Focus Area
Movement as Medicine
Our Movement as Medicine focus area provides a loving and supportive community in which participants experience the physical, cultural, mental and spiritual aspects of running and walking. This focus area has two main programs – Running Medicine and Sports Warriors.
Program
Running Medicine
The Running Medicine (RM) program was established in 2016 as a community of runners came together to launch a program based on family, having fun and being inclusive of all ages, abilities and fitness levels. The group founders wanted to have a low-cost, family-oriented running/walking program that invoked the idea that running is indeed a medicine for mind, body and spirit. As NHI strives to build cultures of wellness in Native communities, Running Medicine has become a critical component in helping lessen the burden of chronic disease that disproportionally affects Indigenous populations.
Sports Warriors
Sports Warriors (SW) focuses on collegiate level Native athletes as well as Master’s Level (40 years and older) runners. SW provides coaching and support to collegiate Native runners as they transition away from the college support-system and into professional racing. SW also provides the opportunity for Native runners aged 40 and older to compete in USATF Championship events.
Building Youth Leaders
From the start of NHI in 2005 and continuing to today, building youth leaders and serving youth communities has been at the core of our work. What started in 2005 as a group of summer interns wanting to learn more about health issues facing Indigenous communities has grown into three programs that serve and shape our youth leaders – Healers of Tomorrow, Internships and our Education is Ceremony Scholarship.
Healers of Tomorrow
Healers of Tomorrow (HOT) is our program in which high school students who are interested in health-related fields are paired with a medical student or professional in a mentor/mentee relationship.
Internships
Internships are available in the summer for high school and college-aged students. Participants learn about and work with all our programs and help plan events such as the Twilight Series runs in June.
Education is Ceremony
Our Education is Ceremony (EIC) Scholarship assists Indigenous scholars in pursuing their dreams through the ceremony of higher education. Undergraduate sophomores and higher are welcome to apply for this opportunity.
Indigenizing Wellness
Indigenizing Wellness is our focus area that encompasses a wide ranging set of programs and projects. We use this focus area to grow our impact in the community through short-term projects (let’s paint a mural or sponsor an Indigenous hip-hop event!) and longer-term programs such as our involvement as a distribution partner for a local Community Supported Agriculture program. Two of the larger programs in this focus area are Breathe Tradition, Not Addiction and Community Asset Mapping.