COMMUNITY INITIATIVE: THE NATIONAL URBAN INDIAN FAMILY COALITION

By Janeen Comenote, Quinault/Hesquiaht/Qglala

Class of 1999

I have been honored to be able to initiate and coordinate an exciting project that has been developing within Indian Country. As many of us know, most of the Native American population in the US now resides off reservation (approximately 64%). Logically, this leads to issues around the well being of our children and families residing off reservation and those urban Indian centers that provide vital services to our core populations out there.

In response to the growing population served by urban Indian direct service providers, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (Seattle, WA) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation initiated a consultative session in May 2003, which hosted 12 of the most comprehensive urban Indian organizations, which represented over 550,000 Indians, from across the country to engage in dialogue regarding urban Indian children and families.

Luckily for the group, AIO’s Laura Harris and Ron Martinez Looking Elk (Class of '01/02), (Indian superstars) agreed to facilitate the session using the Indigenous Leaders Interactive System. The forum was attended by a group of community stakeholders or participants. The group was diverse geographically, tribally and included representation from foundations, national organizations, and the federal government. The forum participants included 19 staff members from urban Indian centers, representing 12 different cities and including nine CEO’s. The group also included five foundation representatives.

To date, consultative sessions have been conducted in Seattle (hosted by United Indians) and Albuquerque (hosted by AIO) in an effort to build a network among urban Indian centers. As a result of these first two meetings, the National Urban Indian Family Coalition was born. In November of this year, the Coalition presented to committee meetings at NCAI in an effort to begin the much-needed dialogue about urban Indian issues to our tribal leaders. We also have started the process of collaborating with National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) to address the needs of Indian children residing off reservation.

The existence of this effort is a classic example of how AIO influences innovative change and initiatives in Indian Country through networking and facilitating productive and pro-active dialogue. Coordinated by Janeen Comenote (Class of ‘99), this effort has involved ambassador alumni Andrew Lee (Class of ‘99) who was responsible for connecting the Annie E. Casey Foundation to this effort through a study that the Harvard Project conducted. In addition to AIO facilitating this effort, the first consultative session was attended by fellow Seattle Ambassador Alum, Iris Friday (Class of ’98 and who at the time, was nearly ready to give birth!).

Ultimately, the goal of the Coalition is to “bridge the gap” and build positive and mutually supportive relationships with tribal governments for a stronger and more unified Indian Country.

For more information about this coalition, or if you have ideas or contributions feel free to contact me at: jcomenote@uiatf.org or 206.325.0070 ext. 34. The more involvement we have, the stronger we will be.