Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation Names Janene Yazzie as 2021 Alnoba International Indigenous Leadership Award Recipient

KENSINGTON, N.H., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Dine' (Navajo) activist fighting the impact of environmental racism and Indigenous rights violations in New Mexico

The Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation announced that the 2021 recipient of the Alnoba International Indigenous Leadership Award is Janene Yazzie, co-founder and CEO, Sixth World Solutions.

This award honors an Indigenous leader who serves as a bold defender of Mother Earth, inspires communities to action and one who honors and applies traditional beliefs to the most pressing environmental problems of our day.

Janene is co-founder and CEO of Sixth World Solutions, which works with Dine' (Navajo) communities to promote sustainability, environmental justice, and self-governance. She co-founded the first Navajo Nation community-led watershed planning program to assert local control in the sustainable management, restoration, and protection of natural resources.

"Throughout the years and through our travels, we have learned much from the teachings of Indigenous people throughout the world. We believe they understand our role as protectors and caretakers of the earth and community at a much different and higher level," said Harriet and Alan E. Lewis, Co-Founders of Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation. "Janene is a powerful Native community activist who has built a career and life doing what she is most passionate about, helping her people on the frontline battle systemic injustice. We recognize Janene's exemplary work with this award."

The Navajo Nation is the size of Connecticut, and 30-40% of households do not have running water. For many households, water is their largest expense. The pandemic, severe drought conditions and a legacy of contamination including lead, magnesium, arsenic and even uranium create a perfect storm of need.

Because of her tireless work to bring water to her people, Janene knew even before the first case of COVID was diagnosed that it would devastate her community and that remote and vulnerable members would not be served. As Janene states, "You can't wash your hands with bad water."

Janene serves as the New Mexico lead for Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief, an all-volunteer grassroots Indigenous-led group operating on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations.

Her work has earned international recognition. Janene is Sustainable Development Program Coordinator for the International Indian Treaty Council and the council's representative as co-convenor of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group of the U.N. High-Level Political Forum on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

"I am fortunate to come from a place where the footprints of my ancestors are tied to the landscape," stated Yazzie. "It's this inherent and ancestral knowledge that ties our modern struggles to something deeper than achieving equality and inclusiveness in imperfect manmade systems and institutions that do not understand the sacred and inherent value of the universe."

Harriet and Alan Lewis launched the Alnoba Environmental Leadership Awards in 2018 to honor brave and brilliant leaders whose courage, wisdom or potential inspire us to act more boldly for environmental justice. A new series of awards for Gender Equity Leadership was launched in 2021, the first award being the Alnoba Moment of Truth Award. In 2007, in partnership with the Boston Business Journal, the Lewises established the CEO Social Leadership Award to recognize a CEO in greater Boston who exemplifies corporate citizenship.

Each award includes a $10,000 donation in the recipient's name to the nonprofit of their choice.

The awards will be presented at the Alnoba Environmental Leadership Awards Dinner on October 13, 2021 in partnership with ReVision Energy, UNH Sustainability Institute, Citizens Count, Conservation Law Foundation and other leading environmental nonprofits.

About Alnoba Lewis Foundation
The Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation has pledged or donated more than $200 million since 1981. The Foundation transforms people's lives and builds strong communities by empowering young people, developing courageous leaders and creating strong alliances with key strategic partners to help save the earth we share. The organization's work is focused on the Lewis family's hometowns of Boston, MA and Kensington, NH and within the global villages where their company, Grand Circle Corporation, travels.

Media Contact

Ann Shannon, Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation, 617-346-6649, [email protected]

SOURCE Alnoba Lewis Family Foundation