Lucille Echohawk

Lucille Echohawk is a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and resides in Arvada, Colorado. She has worked in the Indian child welfare, non-profit and philanthropic fields for more than thirty years. She was employed for twelve years as a Strategic Advisor with Casey Family Programs, a national private operating foundation. She served as Executive Director of the Denver Indian Family Resource Center 2012-2014, and then again in that capacity as a volunteer from 2018 until 2020. Though formally retired she continues to be active in community, state and national endeavors.

She holds a BA degree from Brigham Young University and an MEd from Erikson Institute for Early Education, Loyola University - Chicago.

Lucille served on The Women’s Foundation of Colorado’s Board of Trustees from 1990-96 and has participated as an Honorary Trustees in the years since that service. In 2021 she served as an honorary co-chair of the Foundation’s annual fundraising luncheon.

Lucille is co-founder of Native Americans in Philanthropy, the Denver Indian Center, Inc. and the Denver Indian Family Resource Center and served as board chair for the three organizations. She has served as a Network Weaver for Native Americans in Philanthropy and currently serves on the Tribal Law and Policy Institute’s board of directors, as a senior fellow for the Child Welfare League of America and is working with the Common Counsel Foundation to further expand its Native Voices Rising initiative.

For many years she has been a member of the National Support Council for the Native American Rights Fund and continues to serve as an at-large member of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs. In 2016-17 Lucille served as principal convenor of the United National Indian Tribal Youth’s (UNITY), 2017 national conference in Denver which drew record attendance of more than 2,000. Presently she is volunteering as the Coordinator of the Native American Housing Circle to address the housing needs of Native people in metro Denver.