MISSION

Executive Director | Diné

STAFF

yolanda@restoringawcoalition.org

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Yolanda Francisco-Nez is from the Navajo/Dine’ tribe. Her clan is Edgewater (Tabaaha) born for the Basque People. She was born and raised in Tsehootsoi (Fort Defiance), Arizona. Yolanda is the granddaughter of a Navajo Code Talker Vincent Yazza. Ms. Francisco-Nez is the Executive Director of Restoring Ancestral Winds, Inc. Yolanda is a strong advocate of the Native people especially women and children. She uses her expertise to help inform policy. She served four years as board chair of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA). In 2017, under the leadership of Navajo Nation Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty, she helped establish a Navajo Nation Council Sexual Assault Prevention Work Group to address child abduction, sexual violence and human trafficking. In this role she facilitated a policy brief on child abduction and sexual assault, a chapter resolution to install the Amber Alert on the Navajo Nation, and hosts community dialogues on sexual assault throughout the Navajo Nation. In 2018, she received special recognition for her achievements from the Navajo Nation Council.

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She has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. She is trained in Anti-discrimination Response Training from the University of British Columbia and received advocacy training from UCASA and Utah Domestic Violence Coalition (UDVC).

For 17 years, Francisco-Nez served three mayors at the executive level of Salt Lake City government. Among the highlights of her career is the opportunity to address the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland about her award-winning program the Human Rights Education Project. She has co-authored reports on discrimination, women’s rights and excessive use of force. Among other achievements, “The Status of Women in Salt Lake City” was published and used to help guide a resolution to establish a Commission to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and Law Enforcement Excessive Use of Force.

Ms. Francisco-Nez played a significant role in being the first city in Utah to pass legislation to protect the LGBTQI2S from employment discrimination which led to a statewide law. Prior to working city government, she was the president of the Native American Celebration in the Park and vice president and founding partner at Cal Nez Design advertising agency. In 2017, Francisco-Nez was named top 30 Women to Watch in Utah by the Utah Business Magazine.

Public Policy | Diné

Consultant

moroni@restoringawcoalition.org

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Moroni Benally is the Coordinator for Public Policy and Advocacy at Restoring Ancestral Winds, Inc. He also serves as a Board member of Western Resource Advocates, a conservation organization that seeks to protect the West's land, air, and water to ensure that vibrant communities exist in balance with nature.

He co-founded the Utah League of Native American Voters where he assisted and advocated on behalf of tribes on public lands, water, voting rights, and violence prevention.

He also served as Director of the Navajo Nation’s Division of Natural Resources where he helped facilitate the Navajo Nation’s involvement in the Bears Ears National Monument and worked extensively on natural resource policy at the tribal, state, and federal levels.

Additionally, he served at Vice-President of Diné College. Prior to this he taught at Evergreen State College in the Masters of Public Administration program.

He is currently finishing a PhD in Public Policy at the University of Washington, focusing on collaborative governance around natural resources. He is Diné and currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Board Member | Ute Mountain Ute/Seneca/Cayuga

1st term: May 8, 2018-May 2020

Board President, appointed Nov 29, 2019

Griselda is from Towaoc, Colorado and is a member of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe. She is also Seneca/Cayuga from Quapaw, Oklahoma.  Griselda is the Education Director for Ute Mountain Tribe in White Mesa, Utah. She received a Bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University-Global Campus. Griselda is part of several boards and participates in various organizations to help bring services to the community.

Treasurer

1st term as a board member: July 28, 2020-July 28, 2021 (one year)

Alexander completed Alastair Bitsoi’s term as Treasurer from July 28, 2020-October 29, 2020

Elected Treasurer Term: November 2, 2020-November 2, 2021

Alexander Castagno has worked in public policy and team building for the last five years. Alexander ran for a Utah State Senate seat in 2018 and won 32% of the district with almost 13,000 votes. In 2019 Alexander ran city-wide campaigns in Salt Lake City and Millcreek City. Alexander has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Utah and a Master’s degree in Political Management from George Washington University. He is currently a Team Leader for a national testing laboratory.

Board Member | Secretary

Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma; citizenship descendant to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

J. Dena Ned is an Associate Professor/Lecturer at the University of Utah College of Social Work.  Her research has focused on the Indian Child Welfare Act, Title V of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, urban American-Indian health policies and delivery of care systems, as well as social determinants of health in native communities.  After earning her Masters of Social Welfare (MSW) from the University of California, Berkeley, she worked with California’s Division of Children and Family Services before going on to direct a Title V-funded urban Indian health center in Salt Lake City.  Her direct practice experience motivated her to explore issues of social justice, health, and policy from the perspective of urban Indians. 

Board President

Desiree Green was born and raised in Utah she is Half Jicarilla Apache from her mothers’ side and half white from her fathers’ side.  She is extremely passionate about helping the native community in any way she can, particularly with MMIW because she is a domestic violence survivor herself.  Desiree is currently a Substance Abuse Caseworker II for Adult Probation and Parole with the Department of Corrections for the State of Utah.  Desiree got into this line of work because she saw so much addiction growing up she knew she wanted to help.  Desiree Has a bachelor's Degree from Utah Valley University in Psychology with a minor in American Indian Studies, completed the LSAC program through Utah Valley University as well and is currently in her masters of psychology program through the University of Arizona. 

