Category: Articles

  • Decolonize This Place! : Support the Indigenous Land Lab

    For centuries, Native American communities have faced brutal suppression of our cultural heritage and spiritual practices. Our ancestors’ lands were stolen, our traditions criminalized, and our people forcibly relocated to urban areas.

    Today, 87% of Native Americans live in cities, disconnected from our ancestral territories and the natural resources essential for our cultural survival.

    Over 18,000 Native and Indigenous People reside In the San Francisco Bay Area – the majority of whom are from tribes in other areas; many of whom are the descendants of families relocated by the Indian Relocation Act of 1956.

    The historical traumas persist as the ongoing persecution of “Indianness”:

    • Urban displacement separates us from nature, making it hard to maintain cultural heritage and traditional practices rooted in the land.
    • Privatization of land forces us to trespass or face fines for practicing our cultural ceremonies. (Even on Tribal Land, we are still harassed.)
    • Our cultural practices don’t end at reservation borders – we still need sage, berries, acorns, pine nuts, and traditional foods & materials for ceremonies, healing, and cultural survival.
    • Native American People are still criminalized for gathering the materials we need to practice our cultural and religious traditions.

    But there is hope.

    We have been blessed with an opportunity to reclaim our cultural heritage and decolonize a sacred space in the Bay Area.

    The Indigenous Land Lab will be a thriving hub for:

    • Traditional medicine and herb garden
    • Restoration nursery for environmental healing
    • Safe sanctuary for Indigenous people and allies to decompress, honor the earth, and collaborate in decolonization efforts

    We need your support to make this vision a reality.

    Our immediate goals require funding for:

    1. Seeds for our traditional medicine and herb garden
    2. Fencing to secure our land, and protect this sacred space from damage by invasive wild boars
    3. Greenhouse construction for year-round growth and education
    4. Decolonization efforts to reclaim our cultural heritage and restore balance to the land

    Every donation brings us closer to decolonizing our homeland and revitalizing our cultural practices.

    Your contribution helps cultivate reciprocity – a mutual exchange of respect, resources, and restoration.

    Donation levels: 

    1. Seed Starter ($25)
    2. Land Defender ($50)
    3. Greenhouse Guardian ($100)
    4. Land Lab Hero ($250)
    5. Community Champion ($500)
    6. Healing Founder ($1000)

    Reclaiming cultural heritage and sacred spaces is crucial for our survival. Collaborating to restore this land and realize our connection to it is how we move forward.

    Decolonization starts with a single step – yours.

    Donate today to support the Indigenous Land Lab and join a movement reclaiming heritage, land, and justice.

    Be our Top Fundraiser and Win a Free *Premium* Indigenous Bay Hoodie!

    Join our fundraising team and get rewarded for your hard work!

    The top fundraiser will receive a Premium Indigenous Bay Hoodie as a thank you gift for helping us reach our fundraising goals through peer-to-peer fundraising!

    Wear your land acknowledgment with pride knowing you’ve personally contributed to the decolonization of Indigenous Land.

    Find out more by signing up using the “Fundraise” button on our Decolonize This Place! campaign page:

    https://givebutter.com/landlab

    You can also reach out to us directly with any questions using collab@nativehistoryproject.org

    We can also add you to the team directly, upon request.

    Now, let’s Decolonize This Place, together!

  • Remarks at the Alameda Display of Unity Rally Lead to City of Alameda Reaffirming its Sanctuary City Status

    Shalom Bruhn opening remarks at the rally, on a cold windy, Monday afternoon in Alameda.

    People gathered outside of Alameda City Hall on Monday, February 3, 2025, to show their unified resolve for Alameda’s Sanctuary City status.

    I was honored to be among such speakers as Shalom Bruhn, Amos White, Rev. Michael Yoshi, Dr. Cindy Ackert, Kimi Sugioka, Rev. Vathanak Heang, Hiro Guida, and more people spoke during the open mic session.

    Kimi Sugioka (left) holds a sign reading “Alameda Stands United Against Hate”; Amos White (right) speaking at the rally.

