Switchback Spring, June 16-18, 2026 in New Orleans, LA
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Switchback at TRE, December 1-3, 2026 in San Antonio, TX
The night before Jordan Daniel ran the 2019 Boston Marathon, she asked her mother to go to a store to purchase red face paint. On the morning before the race, she painted a handprint across her mouth and face, a symbol associated with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.
Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel is a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and the founder of Rising Hearts, a non-profit organization that promotes social justice and equity for Indigenous people and other marginalized communities.
Having suffered violence in her past, Daniel was eager to do something during the marathon to recognize the plight of Indigenous women. In addition to displaying the red handprint, Daniel stopped during each mile of the race to say a prayer for a missing or murdered Indigenous woman.
As she began the race, she didn’t think her symbolic gestures would be a big deal. “Honestly, I did not think the world would care,” she says. “But everyone in Indian country knows what it means, and I hoped they would appreciate my contribution.” 
To Daniel’s surprise, many people did care.
“My world blew up,” she says, explaining that she was featured in several magazines, including Sports Illustrated and Runner’s World. Daniel’s actions not only generated media coverage but also increased support for her organization, Rising Hearts, which is based in Washington, D.C.
Daniel established the nonprofit in 2017 in response to the call for support from Standing Rock and efforts to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. With Rising Hearts, she aimed to promote climate justice and amplify the presence of Indigenous voices in the Washington, D.C. area.
However, Daniel shifted the focus of Rising Hearts after her marathon experience and the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. These events inspired her to advocate for a broader range of marginalized communities and to specialize in storytelling.
Additionally, Daniel decided to leverage her passion for running and primarily serve people in the running and outdoor recreation communities. “I’m a fourth-generation runner,” she says. “I’ve been a competitive athlete, running for various clubs and brands, throughout my life.”
Having shifted its focus, Rising Hearts now rallies support for athletes who advocate for various social causes. To highlight these athletes’ inspiring stories, Rising Hearts creates short films. Additionally, the organization educates corporations, race coordinators, and universities on the concerns of Indigenous people and other underrepresented communities. Plus, Rising Hearts hosts virtual races to raise money for community-centered organizations.
Through its Running with Purpose program, Rising Hearts supports 38 athletes nationwide who advocate for social change. In addition to Indigenous people, the team includes disabled athletes and members of the trans community. While many of the athletes are runners, the group also includes mountain bikers, swimmers, and even yoga teachers.
Rising Hearts athletes compete in races to raise awareness about groups that are typically underrepresented in competitions, such as Indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, or adaptive athletes. Plus, the athletes share their personal stories through various media, including podcasts, magazine articles, and films.
“We are collectively pushing the industry to increase access and equity, visibility, representation, and inclusion,” says Daniel.
To support the athletes, Rising Hearts partners with brands that sponsor athletes, donate products, and provide stipends and microgrants. For example, Gu Energy Labs sponsored an Indigenous runner for the 2024 Western States Endurance Run and also donated money that covered coaching and travel costs for athletes competing in races.
“They help eliminate barriers of access and financial burdens, making it a lot easier for our community to be able to show up to these places and to see themselves in these spaces,” says Daniel. “It gives them opportunities to compete in races that they never thought they’d ever be in, like the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon.”
To further promote athletes and the causes they support, Rising Hearts creates short films, such as Know to Run, which profiles Yatika Starr Fields, an Indigenous athlete who competed in the 2022 Western States Endurance Run. His participation was notable, as most competitors in this 100-mile ultramarathon are typically white.
While Rising Hearts films profile individuals, they also explore issues surrounding recreation and the outdoors. The 2025 film Elite Heart highlights back-of-the-pack runners in the ultra-running community. These athletes don’t necessarily compete for the top positions while racing, but they often share a strong sense of community.
“They’re the backbone of the ultra-running community,” says Daniel.
