KESHENA, WI -- Recently the Bay and Paul Foundation awarded $650,000 to the Sustainable Development Institute at College of Menominee Nation. College President, Christopher Caldwell, expressed his gratitude for the large gift, saying, “We are always deeply indebted to those who see the importance of our work as one of the nation's 35 accredited Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). Part of that work for the College of Menominee Nation includes the focus on sustainability that is led by our Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) for over 25 years. SDI leads many projects to better understand human-environmental relationships, including Indigenous peoples and climate change..” These funds will be distributed over two years of programming to initiate a revisiting of the theoretical model of sustainability and SDI as an institution.

Director of SDI, Tom Kenote Jr., is excited to use the Bay and Paul Foundation’s support to develop a new era of SDI focus and work. Kenote said, “We are excited for this next iteration of the Menominee Theoretical Model of Sustainability. We plan to host community dialogue sessions to reimagine what Sustainable Development looks like in today’s context. We also plan to use the funding to support operations here at the Institute.”. The funds provided cover SDI staff costs to plan, implement, analyze, and present community workshops and convening. Work has already begun.

“The Bay and Paul Foundations is proud to recognize the College of Menominee Nation’s leadership in sustainable development,” said Rebecca Adamson, Chair of the Bay and Paul Foundations’ Support for Indigenous Communities grantmaking program. “Our investment is designed to enable the Sustainable Development Institute to explore new indigenous models of sustainability that can best meet today’s urgent challenges yet continue to provide the vision needed to shape future direction.”

Find more information on the work from this amazing grant by finding the Sustainable Development Institute online or on Facebook, where they share regular updates of the various projects taking place.

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The College of Menominee Nation is a tribal Land Grant college, chartered by the Menominee people. The College's main campus is in Keshena, Wisconsin, with a second located in metropolitan Green Bay, not far from the tribal lands of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. More information about CMN can be found at www.menominee.edu

The Sustainable Development Institute ensures the principles of sustainability committed to by the College of Menominee Nation and integrated into Menominee culture and values, influence the activities of the Institute, the College, the community, and the tribe. The Sustainable Development Institute supports and advances sustainable ways through a variety of initiatives. More information can be found about SDI at https://www.menominee.edu/sustainable-development-institute