    These are the remarks I delivered.

    Remarks at the Alameda Display of Unity Rally

    On February 3, 2025,
    in Alameda, California

    “Hello, my name is Gabriel Duncan.  I’m the founder of the Alameda Native History Project.  I’m a mix of Paiute, and Mexican (Chichimeca).  I’m Gay, Two-Spirit, and Queer.  I’m also disabled; I have AIDS.  I’m a mix of many things that are being targeted for deportation, defunding, and disenfranchisement.

    “That’s why I want to talk about the fear of belonging to a group of people being targeted.  Of the fear I felt when I first came out (just like now.)  And how I did it, even though I was afraid.

    “I came out not just for myself.  But for my LGBTQ and Two-Spirit cousins who could not do it themselves–to stand up and advocate for the other members of my community who were isolated, targeted, and attacked because of who they are–to defend our humanity, and demand to be treated with dignity and respect.  I stand up because my conviction and belief in justice and equality give me strength.

    “Even now, even though I am afraid, I cannot let people I called my friends, my neighbors, even my family–I cannot let them go on terrorizing the innocent people who came here to escape violence and persecution, who came here looking for a better life, for a brighter future.  We cannot allow them to continue demonizing our differences, chasing down our most vulnerable, and subjecting them to more violence, and more persecution.

    “Because, the reality is, our diversity gives us strength.

    “This is why sanctuaries exist.  Sanctuaries exist to give refuge, to provide safety.  To allow people to live, and thrive with liberty, justice and dignity.  The pursuit of happiness, living in freedom.  This is the promise of the American Dream.  America is supposed to be a sanctuary.

    “As we stand here today, to let out our cry for dignity, inclusivity, and respect, we do this as a diverse community of people who still believe that the American Dream is just as much ours as everyone else’s.

    “I stand before you here to re-affirm my commitment to support, advocate, and fight for the inclusion of the people who built this city, this state, and this nation–and who this place was built upon!

    “People who provide us with the food we eat, the care for our children, for our sick, and elderly, who do the jobs no one else will do–I will advocate for them because they belong here more than many of us.

    “If you believe in liberty, equality, and justice; then it is your duty, too.  It is your duty to create and protect a sanctuary as a group, as a collective, that we can share with our friends and neighbors–and even strangers–when they need it most.

    “Let us make sure that Alameda is a Sanctuary City – NOW AND FOREVER!”


    Special thanks to EB-FLOW (East Bay Fierce Loving Organized Women) for organizing this rally.

    Super special thanks to Lis Cox for her awesome cinematography.

    This is EB-FLOW organizer Shalom Bruhn reading her poem at the rally.


    Update: After receiving the signed petition from Monday’s rally, during the Alameda City Council Meeting on Tuesday, the City of Alameda released the following statement on Wednesday.

    “The City remains committed to the values of dignity, inclusivity, and respect for all individuals, regardless of ethnic or national origin, gender, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or immigration status. We are committed to upholding the Constitution and ensuring a safe community for everyone, consistent with the City’s Sanctuary City policy.”

    February 5, 2025 “Statement from the City of Alameda”

    Read the entire statement on the City’s website.

    Thank you to everyone who came out and signed the petition, and supported this crucial effort!!

  • Native History Project Condemns White Supremacy and Threats to Native American Sovereignty

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Native History Project Condemns White Supremacy and Threats to Native American Sovereignty

    Alameda, California – Today, the Alameda Native History Project issued a strong statement affirming its values and condemning racist ideologies.

    “Alameda Native History Project vehemently condemns white supremacy, racism, xenophobia, and fascist ideologies. We abhor Trump-era policies destroying civil rights gains, threatening Native American sovereignty, and deporting indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands. Our project stands unwaveringly against bigotry, discrimination, and hate – affirming equality, justice, and dignity for all.”

    Contact:

    Gabriel Duncan
    info@nativehistoryproject.org
    (510) 747-8423

  • Next Phase: Acorn Processing

    Acorns are the single most important food stock in California.

