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First Nations women are the most forgotten victims in the opioid overdose crisis. Helping them heal requires more than just drugs and it may provide a blueprint for path to wellness for others. Ending Canada’s opioid overdose crisis will likely require much more than sophisticated drug therapies. In fact, it might mean following the lead of First Nations health-care providers and transforming how we think about and deliver medical services. First Nations people are dying of opioid overdoses...

When Jo Ann Kauffman applied for one of her first business loans, a lender told her, “You have zero net worth.” She was living on trust land on the Nez Perce Reservation, which she couldn’t use for collateral. Her vehicle had 300,000 miles, so she couldn’t pledge it against a loan, either. “I felt about this big,” said the president and founder of Kauffman & Associates in Spokane. Despite early challenges with financing, Kauffman went on to build an American Indian- and woman-owned...

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) is soliciting input and feedback from interested stakeholders on the details of the California Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) Program Draft Grant Solicitation. I really encourage all interested stakeholders to provide their feedback to GO-Biz early so they can best serve the needs of your organizations and ultimately build resilient and flourishing communities. Stakeholders may submit feedback by email, CalCRG@gobiz.ca.gov ,...

It may not seem like a lot compared with centuries of genocide, displacement from their land and separation of their families, but some Southern California Native Americans say they appreciate how local public universities are moving to recruit more American Indian students and faculty and generally improve relations. UCLA is the most recent campus to reach out to Native Americans. Last fall, Chancellor Gene Block created the position of Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American...

For more information, click here . This grant program is aimed at diverting low-level offenders from initial contact with the juvenile justice system using approaches that are evidence-based, culturally relevant, trauma-informed, and developmentally appropriate. Grant funds will be used to target underserved communities with high rates of juvenile arrests and high rates of racial/ethnic disproportionality within those juvenile arrests. Applicant local governments will be required to pass...

Nola Brantley Speaks has partnered with the California Department of Social Services to offer a 2-day Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) 102 engagement skills training. If you are working directly with youth, it will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to better engage youth at-risk of becoming involved in CSEC, and help you learn strategies for helping CSEC survivors see themselves as more than a survivor. If you are not working directly with youth, this...

In 2019, more than $40 million will become available to fund community-based, culturally rooted, trauma-informed services for youth in California as alternatives to arrest and incarceration. Thousands of California youth are arrested every year for low-level offenses. Youth who are arrested or incarcerated for low-level offenses are less likely to graduate high school, more likely to suffer negative health-outcomes, and more likely to have later contact with the justice system.

Aslan Tudor, who first traveled with his mom Kelly Tudor to Standing Rock when he was just eight-years-old, has written a book about his experience in a book titled “Young Water Protectors: A Story about Standing Rock.” “I thought it would be a good book to hear about kids in Standing Rock,” said Aslan, who traveled to Standing Rock when he was eight in August of 2016, and had turned 9 by the time he returned in October. Aslan’s mother Kelly Tudor, who helped Aslan write the book, and who...

"For Gladstone, upholding Indigenous food is partly about healing from a history of trauma. The processes of colonialization and the genocide of Native peoples across North America was mirrored by the devastation of the plants and animals that Native Americans had long relied on for sustenance and spiritual companionship........ Gladstone believes that the trauma of genocide and the devastation of food-giving landscapes had a large impact on driving poor health outcomes in her community, as...

WEITCHPEC, Calif. — For thousands of years, the Klamath River has been a source of nourishment for the Northern California tribes that live on its banks. Its fish fed dozens of Indian villages along its winding path, and its waters cleansed their spirits, as promised in their creation stories. But now a crisis of opioid addiction is gripping this remote region. At the same time, the Klamath’s once-abundant salmon runs have declined to historic lows, the culmination of 100 years of...

Applications due June 18. Application link included in this post

Though separated by about 2,400 miles, the communities and tribal nations in northeastern Humboldt County and Menominee County in Wisconsin share many similarities. They both are located in rural counties that have timber and fishing-based economies; they have similar populations; and they also share a history of trauma and the detrimental physical and mental health effects that come along with it. From these similarities, Hoopa resident Angie Brown said the Hoopa Valley Tribe has been able...