This time of year holds holidays like columbus day and thanksgiving, which promote misleading and harmful narratives about the “discovery” and european settler-colonization of this continent. As a community-owned grocery store doing business on the stolen land of Chinook, Cowlitz, and Clackamas peoples, we believe it’s important and necessary for us to give some of the wealth and resources we collectively accumulate back to Indigenous organizations and communities.
In addition to supporting Indigenous organizations and businesses, we encourage our community to also educate yourselves about the land you’re on, the people it was stolen from, the history of colonization, and the ways you can support Indigenous survivance and resistance.
Find out whose land you’re on here!
Here are some links to some Indigenous organizations you can learn about, donate to, and tell the people in your life about this season:
Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA)
Founded by the community, for the community, NAYA is a family of numerous tribes and voices who are rooted in sustaining tradition and building cultural wealth. We provide culturally-specific programs and services that guide our people in the direction of personal success and balance through cultural empowerment. Our continuum of lifetime services create a wraparound, holistic healthy environment that is Youth Centered, Family Driven, Elder Guided.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is experiencing a water crisis. Donations to this fund directly benefit the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs as they work to restore their access and infrastructure for clean water.
“The Chinook Nation consists of the five western most Tribes of Chinookan peoples. Our history and constitution define us as being Lower Chinook, Clatsop, Willapa, Wahkiakum and Kathlamet. We have always resided in the lower Columbia River region and always will. We are proud of our heritage and inheritance and ask you to join us in celebrating our rich history and bright future.”
“We are an Indigenous women-led organization dedicated to the ongoing regeneration of Indigenous communities. Through grantmaking, capacity-building and community-based intergenerational programming, we seek transformative change by supporting culturally grounded leadership and organizing.
“Focused on Indigenous Ecology, Food Sovereignty, and Wise Action, we work to advance climate and gender justice, while creating healthy pathways towards self-determination and movement-building.”
“Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. records and preserves traditional cultural values, oral history, prophesy and other messages of guidance from indigenous elders in order to regenerate the greatness of culture among today’s and future generations of native peoples. As First Peoples, we are humbled by the wisdom of our elders and the deep connection they share with Great Spirit, the world of nature and family. We regard our elders as rapidly vanishing, irreplaceable keepers of oral history, tradition and environment. Values they extol represent an ancient legacy of knowledge which has become as endangered as many disappearing species in our fragile ecosystem.”
“40% of Navajo still don’t have a sink or a toilet. So we bring clean, hot and cold running water to families across New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.”
Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women USA
“MMIW USA’s number one mission is to bring our missing home and help the families of the murdered cope and support them through the process of grief. We give them hands-on support and guidance and if we don’t have the answers, we get the answers so that these families do not feel abandoned and alone in this struggle like so many have before them. Our broader goal is to eradicate this problem so that the future generations thrive. We are doing that through education of the threats that they face and self-defense. We just started a monthly program to do just that. It is called Staying Sacred and we educate and have self-defense lessons at every meeting. Our strength lies in the fact that every single one of the staff and volunteers have been assaulted or trafficked and our passion is to be the kind of organization that we needed growing up and beyond.”
“The Mitakuye Foundation was created in 2010 as a direct response to the teen suicide epidemic on Pine Ridge. Many of the difficulties that the modern day Lakota deal with – like suicide, alcoholism, poverty, and teen pregnancy – are not inherently part of Lakota culture. They are the terrible by-products of colonization, oppression, and genocide. We create programs and support programs that not only help the youth to survive – but to thrive. All of our programming is geared towards students fortifying their cultural identities so they can turn to their traditions to tackle the difficult issues they face.”
Native Businesses to Support
Indigenous Marketplace directory - Visit this directory to connect with dozens of Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs.
Mercatus Buy Native Guide - Find Native-owned local businesses of all kinds to support!
Holiday Markets Showcasing Native Businesses
Portland Indigenous Marketplace - 11/8-12/8 2023
My People’s Market - 12/2-12/3 2023
NAYA Native Made Winter Marketplace - 12/9-12/10 2023
Reading & Education
Understanding Thanksgiving from Our Side of the Table (firstnations.org)
9 Ways to Decolonize and Honor Native Peoples on Thanksgiving (Cultural Survival)
Unlearning with CoFed: Decolonization [Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive]
Native American Community Events, Museums, and Resources from Travel Portland