    They are enjoyed by First Californians from coast to coast. And it was traded throughout the state and beyond. We all share this heritage, even though we have different stories, songs, and journeys.

    While the First Californians are famous for eating acorns; we are not the only people in the world who gather and process acorns for food.

    As we develop the equipment necessary to process the acorns we harvested during our First Annual Acorn Harvest en masse, we wanted to tell you more about the global significance of acorns.

    The Global Significance of Acorns

    Acorns are eaten in North America, Europe, and Asia. China is a major manufacturer of acorn harvesting and processing equipment. Their largest customer is Korea. Where acorns are a major food stock, so common that acorns are part of the pop culture.

    Yeah, I totally used TikTok as a source. “Acorn Caricature” is so hot right now!

    But acorns aren’t just a recent trend. Acorns have been a part of Korean pop culture for a long time.

    Check out this children’s book, “Kindergarten in acorn village”; which is a popular and well-known series:

    Kindergarten in acorn village (Korean Edition) by Nakayamiwa (Author), Kim Nam-ju (Author) https://a.co/d/7fKocbo

    But it’s not just Korean culture that celebrates the acorn.

    Here is an eminently relevant article published in the National Library of Medicine: “Food Security beyond Cereals: A Cross-Geographical Comparative Study on Acorn Bread Heritage in the Mediterranean and the Middle East“.

    Anecdotally: The dude at a gas station near our office gave me his mother’s recipe for Berber Acorn Bread, when I told him what I was working on. He shared with me that acorn bread was something he ate as a child, and shared his fond memories of gathering and processing acorns.

    When I brought him an acorn from a Coast Live Oak, he was so used to the sweet acorns of his homeland that he immediately opened the acorn to eat it–not realizing that this acorn is high in tannin and very bitter. But it was his experience that influenced his belief that all acorns were ready to eat, because they are in the place he’s from.

    This is all to say that acorns are global. And they are something which can tie us together when we need it most.

    Foodways are intersected by the acorn, not the other way around.

    This is why we all have an innate fascination with acorns. Because we all share an ancestral urge to eat them!

    For our purposes, we’re going to be processing acorns en masse, in an effort to produce food for as many people as possible.

    Yes, it’s true that some of the most traditional ways to process acorns include soaking acorns in flowing water.

    Most processing methods use water directly from rivers, streams, and springs.

    But we don’t have free flowing bodies of clean water anymore. We have culverts, canals, aquaducts, and flumes. And they’re full of trash, industrial (agricultural, manufacturing) runoff, and pollutants like sewage, and microplastics.

    So, we couldn’t show you how to do it traditionally, even if we wanted to. Because it’s not safe.

    Anyone who tells you different is probably gonna pull out a glass jar, or some coffee filters to process acorns in their kitchen, anyway–and that’s not “traditional”, either.

    So let’s just lay this one to rest and make peace with the fact that the world has changed [is continuing to change] and it behooves us to adapt accordingly.

    None of this makes the acorn less special, or our mission less important.

    It means that we can share our enthusiasm and celebrate the reopening of indigenous foodways with more people!

    And there’s nothing better than sharing something with people who appreciate it as much as you do.

    Modern Acorn Processing Techniques are Well-Documented

    There is an enormous amount of literature and video available for modern acorn processing techniques to make small amounts of acorn flour. Not the least of which is this cool open source zine called “Eating Acorns: A Guide to Processing Acorns for Use as Food” by Mary Hatch.

    There’s also a CSU Sacramento Museum of Anthropology Publication called “Past and Present Acorn Use in Native California”. And even cookbooks, like “Acorns and Eat’em: A How-To Vegetarian Acorn Cookbook

    We recommend this guide to Leaching Acorns by Sara Calvosa Olson, the author of “Chími Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen

    These are the kinds of Acorn Processing methods we will show you during our Public Acorn Processing Workshops:

    Modern, relevant, acorn processing techniques you can enjoy in your own kitchen, with readily available tools and supplies.


