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8301 Richmond Highway
Ste. 200
Alexandria, VA 22309
Toll Free: 1-888-491-9859
(703) 317-9881 | Fax: (703) 659-6231
info@indianyouth.org
10 years ago, Running Strong launched the Dreamstarter® Program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Billy’s Olympic victory.
Dreamstarter® was created to make the dreams of Native youth a reality through financial investment, mentorship, and community. Since its inception, the program has been more successful than we could have ever imagined. Our Dreamstarter network has collectively served over 174,000 people in 78 tribal communities across the country. Running Strong is committed to resourcing the next generation of Native youth, and has invested over $7.3M in Native youth. We have witnessed their dreams come to life and impact their communities. Each Dreamstarter® has an amazing story, and we’re blown away by their success.
What was originally designed to be a five-year pilot program has become an essential part of Running Strong. We are thrilled to see it continue year after year, and on October 27, 2020, we launched a new initiative to support our Native youth’s dreams: Dreamstarter® Gold.
Dreamstarter® Gold recipients are a collective of Indigenous leaders working throughout Turtle Island dedicated to implementing positive change for present-day and future generations of Native youth to: pursue their dreams on their terms; promote wellness for themselves and their communities; reimagine what it means to be Indigenous; and reinforce connections between one another and the land.
Cruz Collin, a 2023 Dreamstarter, continues to pursue his lifelong dream of protecting all life and making a positive difference in the world. He used his original Dreamstarter grant to build a sustainable energy generation system that utilizes 99+% natural materials in its design. Now, it is time to scale the smaller prototypes up in a way that will be compatible with the current energy grid.
Cruz is committed to showing the world that Lakota science can be effectively applied to one of the most important and complicated industries—energy—and is critical to protecting the environment and ensuring the continuation of culture. Through this, he will remind the Lakota people of who they are and that the fight to protect all life forms is not over.
Warrior of Ancestral & Modern Medicine
Native Americans have the lowest representation in healthcare careers. Rose is a 2018 Dreamstarter and Nursing student who is on a mission to inspire Native American students, young adults, and individuals to pursue careers in the healthcare field and integrate traditional healing methods with Western medical practices. Her vision is to empower the next generation of Native healthcare professionals who can honor both their heritage and the advancements in modern medicine, ultimately strengthening the well-being of indigenous communities.
Through strategic mentorship and hands-on workshops, she will help students build confidence in their healthcare interests and abilities, develop emergency response skills, equip them with knowledge, and promote wellness in their lives and their communities. By bridging the gap between Western medicine and traditional medicine, Rose aims to create a pathway that encourages Indigenous students to not only see healthcare as an accessible and rewarding career choice but to see that they can ensure their communities receive holistic and culturally competent care.
Souksavanh, a 2024 Dreamstarter, is working to establish the world’s first Indigenous Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Research Center at Northern Arizona University through their Dreamstarter GOLD project. This Center will elevate Indigenous Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit scholarship, activism, and arts through collaboration and advancing Indigenous knowledge. As a space for gathering and strategizing, this research center will foster resilience, joy, and advocacy for systemic change. It will create lasting impact by nurturing belonging and understanding of Indigenous Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit peoples on national and global levels.
Through mentorship, global knowledge exchange, and discussions on identity, culture, and resilience, Souksavanh’s work will mobilize their community to address the inequities and violence that Indigenous Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit people face every day. Souksavanh’s vision is to reclaim the spaces, stories and histories that systems have denied Indigenous Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit relatives.
Kyle, a 2022 Dreamstarter, aims to establish a comprehensive Tribal and Data Sovereignty initiative for the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, focusing on systematic collection, management, preservation, and applied uses of vital tribal data and history. Access to data is crucial, and this initiative aims to empower the tribe by further developing an infrastructure that includes archival databases, communication tools, secure tribal government services, and community-based applications, enabling the tribe to regain full control over data and how it is used.
For generations, the collection and dissemination of data concerning Native communities have been handled by external entities, often resulting in inconsistent, irrelevant, and poor-quality information that fails to capture the true essence and diversity of Indigenous people. Kyle’s vision is to help his tribe reclaim its own narrative, restore governing structures, and strengthen cultural identity against societal erasure and exploitation.
Kelsey Leonard, a 2018 Dreamstarter, is leading her team in implementing a historic Indigenous Youth Rights of Nature Congress. This project will empower Indigenous youth to address violations of the Rights of the Ocean, focusing on threats such as offshore energy, deep-sea mining, and marine geoengineering—activities that endanger marine ecosystems and Indigenous coastal communities. The tribunal will determine violations of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth (UDRME), identify responsible parties, and recommend restorative measures. Under Kelsey’s leadership, it will serve as a launchpad for the global Indigenous Youth Declaration for the Rights of the Ocean.
Kelsey’s vision is to address the growing environmental crises impacting the Ocean while uplifting Indigenous youth voices in global decision-making processes. Indigenous youth are uniquely positioned to lead this change, grounded in their cultures, traditional knowledge, and connections to the natural world. By engaging Native youth in meaningful action, the project ensures their voices are heard in shaping the future of ocean protection and environmental policy.
8301 Richmond Highway
Ste. 200
Alexandria, VA 22309
Toll Free: 1-888-491-9859
(703) 317-9881 | Fax: (703) 659-6231
info@indianyouth.org