Board Member

Karra Porter has been President or Managing Director of Christensen & Jensen for 19 years. She is co-chair of the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Crisis Management practice groups, and is one of the most experienced and successful commercial and appellate lawyers in Utah. She has consistently been recognized by Super Lawyers/Thomsen Reuters as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the intermountain west (Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming), and as one of the nation’s best attorneys for corporate and commercial matters. Karra has also been consistently named one of Utah’s “Legal Elite” by Utah Business Magazine.

After working as a journalist in her home state of Kansas, Karra went to law school at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating near the top of her class in 1987. Karra’s specialty is complex federal litigation. She has recently handled large cases involving the Federal Trade Commission Act, Lanham Act, Internal Revenue Code, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, False Claims Act, Small Business Act, National Labor Relations Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, and other federal and state statutes.

Karra is regularly hired by other lawyers and law firms to handle complex matters and appeals, and regularly advises or represents clients in media relations and crisis management matters.

Consultant

2018-Current

Alana Kindness, MSPH, has 20 years’ experience in sexual violence prevention and response, including 10 years as Executive Director and Policy and Prevention Technical Assistance Specialist at the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault facilitating statewide capacity development and coordination of sexual violence prevention planning. Ms. Kindness was an active participant in the Prevention committee of the Utah Sexual Violence Council, providing leadership, consultation and technical support for statewide

sexual violence prevention planning, training events and conferences. She has provided training for community coalitions and UDOH Rape Prevention Education Grantees on addressing shared risk and protective factors to prevention sexual violence, developed and facilitated a webinar for state sexual violence coalition prevention specialists on the relationship between social determinants of health and risk factors for sexual violence, and since 2014 has been teaching Violence and Public Health at Westminster College. She has worked extensively with Tribal, federal, state, and local stakeholders to increase

resources and capacity for preventing sexual violence in rural and urban Native communities.

Consultant 

2019-2021

Denae Shanidiin, Diné and Korean artist, is born to the Diné (Navajo) Nation. She is Honágháahnii, One-Walks-Around Clan, born to the Korean race on her Father’s side. Kinłichíi’nii, the Red House People is her Maternal Grandfather’s Clan and the Bilagáana, White People, is her Paternal Grandfather’s Clan. 

Shanidiin’s projects reveal the importance of Indigenous spirituality and sovereignty. Her work brings awareness to many contemporary First Nation issues including Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Consultant

Feminist Economics, Social Justice Worker, Substitute Teacher, ParaEducator, Gardener

Hande was born and grown as a young adult in Mersin-Türkiye. She followed her first husband to North America in

1991. As a feminist economist and social justice worker, she believes another world is not only possible, but it has

been happening. This motto is at the center of what she does. She brings this attitude as she works in Salt Lake

School District. She has 20 years of experience in teaching, research, policy advocacy, community building and

eduction. She was the Program Director at the Inclusion Center for Community and Justice, 2009-2016. She designed and facilitated hundreds of group workshops and directed residential retreats for youth and adults. The objective was to find understanding in community building, belonging, leadership, inclusion, diversity, equity, and teaching-related practices. Her passion is to integrate self-awareness and systems awareness in anything she does. She taught classes in higher education, Westminster College, and at the Department of Economics, University of Utah. She taught multidisciplinary classes such as feminist economics, gender and development, poverty and inequality, and urban economics. She co-taught classes titled Exploring Communities and International Development at Westminster College. She worked as a Research Fellow/Program Officer for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (currently U.N. Women) 1998-2005. Her Ph.D. dissertation required fieldwork in Türkiye, her native land. She explored the dynamics of gender, class, race/ethnicity, focusing on domestic workers. Ultimately she believes economics is about the wellbeing of people and the planet. Material growth always has to be tertiary. Over the years, she had taken few consultant positions locally, and globally.

After leaving the non-profit sector, she has been visioning to start a workers’ owned collective. She piloted one as a

landscaping/gardening group for a year and a half. She spearheaded applying worker collective principles at the

Journey of Hope, a local not profit. Last two years, she has gained experience working in schools, mostly in K-8. She

reinforces and supports learning K-8. She can support any topic while integrating pillars of social justice in every step of the way.

She was a professional team handball player from her early teens until she moved to the USA in 1991. She continued her team sports love with playing futbol (a.k.a soccer in North America) in the U.S. When not working, she plays team sports, and enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities, gardening, and walking – hiking with our dog. She has been a bike commuter since 2005. She loves to move. Last three years, she has been challenging herself to learn

Afro-Brazilian dance and participated at a Samba Queen contest in 2020, a few days before covid outbreak. She finds energy, peace, justice and constant learning in human relations and in the outdoors.