    While those are good for small amounts. We’re going to be processing much larger quantities.

    We are offering two types of Acorn Processing Events.

    The first one (listed above) is our public workshop. We are also running production workshops.

    Production workshops will be focused on producing the Acorn Flour and Acorn Meal we’ll actually offer and distribute to Indigenous Communities, and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Learn more about how we will accomplish this task by volunteering to help us process the acorns we’ve harvested.

    2025 Acorn Process Signup Form is here.


    Stay tuned for more updates.

  • Alameda Needs to Get Planting

    So, I know the whole “plant thing” might not make sense to people who want to build bigger levees, and sea walls.

    I’m trying to say we can’t manage with walls alone.  Walls cost tons of money.  We don’t know how tall to build them, or how fast.  The earth is continuing to warm at a runaway pace.  And we need to plan accordingly.

    Currently, much of our shores are covered with riprap and sand that has been trucked into, and poured upon the surface of the shore.  Sometimes the riprap is covered with a steel mesh, and cabled and bolted into place.  But it doesn’t matter.  Every time we get big waves, increasingly bigger pieces are being taken away from the shore.

    Does it matter that this seems to happen faster in areas that were seeded by landfill?  Do we need to worry about the marsh crust resurfacing?  How far will saltwater “intrude” if left unchecked?

    It would be more beneficial for us to focus on ensuring that our land is properly protected from erosion using natural methods of reinforcement.  There are many concurrent benefits aside from erosion control that we will experience.  We’ve already seen the perils of trying to fight against the encroachment with levees and walls when Tulare Lake reawakened.  The dangers of levee failure or breach are more devastating than coastal flooding.

    Consider the fact that surfaces covered with concrete do not absorb water, storm drains have a capacity, as do the pumps underneath our city used to keep the streets clear of what is actually an urban flash flood.  That, at some point, we won’t be able to pump out this floodwater if the discharge point is already underwater itself.

    Consider the fact that the pre-1900 [“alameda”] peninsula was encapsulated by lush, verdant, thriving wetlands; and that the south shores and bay farm coast were rich in oyster and clam beds.

    Just like the rest of the earth, the Bay Area is a living, breathing, place.  Our environmental systems sustain life in and around the bay.  And floodwaters are supposed to be a regenerative force in the lifecycle of our ancient coastal blue carbon ecosystem.

    Consider the fact that the San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, Suisun and Grizzly Bays, have lost about 85% to 91.7% of their Historic Wetlands.  The San Joaquin/Sacramento Delta has lost 96.8% of its Historic Wetlands.

    Our bays are inextricably linked to our rivers, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The delicate balance of our riparian habitats, tule, eelgrass, salt marshes, and tidal pools are crucial to our ecosystem’s capacity and resilience.  These natural systems are responsible for filtering our water to support marine and estuarine wildlife, maintaining a healthy equilibrium in the brackish zone, producing land mass, stabilizing shorelines, and carbon sequestration.

    The roots of fast growing estuarine and aquatic plants (like eelgrass, tule, etc.) stabilize shorelines by trapping sediment in their root systems and creating a buffer zone that absorbs floodwaters. The rising tide and sediment bury plants and form nutrient-rich (low-oxygen) soil which builds up the land mass, and gives rise to new fast-growing growing plants.  The interring of carbon captured by the plants, which are buried in a low-oxygen environment, is the main mechanism behind what is now being referred to as coastal blue carbon habitats.

    So, while walls might make sense, they aren’t practical.  Levees and sea walls take years to build, and they’re a greater danger to the community than coastal flooding–because any breach would result in the immediate and violent expulsion of water directly into a borough or neighborhood, destroying the neighborhood, and injuring and possibly killing its residents.  We can’t accept a greater long-term risk for the temporary reprieve from a disaster of our own making.

    Restoring our ecosystems is the best chance we have to survive as a species.  We need to learn how to terraform our own planet before we attempt to colonize another.

