Keep It Colorado Grows Its Team: Welcome, Raina Roanhorse
Statewide coalition has hired a grant programs and administrative coordinator
Raina Roanhorse, Grant Programs and Administrative Coordinator
Sept. 9, 2021 – DENVER – Keep It Colorado has expanded its team with the addition of Raina Roanhorse, who joined the coalition as grant programs and administrative coordinator on September 1. Raina will support the nonprofit’s grant and regrant programs, which benefit the statewide coalition’s work to accelerate the pace and scale of private lands conservation.
In her new role, Raina will provide key oversight and administrative support for grants Keep It Colorado receives from funding partners, grant programs Keep It Colorado delivers to its members, and the coalition’s special projects and services. Raina reports to the executive director.
“We’re delighted to welcome Raina to our small but mighty team at Keep It Colorado,” said Melissa Daruna, Keep It Colorado’s executive director. “Raina’s professional background, combined with her passion for conservation, and her extensive experience reaching out to and engaging with diverse communities, make her a very well-rounded fit. We’re excited for the talent and fresh ideas she’ll bring as we expand the scope and scale of our programs.”
Raina brings to her position more than 20 years of experience in business and government administration, and several years in grant program management, event planning, and project and association management. Prior to joining Keep It Colorado, Raina served as a Native American outreach specialist for Instituto, an Arizona-based incubator for civic leadership development. She also founded a small business, running operations and engaging community members in a local coffee shop. Previous positions include those of operations manager for Denver Indian Health & Family Services; project manager and program coordinator at University of Colorado Denver’s School of Medicine and its School of Public Health’s Center for American Indian & Alaska Native Health; and grant coordinator for Sanders Unified School District in Arizona.
Raina is passionate about conserving water and addressing water conservation issues facing Indigenous communities. As a member of the Navajo tribe herself, and as a Coloradan, she said, “Joining Keep It Colorado enables me to assist in a noble mission to protect and preserve some of our most important resources in Colorado.”
Having spent much of her spare time hauling hay, feeding livestock, branding calves and fixing fences on her parents’ ranch in northeastern Arizona, Raina understands the work involved with raising cows and horses. She also shares her father’s love for rodeos, which she hopes to pass on to her two boys, ages three months and five years.
As a volunteer, Raina has served Albuquerque Rescue Mission, Denver Indian Health & Family Services, the nonprofit coffee shop Healing Grounds, youth groups, and the Navajo Nation Christian Response Team for COVID-19 crisis food distribution.
Raina earned a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in chemistry and pre-med. She is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration with a focus on water sustainability at the University of Colorado-Denver.
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