We support the restoration of community development
self-determination to Indigenous and underserved communities by building regenerative, Indigenous-led systems rooted in land, culture,
and intergenerational stewardship.
Dignity
Following through of the love force that flows through us, identity, self worth.
Compassion
Love in action, peace in effect, responding to suffering in others to alleviate it.
Harmony
Harmony, balance, beauty, everything in its right place as it should be (hózhǫ́ in Diné/Navajo)
Pathways to Sovereignty
We provide connections to education, training and services that support communities in developing sovereignty through ten pathways:
All that is natural in the world. Nature. How much of the natural world is allowed to thrive?
The capacity to connect to everything, to each other, to nature. How spiritual is your community allowed to be?
Physical, emotional, social wellbeing. What is the collective health and wellness of your community?
Shared meaning making of a community. Do people deeply honor and practice their heritage and culture?
Relations–connections with others. Do people get along, trust one another, work and create together.
Information, understanding, wisdom. Do you and your community steward your own collective knowledge.
Capacity to think, reflect, grow, adapt. Are you mentally and emotionally well without depending on others.
Our individual experiences, capacity, potential. Can you thrive without depending on people from the outside.
Physical manufactured things. Can you thrive without needing things from outside of your community.
Any resource measured in terms of money. Are you free from compromising your values because of money.
Circle of Stewards
Our work is facilitated by stewards of sovereignty
Carma Corcoran
Chippewa-Cree
Cultural Sovereignty
Board Director
Dr. Corcoran is an Adjunct Professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program at Portland State University, and directs American Indian Law at Lewis and Clark Law School. She addresses Native societal issues through workshops on Gentle Action Theory and Traditional Ways of Knowing and Being .
Neil Takemoto
Hawai'i Kamaʻāina
Community Sovereignty
Board Director
Born and raised in Hawai'i, Neil has worked in regenerative community development for 30 years, supporting thriving places, circular economies and systems change. He works with nonprofits, businesses and government in a collective impact initiative to provide greater access to community sovereignty.
Jessica Sandhu
Anishinaabe
Wellness Sovereignty
Board Director
As a Canadian born healer and yoga teacher of Anishinaabe First Nations and Punjabi Indian descent, Jessica honors the traditional customs of yoga and respect Indigenous culture. As an anti-racist healer and teacher, her goal is to create equity in conference rooms, on the yoga mat, and in coaching sessions.
Kenny Tolbert
Choctaw
Economic Sovereignty
Board Director
Kenny founded the Sovereign Insurance Association for Native Nations (SIANN) to support Native American Nations who own or wish to form Tribal Sovereign Insurance Companies. His mission is to foster the creation of additional Sovereign Insurance companies across Indian Country.
Kavita Shourie
Indus River Valley
Human Sovereignty
Board Director
Kavita is a founder of Matra Circle, a nonprofit supporting Native women who uplift, nurture, and serve our communities through education, healing, art, and advocacy. She is developing a rematriation program at a regenerative BIPOC-serving wellness retreat that she is part owner and steward of.
Briana Matrious
Mille Lacs Band, Ojibwe
Health Sovereignty
Board Advisor
Briana serves as a Tribal Community Facilitator with the University of Minnesota Extension, and served as Healing Justice Coordinator at NDN Collective. Her work focuses on the deep connections between historical and intergenerational trauma and mental health, and explores the role of indigenous plant medicines in healing,
Danny Desjarlais
C̣aƞṡayapi (Lower Sioux)
Housing Sovereignty
Board Advisor
Danny Desjarlais is a national leader in Native-led regenerative construction and housing sovereignty. As founder of the Green Buffalo initiative, he advances culturally grounded, bio-based homebuilding to restore self-determination, wellness, and economic power for Indigenous communities.
Charlene Eigen-Vasquez
Ohlone
Indigenous Sovereignty
Board Advisor
Charlene currently serves as Chairwoman of the Confederation of Ohlone People, she travels across the country providing peacemaking training and consulting on matters of Indigenous self governance, peacemaking, leadership skill development and healing from generational trauma tied to colonization.
Justice Robert Yazzie
Diné, Navajo Nation
Justice Sovereignty
Board Advisor
Robert is the former Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation Supreme Court known for his expertise in indigenous peacemaking, He has a global audience, and has been instrumental in reviving and adapting Indigenous conflict resolution methods to support community well-being and indigenous justice and governance.
Andrea Alexander
Makah Nation
Economic Sovereignty
Board Advisor
Andrea has leveraged over $480 million for Tribal Nation transportation, energy and telecom. She is now working on economic sovereignty, addressing financial literacy issues in native communities to help develop new housing sovereignty models through the Northwest Native Asset Building Coalition (NWNABC).
which she founded..
Solana Booth
Nooksack, Mohawk, Ts’msyan
Spiritual Sovereignty
Board Advisor
As an ocean canoe skipper and NW coastal traditional medicine keeper, Solana's vision is to open the doors of Nesting Eagle, a behavioral health and spiritual clinic. She promotes Native American and Alaska Native and First Nations traditional teachings using multiple healing modalities.
Inspiration
A Nature-Based Path to Achieving True Housing Sovereignty
The Lower Sioux use a nature-based home building system that can bring affordable housing to many
Coalition Members
NW Native Asset Building Coalition
A Native Nonprofit in support of economic sovereignty
Beyond the Canoe
A Native Nonprofit in support of health sovereignty
Sovereign Insurance Association for Native Nations
A Native nonprofit in support of Tribal Nation insurance sovereignty
It is majority indigenous, and majority women in leadership and staff.
It is about individuals and communities retaining their capacity to act, and to steward their own destiny.
We advocate for sovereignty through housing and health coalitions of organizations and collectives of individuals.
Advocacy
There are many pathways of advocacy that build capacity for cultural, health and economic sovereignty
Start a local program
Let us help you start a cultural, health or economic sovereignty initiative in your community.
Join an advocacy group
Join one of our advocacy groups for sovereign housing or medicine and meet other supporters like yourself.
Discover your role
Let us help you identify your role in growing capacity for cultural , health and economic sovereignty.