Jacobs honoured with fellowship 

During the day, Kwahará:ni Jacobs and her four-year-old daughter, Atshennonnià:’a, head down to the Akwesasne Freedom School, and walk into Otsi’náhkwakon, the community’s language nest. They spend the day with other families, many of whom are also raising first-language Kanien’kéha speakers.

When they’re not at the nest, they’re outside, harvesting medicines and learning about their traditional uses.

Back in Kahnawake, Jacobs strategizes with her friends, dreaming up a future where Kahnawake is entirely self-sufficient, home to a thriving community garden teeming with fruits and vegetables.

Jacobs is hyper-focused on building a better future for herself, her daughter, and the next seven generations - and yet, when she found out she’d been awarded the prestigious NDN Collective Changemaker Fellowship, she was shocked.

“When I heard, it was crazy. It’s still crazy,” Jacobs said. “I don’t think it’s completely sunken in.”

Jacobs is one of 21 Indigenous leaders who make up the 2024/26 NDN Changemaker Fellowship cohort, a two-year program recognizing Indigenous people who are building a better future in their communities. More than 500 people applied for the fellowship, which has been around for five years, and Jacobs is the second person from Kahnawake to be awarded the fellowship, following in the footsteps of Courtney Montour, who was part of the 2022 cohort.

The initiative is one of multiple initiatives offered by the NDN Collective, which was founded in the wake of protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. This year will be the first time that the organization offers the fellowship for two years, giving participants more time - and funding - to support their leadership development and work in their communities.

A total of $75,000 will be granted each year to fellows, which NDN Collective’s program officer Serene Lawrence said will help provide Indigenous “changemakers” with the tools they need to lead the way.

“What we’re devoted to is building the power of Indigenous people,” Lawrence said.

“The Changemaker Fellowship specifically was developed to support individuals across Turtle Island that are doing incredible work, and showing incredible potential, to make a better future for their communities.”

The NDN Collective provides guidelines for how the grant money should be used. Each year, awardees should allocate $25,000 towards professional development activities, such as tuition fees, accreditation costs, traditional learning opportunities, and travel for these events.

And $50,000 per year is intended to go towards living expenses.

Some awardees take time off work to focus their energies on initiatives that were once side projects, with others adjusting their hours to find more balance between their activities.

“A lot of our changemakers tend to invest their own funds into their dream projects, such as creating spaces for community, and learning or gathering opportunities, so we want these funds to support that,” Lawrence said. “The funds can support their families, it’s for everything.”

Jacobs said she already has big plans for how to use the money, specifically to learn more about sustainable methods of collecting and processing medicines and traditional foods, as well as towards language initiatives in the community.

Jacobs’ mother, Layne Myiow, said that she always knew her daughter had a strong chance at being awarded the fellowship because of how dedicated she is to her goals.

“She’s such a go-getter with everything. We’re not a Mohawk-speaking home, so she did all of this on her own,” Myiow said. “She’s a force to be reckoned with when it comes to implementing language and culture with her daughter and passing it on, so to say that I’m proud would be an understatement.”

The money will also mean that Jacobs can pour more energy into these initiatives without worrying about making ends meet.

“It’s giving my daughter and me more security, which I could not be more grateful for. I’m actually most looking forward to being able to slow down a bit with her,” Jacobs said. “I’m looking forward to being able to give her a less stressed-out mom.”

Jacobs had first heard of the fellowship from one of her students at Otsi’náhkwakon. She participated in an extensive interview process, something she said made her surer than ever that she wanted to keep pursuing her passions.

“It really made me stop and think about why I do what I do. It made me think about my daughter, it made me think about my tóta, it made me think about my community,” she said.

“It really made me get emotional.”

Jacobs said she’s looking forward to sharing and learning about the cohort’s work, while also taking the time to look after her wellbeing as she pursues her often ambitious goals.

“Language work takes so much sacrifice in so many different ways, so you need to remind yourself to take care of yourself, give yourself that grace and recuperation. It’s just as important as doing the work,” she said.

“You can’t burn yourself out trying to get to the goals you want to reach, and that’s something I’m keeping in mind as I enter the beginning of this fellowship.”

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