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California health officials have made clear they want equity and transparency to be among the main priorities in deciding how to allocate the first scarce supplies of a vaccine. For example, in divvying up the first doses for health care workers, the state is prioritizing hospitals located in low-income areas before those in wealthy areas. "We will be very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the...

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By Cassandra Szklarski The Canadian Press, Wed., Dec. 2, 2020. TORONTO - As a pediatrician with extensive experience working with marginalized groups, Anna Banerji believed herself more than equipped to advocate for her Inuk son when he began to display signs of deep depression. She recalls taking him to hospital and pleading with mental-health experts for help, but says her concerns were dismissed. Less than two weeks later in September 2018, Nathan killed himself. [ Please click here to...

By Canadian Press, November 28, 2020, Vancouver Sun. A school superintendent in British Columbia is apologizing to an Indigenous mother who pointed out a homework assignment that asked students to find “positive experiences with residential schools.” Krista MacInnis said she began crying when her daughter asked for help on the Grade 6 assignment from William A. Fraser Middle School in Abbotsford. [ Please click here to read more ]

New ACEs Aware Grant Opportunity to Support Trauma-Informed Networks of Care The Department of Health Care Services in partnership with Office of the California Surgeon General and the today released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a second round of ACEs Aware grants , with a submission deadline of December 21, 2020. The new grants will target California communities that want to build or execute a robust Network of Care to effectively respond to ACEs and toxic stress to meet the needs of...

How does historic trauma impact contemporary Native American communities and how can Tribal communities, the federal government, and community organizations work together to address and mitigate those impacts? Van Ness Feldman and the Roundtable on Native American Trauma-Informed Initiatives* invite you to a webinar featuring Dr. Tami DeCoteau, a leader in identifying and implementing successful approaches to trauma-informed care and Van Ness Feldman Partner, Dan Press who together with Dr.

There was one meal in 1621. In 1622, the Indian Wars began. Native people were systematically erased through genocidal policy. The Indian Wars ended in 1924. But again, they just went cold because as soon as they ended, the Indian termination era began. Those battles were won by passing legislation that made it harder for us to stay visible, to thrive as a people, to stay alive. This November, most Americans will sit down with their families and eat a Thanksgiving meal. Some still will be...

By Amy Sokolow, November 12, 2020, Native News. Jody was close to achieving her dream of becoming a writer. A member of the Muckleshoot Tribe, she had gone from living on the streets of nearby Seattle as a teen to nearly finishing a creative writing degree, and had plans to get her master’s degree at New York University. But debilitating back pain caused by an injury she sustained as a teenager forced her to drop out of school, just a handful of credits shy of her bachelor’s degree. [ Please...

From 1778 to 1871, the United States signed some 368 treaties with various Indigenous people across the North American continent. Concluded during the nearly 100-year period from the Revolutionary War to the aftermath of the Civil War , some 368 treaties would define the relationship between the United States and Native Americans for centuries to come. The treaties were based on the fundamental idea that each tribe was an independent nation, with their own right to self-determination and...

Honor the Earth Native Food Security Grants Link View Program Website Sponsor Honor the Earth Deadlines Applications accepted on an ongoing basis Contact 218.375.3200 Grants@honorearth.org Purpose This program provides grants for Native organizations working to create food security utilizing traditional seeds, foods, and growing methods, as well as energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Eligibility Eligible applicants are Native organizations, with 501(c)(3) status or an...

By Thadeus Greenson, October 28, 2020, Community Voices Coalition . Working on the North Coast, where the American Civil Liberties Union has had an ongoing presence since 2007, when it filed a landmark class-action lawsuit against Del Norte Unified School District on behalf of Native American students, Tedde Simon says she came to see there was what she described as a “widely understood issue.” In Humboldt County — home to seven federally recognized tribes and proportionately one of the...

The exclusion of Indigenous people and other non-White communities in environmental and conservation work is, unfortunately, nothing new. For centuries, conservation has been driven by Eurocentric, Judeo-Christian belief structures that emphasize a distinct separation of “Man” and “Nature”—an ideology that does not mesh well with many belief structures, including those belonging to Indigenous communities. Before the onset of such religion through colonialist conquests, the overwhelming...