Current Issue

December 2022

Highlights from First Nations, Gratitude for You

Dear Friends,

Welcome to this year’s final edition of Indian Giver, First Nations’ quarterly newsletter. As we look toward the new year, we would like to thank all our Funding and Community Partners who have contributed toward many important Native-led projects and causes in 2022. It has been a pleasure collaborating with you.

This issue features a profile on one of our 2021 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellows, as well as highlights from Community Partners, the Yuchi Language Project, People of Red Mountain, and the Tongva Community.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy the holiday season. See you in 2023!

The December 2022 Indian Giver features:

Protecting Sacred Land from Lithium Mining ─ People of Red Mountain, a grassroots organization of members from the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, is fighting back against a proposed lithium mine at Thacker Pass, Nevada ─ home to 923 Native cultural sites and the ceremonial ground where two massacres of the Paiute people occurred.

Yuchi Language Home Immersion Program ─ For more than 25 years, the Yuchi Language Project (YLP) has been on a mission to create more fluent speakers, as only 1% of about 2,000 Yuchi people speak the language. This year, YLP launched a new program to immerse children in the language at home, where it belongs, according to the program creator.

The Tongva Community Gets Its Land Back – Thanks to a conservancy called “Taraxat Paaxaavxa,” which roughly translates to “the people’s land,” the Gabrieleno/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians is getting back its ancestral lands via a land transfer. The acre of property sits at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Altadena, California.

Plus:

Knowledge Makers, Knowledge Sharers ─ 2021 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow Delores Churchill (Haida) is a tribal citizen of the Ketchikan Indian Corporation. She is one of the last living speakers of the Haida language and an award-winning basket weaver. As a Luce fellow, she will publish a book on Haida basket weaving, teach Haida basketry and language classes, and travel to the United Kingdom to research collections of basket and textile weaving.

Donor Spotlight: Meet Monthly Donor Linda Waters ─ First Nations is deeply grateful to monthly supporters like Linda Waters and her husband, Tedd Hansen. The Washington state couple has donated regularly to Native causes through our monthly giving program. Waters is also a strong advocate of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Read the full issue here.