We respectfully acknowledge that Confluence 2024 is taking place on the land of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes as well as other Indigenous communities, and Tucson is home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. We also acknowledge that the geographic extent of the Western Collaborative Conservation Network, spanning the Western United States and beyond, covers the lands and territories of many Indigenous communities. We are dedicated to honoring diversity, and we strive to do this through committed relationship building and partnerships with Indigenous communities and individuals. We are always learning and seeking to do better.
As a part of this effort, we have put together a short guide on how to contribute to some of the work of Indigenous people here in Arizona. Please click through and consider supporting this work through donating, volunteering, or using your platforms to raise awareness.
How You Can Contribute
There are numerous organizations that are led by Indigenous people and seek to address the visions and specific needs of Indigenous communities .If you’d like to learn more about the 22 Tribal Nations in Arizona, please visit the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona’s website, and if you’d like to learn more about Indigenous communities in your area and who’s Native lands you are on, consider visiting https://native-land.ca/. While you are in Tucson for Confluence 2024, please think about supporting and learning more about some of the important work and initiatives taking place here. While the organizations listed below are not comprehensive, they represent some of the exceptional work being done in this region.
If you are part of an Indigenous-led organization and you would like to be added to this list, or if your organization is included on this list and you would like the profile to be edited or removed, please email conserve@colostate.edu.
- Flowers & Bullets
- Mission: We reclaim our cultural roots and amplify them through sustainability, art, and rebellion to heal and empower our neighborhood.
- About: Flowers are the art and bullets are the struggle. We are organizers creating outlets for under-served youth and communities, which highlight the life we live and the places that we come from. By sharing skills, promoting place-based connections in the barrio, and listening to each other’s stories we promote sustainable ways of living. These ways of life address some of the traumas in our community, caused by disproportionate minority incarceration, drug addiction, physical and mental violence, food insecurity, health issues, and economic disparity.
- How to contribute: Donate or volunteer through their website.
- International Sonoran Desert Alliance
- About: The International Sonoran Desert Alliance is a comprehensive community development non-profit that is committed to growing resilient and sustainable Sonoran Desert communities where the natural environment and a rich cultural heritage are held in the highest regard. Founded in 1993 and governed by a board of directors representing the indigenous and non-indigenous populations of the U.S. and Mexico, ISDA is committed to convening diverse stakeholders and building community across borders. We believe that sense of place has a high level of importance and that Ajo and other Sonoran Desert communities are special places with stories worth sustaining and sharing.
- How to contribute: Donate through their website; contribute to the Tri-National Sonoran Desert Symposium.
- Indigenous Alliance Without Borders
- Mission: As a collective of Indigenous Peoples, our mission is to affirm the rights of Indigenous peoples, their right to self-determination, their collective human and civil rights, the rights of sovereignty and the protection of sacred sites, and the free unrestricted movement across international borders.
- About: In 1997, the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders came together as a result of persistent law enforcement abuse against indigenous peoples living in the southern United States and Mexico border region. We have since worked together inter-tribally from California to Texas to address these human rights violations that threaten the indigenous right of mobility and passage over the international border line.
- How to contribute: Learn more about Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, upcoming events, and to donate through their website.
- Pascua Yaqui Tribe Charitable Organization
- Mission: To improve the lives of the people living within the Pascua Yaqui communities through community investments, philanthropy and cooperation.
- How to contribute: Donate through their website.
- San Xavier Coop Farm
- Mission: The San Xavier Cooperative Association is committed to healthy farming practices and growing traditional crops to support the cultural and environmental values, as well as support economic development within the community. The San Xavier Cooperative Farm considers the following aspects (and others) of the Tohono O’odham Himdag, or Way of Life, to ensure that decisions in the farm’s rehabilitation project are consistent with the culture. (We will be visiting San Xavier Coop Farm as one of our Confluence 2024 field trips.)
- How to contribute: Donate or volunteer through their website.
- Tohono O’odham Young Voices (Podcast)
- Mission: Tohono O’odham Young Voices Podcast is a show that focuses on sharing tribal topics and stories of Southern Arizona within’ indigenous communities. Telling our own stories uncensored and truthfully without limitations or changes to our narratives creates empowerment. We work on educating the public and communicating awareness and information from community perspectives. We provide accessible media outlets that archive and distribute this content on mainstream platforms.
- How to contribute: Listen and subscribe, donate via Paypal (link on their website).
- Inter Tribal Council of Arizona
- Mission: To provide its member tribes with a united voice and the means for united action on matters that affect them collectively or individually…
- About: The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona was established in 1952 to provide a united voice for tribal governments located in the State of Arizona to address common issues of concerns. On July 9, 1975, the council established a private, non-profit corporation, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.(ITCA), under the laws of the State of Arizona to promote Indian self-reliance through public policy development. ITCA provides an independent capacity to obtain, analyze and disseminate information vital to Indian community self-development.
- Learn more by visiting their website.
- Archaeology Southwest
- About: Archaeology Southwest is a private 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, on the homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
- Mission: We practice Preservation Archaeology, a holistic and conservation-based approach to exploring and protecting heritage places while honoring their diverse values. We compile archaeological information, make it accessible and understandable, share it with the public and decision-makers, advocate for landscape-scale protection, and steward heritage properties and conservation easements. We are committed to real and ongoing collaboration with Indigenous communities.
- How to contribute: Donate, volunteer, or sign up for their newsletter through their website.
- Native Governance Center
- About: Native Governance Center is a Native-led nonprofit dedicated to assisting Native nations in strengthening their governance systems and capacity to exercise sovereignty.
- In fall 2019, the Native Governance Center released an online guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment. Since then, they have received hundreds of inquiries from educators, city government officials, churches, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals seeking help on writing their own land acknowledgment statements. They expected that a few people might contact them, but they never envisioned feeling so overwhelmed by such a large volume of requests.
- How to contribute: To learn more about Native Governance Center going beyond land acknowledgments, and/or to donate, visit their website.
Photos by Aireona Raschke
