Rebecca L. Adamson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950 (age 75–76) Akron, Ohio, United States |
| Alma mater | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Occupations | Businesswoman, advocate |
| Known for | Founding First Peoples Worldwide |
Rebecca Adamson (born 1950)[1] is an Americanbusinessperson andadvocate. She is former director, former president, and founder ofFirst Nations Development Institute and the founder of First Peoples Worldwide.[2]
Rebecca L. Adamson was born in Akron, Ohio. Her Learning to Give biography states, "Though her mother was Cherokee, her father was of Swedish descent."[3] Adamson grew up in Akron and spent summers with her relatives inLumberton, North Carolina,[4][5] where she learned about the history and culture of Native Americans.[6] TheFree Lance-Star inFredericksburg, Virginia, stated that she is a "member of theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians" in 2004.[7] Tayna H. Lee described Adamson as being of theCherokee Nation in 2016.[8]
She holds a master of science in economic development from theSouthern New Hampshire University inManchester, New Hampshire, where she teaches a graduate course onIndigenous economics.[2]
After graduating from Firestone High School in Akron in 1967, she studied philosophy at the University of Akron and then took courses in law and economics at Piedmont College in Georgia.[9] Adamson left college in 1970 to work on western reservations to help end the practice of removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in government or missionary-ran boarding schools in the hope of destroying their connections to their native languages and cultures.[10]
From 1972 to 1976, she was a member of the board of directors ofDenver, Colorado's Coalition of Indian-Controlled School Boards, where she worked toward synthesizing and facilitating policy reform at the national level.[11] The Coalition worked to "wrest control of Indian schools from theU.S. government and Christian religious groups that had been running them for more than 100 years."[9] Her work contributed to theIndian Self-Determination Act of 1975.[10]
In 1982, she became founder and president ofFirst Nations Development Institute inFalmouth, Virginia, to promote economic development by founding commercial enterprises on reservations. In 1986, she served as an adviser on rural development for theUnited Nations (UN) during their Decade of Women. She became the adviser for the UN's International Labor Organization International Indigenous Rights from 1988 to 1989. She has also served on the board of directors for the National Center for Enterprise Development and theCouncil on Foundations.[11]
In 1992, she became an adviser for the Catholic Conference'sCampaign for Human Development. She has also served on the President's Council on Sustainable Development/Sustainable Communities Task Force.[11]
Her work led to the firstmicroloan fund in theUnited States associated with a reservation, the first tribal investment model. This was a national movement for reservation land reform, and legislation on federal trust responsibility for Native Americans.[2]
Adamson's international work created the Lumba Aboriginal Community Foundation inAustralia. It enabled theSans Tribe to secure its traditional homelands inBotswana,Namibia, and southern Africa. She launched a strategy (that includesAlcoa,Texaco,Rio Tinto,Merck,Ford, andOccidental) with investment criteria that protect the rights of indigenous peoples and has been adopted by amutual fund, anindex fund, andinvestment advisors.[2]
She established a scholarship program for native people at theYale School of Organization and Management and at theCarlson School of Management at theUniversity of Minnesota. She convinced theWorld Bank to create the First Global Indigenous Peoples' Facility Fund to make small building grants.[2]
She was appointed by theObama administration to serve a three-year term on the U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Advisory Committee to increase the transparency in the reporting onnatural resource extraction.[12]
Adamson serves on the board of directors for the Calvert Social Investment Fund and the Calvert Small Cap Fund which are known forsocially-responsible investing and co-founded a fund there. She is on the board and trustee forTom's of Maine, Inc. She is on the boards ofCorporation for Enterprise Development, The Bay Foundation, Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation, TheBridgespan Group, andFirst Voice International. She is a founding member of Native Americans in Philanthropy, Funders Who Fund Native Americans, and International Funders for Indigenous Peoples.[2] She has been a member of the editorial boards of Indian Country Today, Native Americas, and for Akwe:kon Journal.[9]
In 2016, theStanding Rock Sioux asked her to develop and coordinate an investor engagement strategy to pressure the builders of theDakota Access Pipeline to change the planned route which was to pass near a river used for potable water near their reservation.[13] She was able to secure statements fromESG investors with over $1.7 trillion in invested assets requesting that the banks funding the pipeline support the tribe's request to reroute the pipeline.[13] Her efforts helped to embolden activists who forced shareholder resolutions to require that the environmental and social risks were more adequately disclosed (including atMarathon Petroleum,Enbridge, andWells Fargo) and encouraged over 500NGOs to pressure the banks financing the pipeline with three major banks pulling out of the syndication (BNP Paribas,DNB ASA, andING) and ten other banks supported strengthening theEquator Principles.[13]
In 1996, she was awarded theRobert W. Scrivner Award from the Council on Foundations for grant-making and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development'sJay Silverheels Award.Ms. magazine named her one of their seven "Women of the Year" in 1997. In 1998,Who Cares magazine named her one of the top 10 Social Entrepreneurs of the Year.[11] In 2001 she was received theJohn W. Gardener Leadership Award.[10] In 2004, she was Scwab's Outstanding Social Entrepreneur.[12]
In 2012, she was featured as one of the most influential women in America onPBS'MAKERS: Women Who Make America program.[14][15]
She writes a monthly column forIndian Country Today newspaper.[2] When asked about her accomplishments in 2015, she said, "I come from a matrilineal society and having women be a source of power was there in my DNA."[12]
Every summer, Adamson would hitchhike south from her hometown of Akron, Ohio to see her destitute relatives in Lumberton, North Carolina.
Rebecca Adamson was born in Akron, Ohio, to a Swedish American father and a Cherokee mother, Adamson grew up in Akron and spent summers with her Cherokee grandmother in Lumberton, North Carolina where she learned about the history and culture of her Cherokee people.
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