  • 2025 Acorn Harvest Planning Begins

    We’re excited to invite prospective volunteers, land owners, land stewards, and community members to join our upcoming meeting discussing the 2025 Acorn Harvest!

    Share Your Insights, Shape Our Success

    Meeting Details:

    • Date: January 5th, 2025
    • Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
    • Platform: Google Meet

    Together, let’s:

    • Recap the accomplishments of the First Annual Acorn Harvest
    • Explore specific goals and thoughtful improvements for the 2025 Acorn Harvest – building on our strengths!
    • Outline our timeline, materials needs, and budget considerations
    • Discuss strategies for accessing vital resources and connections to local organizations

    Your Network Matters!

    Do you have personal or professional connections to local organizations that could support our mission? Share your links with us!

    Next Steps

    • Attend our meeting and contribute your ideas
    • Volunteer to help establish connections with local organizations
    • Mark your calendars for our follow-up meeting in two weeks (Jan 19) – same time!

    RSVP Now

    Please sign up for the meeting using this link:
    https://tinyurl.com/2025-Acorn-Harvest-Meetings

    Meeting details and link will be sent to your registered email upon RSVP – we look forward to collaborating with you!

  • Harvest to Table: Experience the Flavors of Alameda’s Acorn Revival

    Discover Alameda’s Acorn Revival, reconnecting community with indigenous foodways through harvest, processing, and culinary celebration.

    The First Annual Acorn Harvest is part of a series of events by the Alameda Native History Project known as the ACORNS! Project Arc. This series was made possible in part by a grant through the Alameda County Arts Commission’s ARTSFUND.

    ACORNS! Consists of four main parts:

    • Acorn Granary Challenge
    • Annual Acorn Harvest
    • Acorn Processing
    • ACORNS! Culinary Series

    The Acorn Granary Challenge

    A series of events in the community. We invite community members to come together and challenge themselves to create an Acorn Granary, a traditional Native American Storage device to hold acorns throughout the year—but, specifically, built for the purpose of holding acorns over winter, because the Acorn Harvest is in the fall.

    Through gathering natural materials and processing them into the supplies we use to build the granaries, participants will gain first-hand knowledge and experience of the importance of access to natural materials and the challenges of preparing for winter. Community members will discover that survival cannot be done alone and that the challenge of the Acorn Granary is not one person against nature. It is about how communities come together and build natural, regenerative systems to adapt and evolve with the landscape in a respectful and sustainable way.

    When we came together in July, we came as a small group of individuals taking part in the first-ever Granary Challenge. Our participants ranged from 2nd and 3rd graders, college undergraduates, parents, and grandparents, from diverse social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. And we want you to know, that the framework of our granary was built by our youngest participants—and we are amazed, grateful, and humbled by their instinctive expertise and boundless enthusiasm.

    About the Granary

    Our Acorn Granary is hosted in the community by the Alameda Point Collaborative Farm2Market. Our granary was built using willow reeds and bay leaves donated from the Land Partners in Castro Valley, pine boughs and poles gathered locally, twine from local hardware stores, and the granary is topped with marine canvas donated from Pacific Crest Canvas.

    The Annual Acorn Harvest

    The Harvest runs from September through November. The efforts of this community-led initiative are aimed at reopening indigenous foodways. Acorns have not been gathered for food in Alameda, and much of the Bay Area, for over 300 years. Part of decolonizing ourselves, our stomachs, and the places we live, relies on reconnecting with the natural world around us and partaking in the ancient practices of this land.

    By practicing sustainable, regenerative agriculture, we are becoming good stewards of our natural world, making space, and opening the pathways to food sovereignty, healing, and wellness for ourselves, and for more than 25,000 Native American/Alaskan Native and Indigenous People currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Even though this was the first-ever Acorn Harvest announced in the City of Alameda in recent history—with a limited budget, and not a lot of marketing involved—we were tremendously grateful and surprised by the wellspring of support from our friends and neighbors in Alameda, and from our followers on social media.

