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The Tiwahe Initiative provided matching funds to complete the Tiwahe Fitness Zone project primarily funded by Colorado Health Foundation. The project. led by the Planning Department and Recreation Department, includes four fitness zones aimed to increase physical activity. The most prominent component of the Fitness Zone Project are the fitness stations placed strategically along the Tour de Ute hiking trail system.

The Tiwahe Initiative provided additional funding in 2017 to provide up to $50,000 in renovations for 5 of the most distressed homes on the reservation. Work on the homes commenced in 2019 and will continue through 2020. Additional funding for the HIP grant is expected to be available for 2018, 2019 and 2020 for an estimated total of nearly $1,000,000.

Tiwahe (tiwah-hay) means family in the Lakota language and symbolizes the interconnectedness of all living things and one’s personal responsibility to honor family, community, and the environment. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s Tiwahe Initiative was branded TOUR DE UTE – A JOURNEY OF WELLNESS. The initiative is a holistic coordinated system of care for children, youth and families to improve their physical, mental, spiritual, nutritional and economic well-being. The Tiwahe Initiative provides additional funding to sustain, expand and enhance existing services and programs that benefit Ute families.

One of the projects completed in 2019 was the Tour de Ute Fitness Zone project funded by the Colorado Health Foundation and BIA’s Tiwahe Initiative. This Tiwahe Tour de Ute film documents how the Tribe engaged Native youth in an Ancestral Lands program in partnership with the National Parks Service and Southwest Conservation Corps to construct the fitness zones and how members are reducing their A1C levels for Type 2 diabetes and getting healthy on their lands.

"Escape" centers around two misfit teens who are tempted to end their lives in order to escape their harsh and oppressive circumstances. The story address sensitive topics in a very engaging manner such as teen violence, poverty, substance abuse, bullying, homophobia and domestic abusive.

When Shot-Z becomes locked in a self destructive cycle of substance abuse , his siblings must work together to get their brother back on a better path. They learn that forgiveness is freedom.