When I was five(-ish), my family moved from one small town in Massachusetts to another. That was when I met my first Native American friend, who I've since lost touch with. I don't recall his mother's tribal affiliation.
In college, my best friend was Comanche. She & I still touch base - albeit in-between steadily increasing periods of little to no contact.
And since I moved back to New England, I realized that the majority of Native friends I have - all of them, actually, not counting my original friend - live in the mid- and south west, or on the west coast. I know little to nothing of the local Native community.
I thought that was odd considering my involvement in NAN, so the other day I sent an email to NAICOB (North American Indian Center of Boston) and told them about Native American Netroots, providing a link to the Daily Kos group, to the Wordpress site & Facebook page. I invited them to come participate, hoping that we might find some folks willing & able to help keep us informed about events affecting some of the tribes on the east coast.
I heard back from Joanne Dunn, the Executive Director, who invited me to tomorrow's event and asked me to share it with the community at large.
So, some more information and details, over the fold.
First, about the meetup tomorrow. Here's their flyer:
And, in case it's not easy to read, here's the text (except for the phone numbers):
Support your local Indian community
March 22, 2014 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Introduction/NAICOB Overview
Board of Directors' Nominations
Grandparents Program
WIA Program Overview
VAW Grant Funding
Food will be served at 4:30 PM
Closing Prayer adjourn 5:45 PM
Potluck and Volunteers Welcome
For Information call Joann or Shirley
Raffles will be given out.
From their
About Us page:
Originally established in 1970 as the Boston Indian Council, the North American Indian Center of Boston was later organized as a non-profit in 1991. The mission of the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB) is to promote greater self-determination, socio-economic self-sufficiency, spiritual enhancement, intercultural understanding and other forms of empowerment for the North American Indian Community.
The NAICOB doesn't cover all of New England - "to be eligible for membership in and services provided by NAICOB, you must be a Native American living in one of these counties in Massachusetts:
Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Berkshire, Hampden, Middlesex, Worcester, Franklin, and Hampshire Counties."
It is, however, headed by a board with strong Native ties:
Board of Directors
Dr. Mary Jo Ondrechen, President
Tribal Affiliation: Mohawk
Kenneth Skutt, Board Member
Tribal Affiliation: Navajo
Geraldine Tobey, Board Member
Tribal Affiliation: Mashpee Wampanoag / Mi'kmaq
Terry Drew, Board Member
Tribal Affiliation: Mi'kma
Gary Howling Crane, Board Member
Tribal Affiliation: Pawnee
Yvette MacDonald, Board Member
Tribal Affiliation: Cherokee
Sandra McDonald, Board Member
Tribal Affiliation: Mi'kmaq
Shirlee Two Two, Clerk, Non-voting
Tribal Affiliation: Sioux
I'm looking forward to meeting Joanne and the folks there, and hope that we'll see at least one or more of them testing the waters here at Daily Kos, to participate in the community at large as well as helping to keep us all informed of Native matters affecting and occurring within the MA area.
New England is a lot bigger than MA alone. I'm going to continue to reach out and introduce myself to other area organizations, and hope that theyll join us here as well.
And if you're in the area tomorrow, please stop in to say hello.
Namaste.