With Election 2020 behind us, we now turn our attention to making the positive change we want to see in the world. This month, Tides is excited to announce our new CEO, Janiece Evans-Page. We also want to honor our Native American brothers and sisters during Native American Heritage Month and pay respect to those who continue to fight for equality and justice, and who have been hit hard by COVID-19. Read more below.

Tides is thrilled to announce Janiece Evans-Page as the new CEO of Tides, effective January 4, 2021. Ms. Evans-Page brings to Tides a strong background in leadership, equity, and innovation, with more than two decades of leading business and social impact initiatives at organizations like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Fossil Foundation. Tuti B. Scott, who took on the role of Interim CEO in August 2019 after serving nine years on the Tides Network Board, will remain involved in early 2021 to support Janiece for a transition period. Read more. 

COVID-19 continues to threaten tribes and tribal cultures across the U.S. With federal government support lacking, American Indian communities have had to turn to their own resources to survive. Fortunately, organizations like First Nations Development Institute—a recipient of an expedited Indigenous COVID-19 grant docket facilitated by Tides Foundation—have stepped in to provide critical lifelines. Read more.

The 2020 election saw a record voter turnout, particularly among women of color voters, and a record number of women of color on the ballot. As we honor Native American Heritage Month, it’s important to note that 18 Native American women ran for Congress this election year — nine Democrats and nine Republicans — more than any previous year. Read more.

To better understand what economic justice means to Tides and our community, we reached out to local leaders to share their thoughts. Read more about Mayor Michael Tubbs of Stockton, CA, the founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.

The Taku watershed has serious ecological and cultural significance. Spectacularly wild and remote, the watershed embraces northwest British Columbia and southeast Alaska and is the transboundary region’s top salmon producer. Mining has been a source of pollution and continues to threaten the region. Canada’s Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the Douglas Indian Tribe on the Alaska side have a profound connection to the Taku watershed. These two communities have been central to the story that led to B.C.’s recent public release of a plan for closing and cleaning up a long-abandoned mine, ending its six decades of toxic discharge. Depending on how it is carried out, the remediation could prevent new mining, keeping the Taku wild and thriving.

Thanks to our supporters, Rivers Without Borders is proud to be able to back the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the Douglas Indian Tribe as they lead the way toward a major conservation win. We’re not there yet, but good things are happening for the Taku and the indigenous people who call it home. Learn more about Rivers without Borders.

This past summer, the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG), a Tides Center partner, helped to provide relief checks to over 200 Northeastern farmers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and struggling economically due to the COVID pandemic. NESAWG convened a group of 14 farm and food systems organizations to design a process for awarding over $100,000 in funding provided by Farm Aid. BIPOC farmers have been brutally discriminated against throughout the history of American agriculture, and up to this present day. By devoting the entire pool of funding to BIPOC farmers, the partners in this collaborative sought to not only provide much-needed support to BIPOC farmers but also to highlight this injustice and encourage funders to help rectify it. Learn more about the BIPOC Farmer Relief Fund.

• First Nations Development Institute published “Charting a Path Forward,” a report that explains how COVID-19 is affecting Native-led nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. Read the report.
• Now is the time to Get Off Your Assets and invest in those doing the hard work for social justice. Let’s protect our democracy, turn climate change around, defend the liberties of communities of color and solve the refugee crisis at our border. If not now, when?
• Check out Corporate Impact Leaders Forum 2020 event recordings to learn how companies can lean into racial equity within and beyond their walls.