JESUS VALLE, professor of Native American Studies at Sacramento’s American River College, is the 2025 winner of NEA’s Wilma Mankiller Memorial Award. He is one of several educators honored with NEA’s Human and Civil Rights awards.

Valle, an enrolled citizen of the Texas band of Yaqui Indians, has developed initiatives that give Northern California Indigenous youth a stronger sense of community. He established a Native Resource Center, supporting students whose needs are often not acknowledged in higher or public education. He has created programs and workshops to help enlighten the community.

Valle’s most life-affirming initiative is his American Indian Summer Institute. This five-day retreat has transformed lives, putting college-bound students in the mix of area universities that have an appreciation of Indigenous culture.

Valle is co-chair and founding member of the Sacramento Native American Higher Education Collaborative. Through SNAHEC, he successfully lobbied for $30 million in state funding for the Native American Student Support and Success Program.

For more about Valle and to learn about the other winners, visit nea.org and search for “human and civil rights awards.”