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Celebrating Indigenous People Everyday
Solutions will not be found while Indigenous people are treated as victims for whom someone else must find solutions.

- Malcolm Fraser
Native Americans and Self-Determination: Leading to Better Outcomes
Brought to you by Katherine Gottlieb, MBA, DPS, LHD, Senior Fellow at the WIN Network

In the world of indigenous people of America, specifically the Alaska Native and American Indian people, self-determination is no longer just a dream. And what is “self-determination”? In the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 it is the means whereby the people may assume governance, operation, and control over the funding of programs and services previously provided by the federal government. Why does self-determination matter? Because indigenous communities have demonstrated that they can build systems that lead to far better outcomes.

Alaska Native people assumed the entire operation of health care for all our people. As one of the tribal leaders and previous President/CEOs of the largest primary care regional health organizations and board member of the only consortium of tertiary care, turning the government owned operations into an indigenous managed system proved ownership redesign gave better health outcomes for the populations served—with between 50-75% improvement in quality and cost. Most importantly, because we were stewarding what was needed for our communities, we could develop long-term strategies to address internalized trauma, violence, and mental health, building on the assets of tribal leadership and culture that exist in our communities. 

Alaska Native people are in positions of governance and management over the entire Alaska Native owned system. Sustainability and longevity embedded through grooming and training our own to assume the roles of leadership for the next two generations. I have had the privilege of leading system change, alongside the Alaska Native people. I am a witness over thirty years from inception to deployment that self-determination may be extraordinarily successful.
Articles
Photo Credit: Mark Thiessen, File/Associated Press
Image Credit: Giniw Collective
710.

While national attention brought rapid movement to the tragic case of Gabby Petitio, 710 Indigenous people have been reported in the last decade in Wyoming alone. The Gabby Petito case shows the stark differences between how cases of White women are handled versus Indigenous people. 
Line 3 and Indigenous People’s Day: How are we showing respect? 

Even as we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, Canadian Company Enbridge has completed construction on Line 3, a crude oil pipeline that travels through sacred Indigenous land. Despite the completion of construction, Indigenous leaders say they will continue to fight against the pipeline. 
Poetry to Build Well-Being
An American Sunrise 
BY Joy Harjo

We were running out of breath, as we ran out to meet ourselves. We
were surfacing the edge of our ancestors’ fights, and ready to strike.
It was difficult to lose days in the Indian bar if you were straight.
Easy if you played pool and drank to remember to forget. We
made plans to be professional — and did. And some of us could sing
so we drummed a fire-lit pathway up to those starry stars. Sin
was invented by the Christians, as was the Devil, we sang. We
were the heathens, but needed to be saved from them — thin
chance. We knew we were all related in this story, a little gin
will clarify the dark and make us all feel like dancing. We
had something to do with the origins of blues and jazz
I argued with a Pueblo as I filled the jukebox with dimes in June,
forty years later and we still want justice. We are still America. We
know the rumors of our demise. We spit them out. They die
soon.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

People, Parks, and Power - Call for Proposals

People, Parks, and Power (P3) is a joint effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, led and managed by Prevention Institute. P3 will support community-based organizations and base-building groups working in urban, low-income communities of color across the United States to increase park equity through local policy and systems change.
PODCAST
All My Relations

All My Relations is a podcast hosted by two Indigenous women: Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation). Wilbur and Keene use this podcast to explore their relationships to land, creatural relatives and to one another from the lens of being Indigenous women. 
VIDEOS
What is Indigenous People's Day?

This short video from the Director of Native American programs at Dartmouth is a perfect explanation of what Indigenous People’s Day is and why it’s so important. 
TOOLS TO BUILD WELL-BEING
Photo credit: Kali Robinson for Associated Press

Teaching About the Native American Fight for Representation, Repatriation and Recognition

The New York Times recently released a resource guide on how to teach about Native American plight and how Native Americans are empowering themselves toward liberation.
Photo credit: nappy for Pexels

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day

This resource from PBS offers teachers and parents 6 books they can use to teach younger generations all about Indigenous people, including read aloud videos and age suggestions starting from 3 years old and on. 
Bright Spots
Statue of Christopher Columbus in Mexico City will be replaced by one of an Indigenous woman

For too long, the suffering of Indigenous people has been swept up under the rug while we as a nation celebrate the actions of Christopher Columbus, who plunged those Indigenous people into the depths of disease and famine. 

In an attempt to rectify this mistake, Mexico City has replaced a statue of Christopher Columbus with a statue representing a Indigenous women.