Elite Heart follows Callie Vinson as she trains for a 100-mile race. Once weighing 377 pounds, Vinson runs to improve her health and promote body positivity, accessibility, and diversity.
In addition to producing films and supporting athletes, Rising Hearts educates people on Indigenous cultures. Through its Running on Native Lands Initiative, Rising Hearts consults with corporations, race directors, colleges, and other entities to help them incorporate Indigenous people into their DEI initiatives.
For example, Daniel participated in a panel discussion to educate Apple employees about the Indigenous Orange Shirt Day tradition. Held each year on September 30th, Orange Shirt Day honors Indigenous children who were forced to leave their families and communities to attend boarding schools and residential schools. According to Daniel, her talk led to a partnership where Apple provided equipment to Rising Hearts athletes and others in the Indigenous community at significant discounts.
Rising Hearts also collaborates with officials who organize races such as the Boston Marathon. In 2021, the Boston Athletic Association held its marathon on Indigenous Peoples’ Day but failed to make any mention of Native Americans. “They totally dropped the ball, but we helped guide them and connected them with local Indigenous groups,” says Daniel.
She and her colleagues also helped New York City Marathon officials create a land acknowledgment, which is a spoken or written statement that recognizes the Indigenous people who were the traditional stewards of a particular area. In recent years, land acknowledgements have become more prevalent at running competitions.
While Rising Hearts is involved with traditional competitions, it also hosts virtual races, where participants run a certain distance at their own pace and location within a specified time frame. They use a fitness tracker or app to record and submit their results.
For Rising Hearts, virtual races often serve as fundraisers to assist people in need and community organizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rising Hearts hosted its first virtual race, Running for the Health of All Nations, which raised money to purchase protective equipment for Indigenous communities.
This year, Rising Hearts hosted its Third Annual Earth Day virtual race to benefit the Su’nan Protection, Art & Cultural Education (a center for the Chumash people), and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Propelled by her 2019 marathon experience, Daniel has successfully broadened the reach of Rising Hearts. However, she does face headwinds due to the economy and the current political climate.
“One of our main challenges is funding and getting grants,” says Daniel, explaining that many companies have reduced funds that support non-profit organizations. As a result, the competition for grants is intense.
Additionally, many corporations and universities have either terminated or significantly scaled back their DEI initiatives. “That’s just made it hard, because a lot of the funding opportunities that we were getting were to address DEI,” says Daniel.
While funding and policy changes pose challenges for Rising Hearts, Daniel’s enthusiasm has not flagged. Her passion for helping others runs deep and was born from personal experience.
“Every indigenous woman I know has been a victim of violence,” she says. “I am. My mom is. My best friends are. This is a really troubling issue, because when they go missing or they’re murdered, it is never publicized. It is never talked about. It is never given the time of day.”
On the morning of the 2019 Boston Marathon, Daniel was thinking about those victimized women and girls as she painted a red handprint across her face. She had secured a spot in the race by serving as a chaperone for Wings of America, an organization that empowers Native youth through running initiatives. As a chaperone, she mentored kids participating in the Boston Athletic Association’s 5K race. Her time with the kids stirred thoughts about the girls who were absent. The ones who would have been there if their lives weren’t cut short. The ones who were robbed of their chance to run.
“I was thinking, I don’t have a big platform, but this is an opportunity to remember them and pray for them and their families,” says Daniel. “I thought, this is what I can do. I can run for them.”
You can support Rising Hearts by making a direct donation to the organization or by signing up to be a charity bib runner. As a charity bib runner, you’ll commit to raising a specific amount of money in exchange for a bib to compete in a particular race. Participants receive a singlet, shoes, and a toolkit that includes best practices on how to reach their fundraising goal. Additionally, participants can join monthly engagement calls with Rising Hearts and its running community.
Rising Hearts will present a session at The Running Event, which takes place December 2-4 in San Antonio, TX – click to learn more about the education program with more details coming soon!
