Native Organizers: Building a Grassroots Movement in Indian Country

Thirty organizers and activists from across Indian Country came together in Seattle in June for a special training opportunity hosted by the Native Organizers Alliance: the annual intensive four-day Native Organizing Training. Grassroots organizing is both an art and a science. In Indian Country, the art of organizing is reflected in the Native-led action againstContinue reading “Native Organizers: Building a Grassroots Movement in Indian Country”

Native Americans in Philanthropy: Innovation and Inspiration

When you bring more than 200 Natives and their allies together to exchange information and ideas on what’s going on in Indian Country it’s bound to be a gathering that is full of wisdom and good-humored teasing, Indian style! That’s how the Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) celebrated their 25th anniversary at Mystic Lake HotelContinue reading “Native Americans in Philanthropy: Innovation and Inspiration”

Using Our Stories to Win: Native Organizing Alliance Webinar

[av_video src=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NzUUiXjgn4′ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′] As Native people, no one knows our issues and struggles better than we do. Storytelling, an art form that is indigenous to us, can be used to shift power dynamics and substantiate ourselves as experts on the social justice issues that we fight for. In this hour-long webinar witness Native organizersContinue reading “Using Our Stories to Win: Native Organizing Alliance Webinar”

Beyond Cellblocks Webinar: Ending Police-ICE Collaboration

This year, Alliance for a Just Society is hosting a series of webinars discussing techniques used in different parts of the country to combat racism and criminalization.  Our most recent webinar focused on tactics for ending police collaboration with Immigration officials.   This Friday, at 11 a.m., join us for a webinar on Native American storytelling.Continue reading “Beyond Cellblocks Webinar: Ending Police-ICE Collaboration”

Poor, in Prison – and Pregnant

As poverty levels in the U.S. increase, safety nets are  slashed, and families are left with few options for survival. As a result, more people are forced into difficult economic decisions, including alternative street-based economies and crime from sheer economic desperation. Many of these people are women and mothers. Among women who are fortunate enoughContinue reading “Poor, in Prison – and Pregnant”

“We Say They Can Stay,” Native American Leaders Protest Immigrant Detension

By Simmi Bagri Alliance for a Just Society The annual Alliance for A Just Society’s Advanced Native Organizers Training, was sponsored by the Praxis Project and hosted at the  Alliance’s office in Seattle this month, drew leaders from tribes and organizations from around the country. They came from as far as Virginia, Alaska, South Dakota,Continue reading ““We Say They Can Stay,” Native American Leaders Protest Immigrant Detension”

Polling Places on Reservations Would Protect Native’s Right to Vote

None of us can afford to take the right to vote for granted – as Native Americans living on reservations in Montana can confirm. On the Fort Belknap, Northern Cheyenne, and Crow reservations, Native Americans who want to vote, or even register to vote, have to travel as much as 180 miles over rough, ruralContinue reading “Polling Places on Reservations Would Protect Native’s Right to Vote”

2014 Advanced Native Organizers Training

The Alliance for a Just Society’s Native Organizing Alliance is pleased to announce our annual Native Organizers Training this spring! Sponsored by the Communities Creating Healthy Environments Initiative, this is a four day intensive workshop on community organizing that covers building and leveraging people-power, campaign planning, community led policy change; and how to use ourContinue reading “2014 Advanced Native Organizers Training”

The Struggle is Real – Changing the Conversation in Montana

When the Montana Department of Corrections issued its 2013 Biennial Report , the department’s own numbers finally substantiated exactly what the community has known all along: Montana is disproportionately locking away Natives. One out of every five men in prison in Montana is Native American – far above the rate that Natives are represented inContinue reading “The Struggle is Real – Changing the Conversation in Montana”

The Symposium in Review: #CellBlocks and #Borderstops… #Human Beings

Re-Posted from the Institute for Pragmatic Practice (www.pragmaticpractice.org) In the last four decades, mass incarceration and immigration control in the United States has skyrocketed. Our nation has become an engine that pulls people from their communities, removing them from the very fabric that gives them their humanity. Over-policing of everyday lives has made the simpleContinue reading “The Symposium in Review: #CellBlocks and #Borderstops… #Human Beings”