revive and restore the physical wellbeing of the participants, the spirit of cooperation and connection, and the vitality of community.

By bringing their ancient ways and practices forward, their people are taught the true meaning of respect; even though they compete against each other, their people will still come together in a time of need. The program also provides a focal point to coordinate and build other community activities and relationships.

The Jack Montoya Memorial Scholarship was created in 2016, by the estate of the late Eunice Neilsen. Past Native Cultures Fund (NCF) director Chag Lowry traveled to the Bay Aea, along with local community members Pimm Tripp-Allen, Leo Canez and the late Amos Tripp in their journey of getting to know Eunice.

In their time together, the Late Amos Tripp impressed her. Amos, one of the first California Indian Attorneys, was deeply rooted in his role as a Karuk dance leader and essential to the cultural revitalization and communal healing across the north coast. Amos was a mentor for countless generations across the community, and he did so with a joy and light that impacted all who were fortunate enough to know him. Once, Eunice asked Amos how to support more students to be like him. He shared that children who grow up in families who practice their culture understand the importance of providing for and giving back to their communities. Eunice created this scholarship to support those students and named it after a mentor in her life, Jack Montoya.

Each year NCF shares up to $150,000 with culturally active Native students across the state. These students are enhancing their knowledge and are committed to returning to share it with the communities that raised them. This scholarship is creating its own network of scholars, and we are proud to witness our graduates return home and live in to their commitments to community.

This year, we excitedly share that we have surpassed 1 million dollars being shared with our scholars across the state. NCF is honored to be the home of the Jack Montoya Memorial Scholarship and look forward to seeing the continued work of all our Montoya Scholars.

Find more information about NCF, visit our Native Cultures Fund webpage or reach out to our NCF Team at nativecultures@hafoundation.org.

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Read through more highlights in the 2025 Summer/Fall Newsletter.