Anathea Chino

About the Transforming Community Award

The Transforming Community Award honors leaders who invest deeply in community power—organizing from the ground up, fostering authentic relationships, and growing the collective strength that sustains progressive movements. This award recognizes individuals whose work creates the bonds of solidarity and belonging that form the unshakeable foundation upon which all other progressive victories are built.

About Anathea Chino

Anathea Chino (Acoma Pueblo) is being honored for her transformational work building Indigenous political power and creating pathways for Native voices in leadership at every level of government. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Advance Native Political Leadership—the first and only national Native organization addressing the underrepresentation of Native Americans in elected office—Anathea has fundamentally changed how we think about inclusive democracy and community representation.

Building Pathways for Underrepresented Leaders

A queer Indigenous woman with more than 18 years of experience as a political strategist, fundraiser, and operative at tribal, state, and national levels, Anathea has dedicated her career to creating pathways for women of color, LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit people, and Indigenous communities in the U.S. political landscape. Her work represents the essential understanding that those closest to the pain should be closest to the power.

Expanding the Definition of Leadership

Through her leadership, Anathea has helped reimagine what equitable representation looks like in American democracy. She co-founded the Women’s Democracy Lab, a project created to radically reimagine leadership and ensure Indigenous women and women of color can thrive in elected office. This innovative approach recognizes that true democracy requires not just access to power, but the transformation of power structures themselves.

Building Movements That Last

Anathea’s organizing extends beyond electoral politics to movement building that creates lasting change. She co-founded Indigenous Women Rise, a collective that brought over 1,000 Indigenous women to the 2017 National Women’s March in Washington, D.C., demonstrating the power of Indigenous organizing and solidarity. This work exemplifies how community power creates the foundation for broader progressive victories.

National Leadership and Recognition

Her impact has been recognized across the progressive ecosystem. Anathea serves on the national Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of Americans for Indian Opportunity, California Native Vote Project, Emergent Fund, Inclusv, and One for Democracy. She was selected for She The People’s 20 for 2020, highlighting women of color in politics to watch, and served as a founding Board Member and former President of Emerge New Mexico.

Personal Values in Action

As a Mentor for the Fannie Lou Hamer Fellowship through the Sandler Phillips Center, Anathea demonstrates her commitment to developing the next generation of leaders. Her approach to leadership is deeply personal and community-centered, understanding that sustainable change comes from authentic relationships and shared power.

Why This Award Matters

Anathea Chino represents the transformative power of community-centered leadership. Her work demonstrates that building inclusive democracy requires more than policy changes—it demands cultural transformation, authentic relationship-building, and the courage to reimagine power structures entirely.

Through Advance Native Political Leadership and her broader organizing work, Anathea has created infrastructure that will support Indigenous leaders for generations to come. Her commitment to intersectional organizing—centering the experiences of queer Indigenous women while building broader coalitions—provides a model for how progressive movements can become truly inclusive and powerful.

At a time when American democracy faces unprecedented challenges, leaders like Anathea remind us that our strength comes from our communities, our diversity, and our commitment to ensuring that everyone has a voice in shaping our shared future.

Part of the Powerful IDEA Awards

This award is part of GAIN Power’s Powerful IDEA Awards Program, which celebrates talent and leadership, organizations, programs, communications, and technology powering progressive politics and Impacting Democracy, Elections, and Advocacy. The annual industry program highlights both special marquee awardees and community-nominated awards, celebrating the professional community making our democracy work.

Learn more about Anathea’s work: Advance Native Political Leadership