Meet the Fellows: Introducing our 2020 Indigenous Communities Fellows

On April 7, 2020, we opened our 2020 Indigenous Communities Fellowship and asked Indigenous leaders throughout the United States, how can Native innovators in the US use traditional knowledge and technology to drive social, environmental, and economic impact in their communities? The 71 US-based solutions we received are using technology and traditional knowledge to support and scale positive impact in Native communities: tribal sovereignty and self-determination, language and cultural revitalization, sustainable agriculture and energy, and Indigenous health and wellness.

After carefully reviewing these applications, Solve and the Indigenous Communities Fellowship Leadership Group team selected 15 finalists to pitch their solutions to the Solve community at Virtual Solve Challenge Finals. After much deliberation, our expert judges selected eight Fellows for our 2020 Indigenous Communities cohort. Meet the 2020 Indigenous Communities Fellows:

EA (Education with Aloha) Ecoversity

EA Ecoversity leverages personalized, hybrid learning to teach the foundations of Native Hawaiian language and culture—connecting Native Hawaiians to career opportunities.

Food from Fire

Food from Fire uses biomass-heated greenhouses to decrease fire hazard and provide a year-round supply of healthy and low-impact foods in Alaska.

Guide to Indigenous DC

Guide to Indigenous DC is a mobile app mapping the historical and modern presence of Native Americans in Washington, DC, serving as an educational resource for individuals and institutions.

Indigikitchen

Indigikitchen uses traditional knowledge, ingredients, and recipes to create short cooking videos that empower Native people to revitalize Indigenous diets in a healthy and community-oriented way.

International Wakashan AI Consortium

The International Wakashan AI Consortium is developing automatic speech recognition AI for polysynthetic Wakashan languages, empowering these communities to revitalize the modern use of this endangered language family.

Medicinal Plants Need Protection

Medicinal Plants Need Protection measures heavy metal uptake into traditional medicinal plants in order to assess the human health risk and establish guidelines to protect the community.

ShockTalk

ShockTalk is a telebehavioral app that addresses Indigenous intergenerational trauma by connecting Native users to culturally sensitive therapists.

Sicangu Online Marketplace

Sicangu Online Marketplace is a bilingual (English and Lakota) online sales platform to expand access to and demand for local tribal food producers.

Feeling inspired? Find out how you can support these Fellows, and learn more about joining Solve as a Member.