PRESS RELEASE: MIT Solve Announces Inaugural Oceti Sakowin Fellows

Six outstanding members of the Oceti Sakowin community to receive $10,000 in funding and tailored support from MIT to advance renewable energy, food, and water projects.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 25, 2018—Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, today announced the six inaugural Oceti Sakowin Solve Fellows who have been selected for the 2018 MIT Solve Fellowship with the Oceti Sakowin. Each Fellow will receive $10,000 in funding and will work closely with Solve to broker partnerships within MIT and beyond to advance the Fellows’ projects. The Fellowship culminates on August 12-13, 2018, when Solve will reconvene in Standing Rock to learn about the progress and potential of the Oceti Fellows’ projects.

Selected Fellows include:  

• Kimberlynn Cameron: Sustainable Community Development on Standing Rock

• Henry Red Cloud: Bringing Energy Independence to Tribal Camps and Communities

• Rose Fraser: Medicine Root Garden Program

• Joseph McNeil: Rock Solar Community Offset Project

• Chance Renville: Thunder Valley Energy

• Phyllis Young: Energy Efficiency/Solar for Tribal Buildings at Standing Rock

“We are excited to embark on this mutual exchange with native communities,” said Solve’s Executive Director, Alex Amouyel. “Through the MIT Solve Fellowship with the Oceti Sakowin, we are leveraging the existing talent and ingenuity of local innovators, while engaging MIT students, faculty, and staff as well as the Solve community to support their projects.”  

The Fellowship is presented with shift7 and their CEO Megan Smith to support outstanding members of the Oceti community who have tested projects that bring renewable energy, green infrastructure, food, or water to the community and contribute to economic prosperity and sovereignty. Solve will support these community members to expand and accelerate their projects and their impact, building a strong foundation for the Oceti Sakowin community from within the Oceti Sakowin community.

Each Fellow will attend Solve at MIT, Solve’s annual flagship meeting, where they will have the opportunity to find partners among the 350+ cross-sector attendees, MIT faculty, staff, and students. Together, Fellows will craft a plan of action to support their project, and MIT Solve will leverage relationships within MIT and outside to broker partnerships and find resources to uplift the Fellows’ projects.

Media interested in attending Solve at MIT can register here. Those approved will receive confirmation and further instructions via email.

All Oceti Fellowship applicants are invited to Standing Rock August 12-13 for a Solve Summit that will feature the selected Fellows and will serve as a celebration of the impactful sustainability work in Indian Country.

About Solve:  

Solve is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that advances lasting solutions from tech entrepreneurs to address the world's most pressing problems. Solve issues four Challenges each year across its pillars—Economic Prosperity, Health, Learning, and Sustainability—to find the most promising Solver teams who will drive transformational change. Solve then deploys its global community of private, public, and nonprofit leaders to form partnerships these Solver teams need to scale their impact. Last year, more than 1,000 people from 103 countries submitted solutions to Solve’s four challenges. Solve’s open Challenges include: (1) Coastal Communities, (2) Frontlines of Health, (3) Teachers and Educators, and (4) Work of the Future at solve.mit.edu.