    The people who volunteered with us for the Annual Acorn Harvest ranged in age from young to old and represented a large contingent from many different social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. The Acorn Harvest was truly a family event, and we were honored to create these bonds and reconnect, together, with the natural urban forest, animals, and environment we depend on, but often overlook.

    Through our community-building and sustainable practices, we helped to divert edible food from waste bins and compost piles. The acorns we did not use for food, we shared with 100K Trees For Humanity, which will germinate and plant new Oak trees in an effort “to increase our urban forest canopies, restore natural habitats, increase urban carbon sequestration capacity to help cities meet carbon reduction goals and for greater equity for cooler healthier communities.”

    Acorn Processing & ACORNS! Culinary Series

    The acorns we harvested are now being stored over winter in safe locations around the island. In the spring, we will begin processing our harvested acorns to produce Acorn Flour, and Acorn Meal, which we will offer to local Indigenous communities, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, and will also be used for our ACORNS! Culinary Series—featuring Traditional and Contemporary Indigenous, and International Cuisine. Our culinary series is generously hosted by the Alameda Park and Recreation Department, at the Mastick Senior Center, and will take place every Sunday in April 2025.

    Find out more!

    For more information on how to attend the ACORNS! Culinary Series, volunteer for the 2025 Annual Acorn Harvest, or process acorns to create nutritious culturally significant food for our Local Indigenous Communities

    Visit https://acorns.nativehistoryproject.org/

  • The Indigenous Bay Hoodie Is Back!

    We’re proud to announce the re-release of the Indigenous Bay Hoodie.

    Newly redesigned to provide exquisite detail and unparalleled accuracy in local Native American History. Rep your support for Ohlone people by wearing your land acknowledgment.

    This hoodie features the Indigenous Bay Bart Map design, highlighting the Ohlone Villages and Tribal Regions with Indigenized station and airport names, and regional callouts in the same style and design you every time you take BART.

    Available in Regular ($35) and Premium ($55) versions, this hoodie is perfect for the Bay Area’s temperate climate!

    We also released the T-Shirt at a flat rate of $25, which includes shipping.

    Support our mission! A portion of proceeds go directly to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Indigenous Bay BART Map Hoodie

    Indigenous Bay BART Map Hoodie

    $35.00 – $55.00

    Buy Now
  • Giving to Indigenous Futures

    A Call to Action from the Alameda Native History Project

    OUR MISSION IS TO:

    • Advocate for tribal restoration,
    • Promote Native American representation, and,
    • Educate the public about Indigenous rights and perspectives,
    • Honoring the ancestral legacy of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, and,
    • Enriching our community through innovative tools, immersive experiences, and collaborative efforts.

    Through initiatives like ACORNS!, the GIS Lab, and Land Lab, we bring this mission to life.

    ACORNS!

    ACORNS! is a year-round program, aligning with natural cycles: acorn harvests (fall), seed germination and curriculum development (winter/spring), community seedling giveaways and culinary classes (spring/summer), and ongoing tree nursery management.

    GIS Lab

    The GIS Lab is a core component of the Alameda Native History Project, and its founder is an Opensource Geospatial Foundation Member. We are currently in the process of pursuing accreditation as a Geo For All Lab, further solidifying our commitment to open-source geospatial education and community empowerment.

    We are committed to fostering the free exchange of information, training our community members in open source software and, showing people how to use open data to both learn and advocate.

    Our goal has always been to enable tribes and indigenous people to collect, analyze, and store sovereign data using a myriad of tools and methods. But it’s our immersive educational tools that we need the most support to develop.

    Land Lab

    Launching the Indigenous Land Lab has taught us valuable lessons, informing our approach to infrastructure development and community engagement. The natural materials available, open workspace, and potential as a restoration nursery are too much to pass up.

    Once we are able to get the Land Lab going, we will be able to support the rest of our projects with the actual materials we need, by producing them ourselves, rather than having to buy them. And we would be able to model actual acorn granaries in situ.

    Join us in empowering the Alameda Native History Project – your support will directly fuel these initiatives, fostering a deeper sense of community and Indigenous cultural connection through immersive experiences and events.

