One Fast Buffalo

 This week OFB made arrangements to commit the majority of its ongoing community involvement and pro-bono efforts to a cause that we are very proud to be associated with.

NVision is committed to the development of Native youth leadership and traditional and contemporary expressions of art, culture, education, and media from a Native core and perspective. To this end, NVision will promote the development of a new generation of Native leaders, artists, educators, and activists within a context of respect and understanding for traditional Native lifeways, sovereignty, community, and importance of holistic wellbeing. NVision will strive to empower Native youth and young adults on a local and national level to become leaders and culture bearers of tomorrow that will help to preserve and strengthen Native cultures and Nations for generations to come.

  
Specifically, OFB will help in the following ways:

1) OFB has already started designing a new website for NVision in collaboration with Red Hand Media. OFB will fully donate the time and effort to build this site....and do it in a big way.

2) OFB will assist in creating other media and PR to raise awareness about NVision.

3) OFB will be sending teams of our designers out on the NVision Tour to serve as on-site trainers. NVision trainers are comprised of award-winning artists and respected professionals in their fields of expertise.  Our designers are very excited about going out on the road, visiting reservations for several days at a time, and working with youth to teach and help install training centers where native youth can learn graphic design. I know our designers will benefit from the experiences they have and it will be time well worth spending.

4)  Last, we are challenging ourselves to work with local (Dallas, TX) native youth who need this same kind of training. Dallas has a large native population. But there is no one tribe or core center that you can identify where NVision can install training centers. So we essentially want to create a training center here at OFB.  We have the space to do it and room to grow. We simply plan on investing in a small classroom full of Mac workstations equipped with Adobe software. We will conduct free ongoing training seminars for selected local Native youth. The purpose is simple. Train youth in creative software applications, train them in graphic design and web development, build portfolios, and help earn scholarships to practice their craft and find great employment.  We hope that we can work here locally to support the NVision mission and cause.

The experience for my staff will be invaluable...I know because a similar experience 10 years ago changed my world view and inspired me to start OFB. Spending time in Indian country is where OFB really started.  We are at a place now where we can begin to give back. There are thousands of great movements and organizations that we could donate our time, talents and $ to, but for us this is the one.  I really want to be specific and focus in on one movement so that we can have an impact. Our Osage friend and designer Ryan Red Corn introduced us to NVision, and we believe in the cause. We are fortunate to have grown up in systems that gave us advantages and learning opportunities, and I am so excited to try and help create positive environments for Native youth where they can learn skills to empower themselves and their communities.   For the most part OFB people do not provide a native perspective, and we don't pretend to...but we are able to provide real world experience, training, mentorship and support to native youth.
     

For more information on how you can donate and support our vision, mission, programs, and special projects, please contact Crystal Echo Hawk.