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Tribal members in Northern California are reclaiming traditional tattoos, especially facial tattoos as a means to connect with their cultural history, a panel of experts in indigenous tattoos told a diverse group of 45 people in attendance at the community event at the Museum of Sonoma County. Those who attended were surrounded by displays of indigenous art, ceramics, and paintings. A spectacular hand carved canoe, used for traditional voyages, tracing ancestral journeys through the Pacific...

Building on culturally-based teachings, through the use of traditional stories and personal reflections, Jerry Tello shares the “medicine” and process to detox from, and break the cycles of painful, generational patterns, and harmful relationships; guiding the reader through a journey to recover one's sacredness . Recovering Your Sacredness re-introduces values and generational wisdom that are found in virtually every cultural tradition and spiritual school of thought. Tello lifts up these...

Building on culturally-based teachings, through the use of traditional stories and personal reflections, Jerry Tello shares the “medicine” and process to detox from, and break the cycles of painful, generational patterns, and harmful relationships; guiding the reader through a journey to recover one's sacredness . Recovering Your Sacredness re-introduces values and generational wisdom that are found in virtually every cultural tradition and spiritual school of thought. Tello lifts up these...

Native communities face many challenges. Too often the strengths of families are strained by these challenges, and finding effective ways to support our families can be difficult. Our communities often find themselves dealing with the results of family and community disruption, (alcohol or drug abuse, unintended pregnancies, dropping out of school, etc) and are challenged to address the core issues. ACE scores are significantly higher in indigenous American communities than in the broader...

After years of documented instances of anti-Native racism — including the use of racial slurs and harmful stereotypes by white administrators, faculty, and staff — in a school where 94 percent of Native students are below proficiency in reading, compared to 49 percent of white students, the U.S. Department of Education is starting an investigation into discrimination against Native students in Montana’s Wolf Point School District. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office...

In 2013, The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation implemented a special provision of the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). The tribal domestic violence criminal jurisdiction made it possible for federally recognized tribes to prosecute non-Indian offenders who committed acts of domestic or dating violence on tribal lands. They were one of the first three tribes in the U.S. to do so. Currently, 24 tribes have implemented the special jurisdiction provision, while several...

A lawsuit brought on behalf of schoolchildren in the most remote Native American community in the United States is addressing an emerging question in public education — namely, are school districts required to provide disability services to children who’ve suffered trauma related to poverty and discrimination. U.S. District Judge Steven P. Logan last week denied a request by the federal government to dismiss most of the case involving children at the Havasupai Elementary School, which is...

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition aims to learn more about individuals’ experiences of child removal, the impacts these experiences have had on them and their descendants, and the methods that individuals are successfully using for healing intergenerational traumas. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), the First Nations Repatriation Institute, and the University of Minnesota are pleased to announce the launch of a new study, Child...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For centuries, the California condor's range covered the entire West Coast of the United States, even extending north into British Columbia and south into Mexico. But by 1985, the species had dwindled to just 22 known birds. In a desperate attempt to save the species, wildlife officials took the remaining condors into captivity and began a breeding program to revive them. Today, 290 California condors live in the wild — but only in the desert Southwestern U.S. and areas...

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition aims to learn more about individuals’ experiences of child removal, the impacts these experiences have had on them and their descendants, and the methods that individuals are successfully using for healing intergenerational traumas News Release National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), the First Nations Repatriation Institute, and the University...

Presidential Task Force created in response to a predatory pediatrician that had assaulted Native American children for years while employed at Indian Health Service On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced the formation of the Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health Service System. A senior administration official hosted a White House conference call, and released statements to the media which outlined that President Trump has “charged the...

First Nations Development Institute ( First Nations ) is accepting grant proposals through a new effort known as the Fertile Ground Advocacy Campaign under its Native Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative, or NAFSI. First Nations will award up to five grants of $75,000 to $100,000 each to support Native American-led efforts aimed at advancing new policies and innovative policymaking approaches that benefit Native American nutrition and health. These can involve efforts to improve access to...