Life Comes From ItWho decides
Decisions made by the people rooted in the work
Life Comes From It is, as far as anyone knows, the first of its kind: a grantmaking circle where funding decisions are made by leading practitioners and elders, not by foundation staff.
The advisory circle
Practitioners and elders of color who guide its funding and direction.
Robert Yazzie
Advisory circle · Crownpoint, New Mexico
Chief Justice Emeritus of the Navajo Nation, where he served as Chief Justice from 1992 to 2003. Law advocate and associate professor at Navajo Technical University. The circle takes its name from his law-review work on Navajo justice.
Sonya Shah
Advisory circle, co-founder · Berkeley, California
Co-Executive Director of The Ahimsa Collective. Two decades in social justice education and restorative justice. Led the listening report that shaped the circle before its launch.
Sheryl R. Wilson
Advisory circle · North Newton, Kansas
Vice President of Culture and Belonging at Bethel College. Restorative justice practitioner, trainer, and educator for more than twenty years.
Cheryl Demmert Fairbanks
Advisory circle · New Mexico
Attorney and Tribal Court of Appeals Justice. Interim Executive Director of the UNM Native American Budget and Policy Institute.
Richard Cruz
Advisory circle · California
Leader of People First Re-Entry. With the Ahimsa Collective since 2018.
Mimi Kim
Advisory circle · California
Founder of Creative Interventions. Activist and researcher on community responses to gender-based violence.
Staff
Seth Lennon Nguyen-Weiner
Program Director · New York, New York
Stewards the circle's grantmaking, convenings, and relationships. Primary point of contact for the work.
Rainey Enjady
Program Manager · Mescalero Apache Reservation
Member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe. Supports the circle's programs and grantee relationships.
Program consultants
Michael Foster
Program consultant · Pittsburg, California
EPIC Services. Consulting with the circle since 2022.
Dane Zahorsky
Program consultant · Kansas City, Missouri
Restoring Lifeways. Founder of the Make Trybe Center for Transformative Design.
Roman Haferd
Program consultant · Washington, DC
Ariel Clark
Program consultant · Los Angeles, California
Of Counsel at Calyx Law. Odawa Anishinaabekwe, enrolled citizen of the Grand Traverse Band.
With gratitude to past circle members
Johonna McCants-Turner
Past advisory circle · Waterloo, Ontario
Associate Professor at Conrad Grebel University College.
sujatha baliga
Past advisory circle · Oakland, California
MacArthur Fellow. Member from 2017 to 2019.
Troy Williams
Past advisory circle · Oakland, California
2018 Soros Justice Fellow. Member from 2017 to 2019.
Brett Shelton
Past advisory circle · Boulder, Colorado
Senior Staff Attorney at the Native American Rights Fund. Oglala Sioux Tribe.
We grow by relationship
Many grants begin with a recommendation from someone already in the movement. You can also introduce your own work directly.