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Grant opportunity from Genentech, for communities deeply engaged in applying ACEs science.

By Amory Zschach, Aug 9, 2019, ICWA (PORTLAND, Ore. August 9, 2019)— Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals published its decision in Brackeen v. Bernhardt , the federal court challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The court’s decision affirmed the constitutionality of ICWA, recognizing the unique political status of tribal nations and upholding the federal law that is so critical to safeguarding Indian child welfare. It is a resounding victory for the law and those who fought...

A new Native American resource center dedicated to serving tribal community members affected by domestic violence opened this week in Ukiah. Tribal Chair Sonny Elliot from the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians came to the event. Also in attendance were Chairwoman Mary Norris and Secretary/Treasurer Kendra Campbell from the Cahto Tribe, Council Member/Historian Richard Campbell of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Vice Chairwoman Angela James representing the Pinoleville Pomo Nation,...

Native American issues are rarely discussed on the presidential campaign trail, but for the first this year, a candidates’ forum entirely on Native concerns will be held next month in Sioux City, Iowa. So far, five Democratic candidates have confirmed they will attend the August 19 and 20 discussion about the sovereign rights of tribes, housing, and the protection of Native land, among other issues. So far, the candidates who have confirmed that they plan to attend the forum are Vermont Sen.

S en. Kamala Harris announced she was teaming up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to make sure the Green New Deal would lift up low-income communities, people of color, and indigenous communities. The bill, titled "Climate Equity Act of 2019," would require congressional climate and environmental bills to have an equity score and require additional review for "climate equity" in federal regulations. The bill would additionally require all major federal climate and environmental investments...

Right now, 80 percent of the earth’s biodiversity is protected by indigenous communities who make up only 5 percent of the human population. The most current report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends adding a billion hectares of additional forests to the earth’s surface to help slow the runaway train of atmospheric degradation. Now, new research conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich finds that we have enough space to...

Presidential candidate and former Obama Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro released a comprehensive platform on Indigenous issues, the first detailed plan from a 2020 campaign. Castro will follow up on that announcement with a meet-and-greet on Meskwaki Settlement in Iowa Friday where he will discuss his blueprint for Indigenous communities and vision for the future of our nation. “For generations, Indigenous communities have been treated as second-class citizens rather...

A day after releasing the most comprehensive platform on Indigenous issues from any presidential candidate, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro visited the Meskwaki Indian Settlement in Tama, Iowa, on Friday. Castro has unique experience working with tribes across the country. He already knows many of the issues Native communities face from his service as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Obama. This was the driving force behind the planning and...

For Native nations and activists, the Green New Deal holds promise. Its commitment to principles of environmental justice is highly relevant to us, but can only work if articulated in a way that addresses our specific concerns. We might think of this as “Indigenizing” environmental justice and see the Green New Deal as decolonizing work. We need to imagine new frameworks for law and policy that articulate with specificity what Native people envision as a more just system, one that accurately...

Yvette Running Horse Collin’s recent dissertation may have rewritten every natural history book on the shelf. A Lakota/Nakota/Cheyenne scholar, Collin worked within the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Indigenous Studies program to synthesize fossil evidence, historical documents and oral history to present a compelling new story of the horse in the Americas. The horse was here well before the settlers. “We have calmly known we've always had the horse, way before the settlers came. The...

A new state law beginning July 1, which received unanimous support in the South Dakota House and Senate, is the first step in understanding the depth of the missing and murdered indigenous women issue in the state and begin to address it, supporters say. The law will require the state Division of Criminal Investigation to collect data on missing and murdered indigenous people, and create procedures and training for investigating cases involving women and children. The state can't fix a...