Americans for Indian Opportunity Impact Study

Americans for Indian Opportunity Ambassadors Program: Impacting Indigenous Communities Sweeney Windchief Ed.D. (Nakona) Brittany Simmons (Waccamaw Siouan) Bentham Ohia (Maori)

Americans For Indian Opportunity 1001 Marquette Ave NW Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102

Protocol oIntroduction oAcknowledge the people of the land you are on oThank the WIPCE Leadership oDon’t show up empty handed

AIO Ambassadors: Community Impact Study • Program overview • Americans for Indian Opportunity • Advancement of Maori Opportunity • Study purpose • Theoretical or conceptual framework • Study methods • Preliminary conclusions • Study significance

Americans for Indian Opportunity • Utilizes an Indigenous worldview • Advances the cultural, political and economic rights of Indigenous peoples in the United States and around the world.

• Draws upon traditional Indigenous philosophies to foster valuebased leadership, • inspire stakeholder-driven solutions • convene visionary leaders to probe contemporary issues and address the challenges of the new century.

• Seeks to create innovative international Indigenous interactions that contribute Indigenous worldviews to the global discussion.

LaDonna Harris & AIO Ambassadors

Common Core Cultural Values • • • •

Relationships Responsibility Reciprocity Redistribution

Community Initiative

Gatherings

Aotearoa & AMO/AIO 2002 Gifting

Advancement of Maori Opportunity, Bolivia 2007

AMO Context • 5th R • Solidarity • The role of Manaakitanga • Treaty Negotiations • Family Responsibilities

Objectives Ambassador Engagement

• The State Level • The National Theatre • The Global Context of Indigeneity • In Specific Indigenous Communities • Urban • Rural/Reservation

Objectives Cont. Leadership in all contexts Indigenous Values Higher quality of life for communities

Limitations of the Study • Often over burdened • Qualitative research proved too time consuming • To quantify from Talanoa is difficult

Delimitations ď Ź Program Origination ď ŹApplication Process

Research Questions ď ŹHow has the Ambassadors program impacted Indigenous communities ď ŹWhat are the next steps in broadening and deepening the impact.

Theoretical Framework for This Study Community Based

Pragmatic

•Research questions were designed by AIO Ambassadors

•Rubber meets the road change in communities

Sharing with Indigenous communities

Indigenous Methodologies •Storytelling •The Seen Face •Entering Cautiously into Shared spaces of indigeneity

•Presentation •Publication •However AIO wants to implement the findings

4 R’s in research

WA - 15

OR-5

MT - 12

SD - 7

ID -1

WY - 1 NV-4

WI-9

MI-4

NY-5 PA-1

IL 1

NE-3

VA-6

CO-4

NC-8

AZ - 14 NM-29

HI - 4

MN - 6

UT 1

CA-14

AK - 7

ND-1

ME 1

OK- 15 AR-1

MS 3 LA-1

FL2

MD-5 DC-3 CT-2 MA-1

Aotearoa: Wellington, Hamilton, Auckland Auckland Hamilton

Wellington

Forms of Inquiry WIPCE 2011 ILIS Focus Groups

Analysis

Member CHK

Interviews

Report to AIO

Survey

Preliminary Results • Indigenous Leader Repatriation Program • Dynamic Networks • Ambassadors working together means success

Professional Fields Occupied By AIO Ambassadors Education

7%

5%

Leadership Development

19%

8%

Nonprofit Advocacy/Community Service Other (Please Specify)

9% 16%

Youth Development Program

10%

11%

15%

Tribal Governance Or Tribal Social Service Program State/Federal Government

What do you think is the most lasting impact or activity of your community initiative ?

• Pertaining to Education • Pertaining to Law and Policy • In organizing a “build out” for a city’s first park.

Examples of Policy Change as a Result of the Ambassadors Program • • • • • •

Community Initiative Ph.D. Program Museums Tribes Repatriation Information Policy

Preliminary Conclusion Ambassadors are successful in positively impacting American Indian communities by implementing what they have learned, and the networks they create.

Further analysis will reveal…  Establishment of more indigenous leadership programs  Validation of collective indigenous knowledge  Indigenous leadership paradigms working across contexts

Significance Community Society Academic

Prominent AIO Ambassadors and Their Work

Pinamiya (Thank You) • • • • •

Survey Participants Focus Group Participants Interview Participants Observation Participants Hosts • NIEA (Heather Shotton) • NASAI (Karen Francis Begay, Pam Agoyo, Amanda Tachine, Adam Hiller) • IAIA (Ron Martinez-Looking Elk) • Quechan Elder Center (Brian Golding) • Eddie Sherman and Nicole Maher • Day Break Star (Janeen Comenote) • Hamilton NZ (Craig Muntz and LeAnn Sperling-Muntz & TWOA) • Aukland NZ (Lucy Tukua) • Wellington NZ (“Pops” Moreau and Liana Poutu

Discussion/Questions

References Brayboy, B. M. (2005). Towards a tribal critical race theory in education. The Urban Review, 37(5), 425-446.

Delgado, R. (Ed.). (1995). Critical race theory: The cutting edge. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Grande, S. (2000). American Indian identity and intellectualism: The quest for a new red pedagogy.

International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 13(4), 343–359.

Grande, S. (2004). American Indian Geographies of Identity and Power. In Red Pedagogy Native American Social and Political Thought. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York, NY: Zed Books.

Solórzano, D. G. (1997). Images and words that wound: Critical race theory, racial stereotyping, and teacher education. Teacher Education Quarterly, 24(3), 5–19.

Yosso, T. (2005). Whose Culture Has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91.