  • Alternatives to Shuumi 2025

    This was created as a direct response to our community’s need for restorative justice–making things right.

    You likely feel a personal connection to Indigenous People. You want to contribute to the well-being and sustainability of First Peoples locally, and around the world. (Especially Ohlone people who are the first inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay Area.)

    We wanted to help guide you towards contributing to reputable, accountable, and transparent organizations making measurable positive impacts in the local Indigenous and Native American communities.

    This list exists because “Shuumi” doesn’t actually benefit Ohlone people, even though Ohlone language and identity are a thoroughly appropriated facet of a local land trust’s fundraising.

    We wanted to re-frame “decolonization,” “landback,” and “rematriation” (all centered around returning ancestral lands to their original Indigenous caretakers) into locally actionable concepts that celebrate the plurality and diversity of our local community organizations, and the work they do to:

    • Uplift our voices. Empower and Advocate.
    • Cultivate wellness, vitality and expression.
    • Preserve and celebrate our Heritage and Traditions.

    Benefitting the local Native American and Indigenous Communities of the San Francisco Bay Area means looking at the big picture.

    Our diversity is our strength. Understanding the inter-tribal nature of the Bay Area, as well as being able to recognize true Tribal Governments, and Indigenous Organizations is essential for your role in supporting Indigenous Liberation.

    By presenting you with local Indigenous organizations making a positive, measurable impact in the community, we are re-focusing attention on community driven initiatives with a proven track-record of success and accountability.

    We acknowledge that the Bay Area is an Inter-tribal Urban Reservation. That the continued un-recognition of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area has resulted in political erasure and loss of Muwekma’s hereditary homelands in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Jose, and parts of Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano, and San Joaquin counties.

    We occupy Muwekma Ohlone Land. And we should do what we can to honor the first people of the Bay Area.

    You deserve to know that your contributions are being used to benefit Ohlone People and the greater Native American Community. This is why it’s essential to contribute only to organizations which are transparent, accountable, and provide a measurable positive impact to Ohlone People and local Indigenous Communities.

    Organizations can sign up to be on this list here.

    Alternatives to Shuumi 2025 List

    Our short list of Indigenous Organizations making a positive, local, impact.

    Dedicated to preserving Ohlone culture, language, and traditional practices, this foundation supports the direct needs of Ohlone people in the Bay Area. Contributions fund cultural revitalization, education, and ancestral territory preservation efforts, promoting Ohlone self-determination and community well-being.

    (Pronounced “courage”) seeks to unlock the leadership of young people to “dream beyond bars.” From their website: “We look to young people to lead the way in transforming our communities by investing in their healing, aspirations, and activism.”

    Promotes Community Wellness, Provides direct Medical Care, Celebrates the rich Culture and Heritage of All Nations through diverse programming and events, including the Indigenous Red Market, and Annual NAHC Powwow.

    Provides wellness and rehabilitative services to Native American People from all over the Nation. Many tribes send their members to the SF Friendship house for care. [As of writing, the website is down. Best way to reach them is to call. (415) 865-0964 Ask for Finance, or: Lena Ma ext. 4021, or Pinky Huree ext. 4012]

    Intertribal Friendship House

    Legit Native American community center in Oakland. A small place with a big impact. From their website: “Intertribal Friendship House (IFH), located in Oakland, CA, was founded in 1955 and is one of the first urban American Indian community centers in the nation… For urban Native people, IFH serves as a vital “Urban Reservation” and cultural homeland, providing a crucial space to stay connected to their heritage and traditions.”


    Our community deserves better than empty promises and appropriation.

    By supporting transparent, accountable organizations that truly benefit Ohlone people and local Indigenous communities, we can create meaningful change.

    Let’s reclaim our responsibility to honor the first people of this land and work towards a future where Indigenous voices are amplified, not erased.

    Together, we can make a difference – let this be a starting point for positive action.

    Would you like to join this list?

    Apply to be an Alternative Organization