S03E01: Building Community through Evaluation: Olivia Roanhorse, Rebecca Rae & Daphne Littlebear

In this episode Gladys gets to know three amazing guests, Olivia Roanhorse, Rebecca Rae, and Daphne Littlebear as they share stories about their evaluation journeys, their work as a team, and an Indigenous evaluation network that they have been nurturing in New Mexico. 

Olivia Roanhorse, MPH, COO and Portfolio Lead, Roanhorse Consulting, LLC. Olivia provides leadership and oversight of key policy, research, and evaluation projects. Before joining RCLLC, Olivia was the Vice President of Programs for Notah Begay III Foundation for seven years where she oversaw the strategic and operational responsibilities for all program areas. Before returning to New Mexico in 2012, Olivia held several health program and policy positions in Chicago. She was a Policy Associate at the Ounce of Prevention Fund; a Project Coordinator for RWJF National Project: Finding Answers Program: Disparities Research for Change; and a Clinic Manager for Community Health, the largest free health clinic in Illinois. Olivia has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois in Chicago and an undergraduate degree from Colorado College. Olivia attended Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from 2018 to 2021 working on her Doctorate of Public Health. Recognizing that the institution did not value health equity and social justice, she withdrew and decided to instead focus on her lived experiences and the opportunity to co-design meaningful solutions with communities. Olivia is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and lives in Albuquerque, NM.

 

Rebecca Rae (Jicarilla Apache), MCRP, MWR, is a Research Lecturer III at the University of New Mexico’s College of Population Health. She is an Indigenous scholar and her expertise spans over sixteen years implementing community based participatory research (CBPR) projects and Indigenous participatory evaluation in partnership with Tribal communities. Her primary areas of research include Indigenous research methodologies, prevention/intervention research and Indigenous evaluation. She also has experience in curriculum and program development. She works closely with multiple tribal community partners to mentor, strengthen and enhance community members’ skills in program development, program implementation, data collection, data analysis, grant writing, research, and evaluation. She has served as an evaluator to tribal non-profit organizations, tribal programs, and national foundations. She also has 15 years of experience in Positive Youth Leadership Development, specifically serving as Senior Faculty with the Leadership Institute Summer Policy Academy (LI/SPA), a program that educates Indigenous high-school students on American Indian History, Federal Indian Law, Policy and Advocacy.

 

Daphne Littlebear is a mother, Indigenous researcher and evaluator, storyteller, educator, and gardener.  Daphne is from Santa Ana Pueblo and a descendant of the Mvskoke, Yuchi, and Shawnee Nations.  For more than 15 years, Daphne has worked in Indigenous education with Tribal education departments, school districts, state government, and nonprofit organizations.  She is dedicated to advocating for educational sovereignty and strengthening Indigenous lifeways.  

Currently, Daphne serves as the research and evaluation manager for the National Indian Education Association, a Native-led nonprofit with the mission to advancing comprehensive, cultural-based education for American Indians, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiians.  As a first-generation college graduate, Daphne holds a bachelors in sociology and Native American studies and a master’s in public administration from the University of New Mexico. Presently, she is completing her doctoral degree at Arizona State University, where she is studying Indigenous education, social justice education and educational policy. 

Daphne was admitted into the Tribal Data Fellows Program with the University of New Mexico Hea