Philanthropist Leader’s Vision Set the Standard for Investments in Tribal Nations and Indigenous Communities : Meet Alvin Warren, Inclusive Leader Award Winner for Foundations & Funders

We continue to profile the 2022 Inclusive Leader Award winners who will be honored at the opening dinner of GlobalMindED 2022 on June 22. Many will be given this year’s awards by the 2020 and 2021 recipients. Some of these luminaries will be part of the GlobalMindED 2022 conference on June 23-24. You can see the entire program and register below for the dinner and/or the conference. Join us!

Today's feature story of the series of fifteen winners is from the Foundations & Funders category:

Alvin Warren, Vice President, Career Pathways and Advocacy,

LANL Foundation

Congratulations Alvin Warren, VP of Career Pathways & Advocacy for the LANL Foundation

Inclusive Leader Award Winner for Foundations & Funders

Philanthropist Leader’s Vision Set the Standard for Investments in Tribal Nations and Indigenous Communities

Alvin is a member of Santa Clara Pueblo and has been engaged in philanthropy for over 25 years. Over this time, he’s championed increasing philanthropic investments in and partnerships with communities of color, particularly Tribal Nations and indigenous communities. Working both within and outside foundations, he’s advocated for the importance of supporting tribal governments and Native-led organizations and ensuring indigenous people are represented at all levels of philanthropy – especially on Boards, in senior leadership positions and as program officers.

“I’m very humbled and grateful to be nominated and selected as GlobalMindED’s 2022 Inclusive Leader Award Winner for Foundations & Funders. I’m proud to join many others, past and present, in advocating and acting to ensure philanthropy embraces its responsibility to help dismantle systemic racism and eliminate structural inequities that continue to negatively impact Tribal Nations, communities of color and other underinvested communities.”

Alvin’s introduction to philanthropy came when he was working as the Land Claims Coordinator for Santa Clara Pueblo. With unprecedented support from the Lannan Foundation, Santa Clara Pueblo was able to repurchase the headwaters of the Santa Clara Creek. The historic negotiations leading to this reacquisition are now part of a teaching case at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Having witnessed the power and responsibility of philanthropy to address inequities and injustices facing Native people and other communities of color, Alvin chose to join the Indigenous Communities Mapping Initiative. This unique partnership among five foundations and four indigenous peoples sought to forge stronger philanthropic / tribal partnerships while strengthening the ability of indigenous communities to protect, restore and reacquire their traditional lands, resources and knowledge.

Alvin has also encouraged increased investments in Tribal Nations and indigenous communities through his service on several grantmaking and philanthropic-focused boards. These include: the Chamiza Foundation; the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples; the New Mexico Tribal Infrastructure Fund and the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program advisory panel. He’s also helped establish innovative mechanisms to increase investments in Tribal Nations and communities of color, including the Rainmakers Investment Collaborative, the New Mexico Impact Investing Collaborative, the New Mexico Broadband Collective and the New Mexico Native American Relief Fund.

Alvin worked for over 6 ½ years as a program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He was responsible for improving the economic well-being of underserved youth, individuals and families through supporting employment pathways, innovative workforce approaches and entrepreneurial assistance. He also led the foundation’s full- and dual-language immersion work in New Mexico. Importantly, he co-founded and played a central role in funding the $3.3 million Reclaiming Native Truth project that is inspiring a national movement to positively transform public narratives about indigenous peoples.

He now serves as the vice president of Career Pathways and Advocacy for the LANL Foundation. Alvin leads the foundation’s initiatives to increase college, career and community readiness by expanding students’ and adult learners’ access to high-quality academic, technical and professional opportunities and personalized supports in districts, schools, communities and Native American Pueblos, Tribes and Nations. In this role, he: co-founded and coordinates the NM Pathways to Opportunity Strategy Table; helped establish and supports the Española Healthcare Career Pathways Project and co-created and supports the Growing Our Own Native Teachers and Counselor Pilot Project. In addition, he co-founded and provides backbone support to the Northern NM Coalition for Work-Based Learning and launched a partnership with the NM Public Education Department to expand comprehensive college and career pathways across New Mexico.

Most recently, Alvin was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the second Native American to serve as a member of the AmeriCorps board of directors.

“I’m excited and humbled to have been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the AmeriCorps Board of Directors. Service to others is a core value of my family, Santa Clara Pueblo and many other Tribal nations. Thank you President Biden for this opportunity to help increase national service and volunteerism to tackle our nation’s most significant challenges and to strengthen pathways to education and careers. I’m confident that, by increasing equity and reducing barriers, AmeriCorps can play a powerful role in bringing Americans of all ages and backgrounds together through service.”

You can meet Alvin at the Inclusive Leader Award dinner June 22nd, and at these panel discussions:

"Urgent Needs and Innovative Funding: Inclusive Funders Driving Outcomes at Scale" June 23rd 11:10-12:00
"Diversifying Philanthropy and VCs: How Allies, Accomplices and People of Color can Lead with Funders, Boad, Policies, and Governments" June 24th 1:30-2:20

Join us!