Place Raising Program

The PLACE Raising Program is committed to building a cadre of Indigenous professionals and changemakers that collaborate on centering perspectives, identities, and meaningful involvement in Indigenous communities. Through these collaborations, individuals will utilize the principles of their communities to create a culturally responsive plan for addressing challenges and social injustices within their communities.

As a solution, REZILIENCE (has initiated an online experience as a segment of the PLACE Raising program that focuses on shared knowledge, processes, tools, ideas that celebrate the resiliency, ingenuity, and value of Indigenous peoples. Through these sessions Indigenous presenters, from various tribal nations will provide lessons that reference their Indigenous heritage, experiences, and knowledge systems, grounded in five areas - People, Land, Arts, Culture, and Ecology (PLACE).

The PLACE Raising Program is designed to be a positive solution for Indigenous communities to mobilize, connect, galvanize, and share knowledge that are centered around Indigenous values and perspectives. 

According to the National Congress of the American Indian, Native Americans are the most marginalized communities in the United States. Through health and economic disparities these Indigenous communities are affected by lower life expectancy rates by 5.5 years, die from heart disease at a rate 1.3 times higher than all other races, have a rate of suicide 2.5 times higher than the rest of the country, and 26.8% of Native Americans live in poverty compared to 4.6% for the nation as a whole.

Through the PLACE Raising Program, Indigenous community leaders and People of Color will address issues concerning Native Americans and will aim to provide learning opportunities that empower, heal, and grow communities that are centered around Indigenous perspectives. The program will connect people from different backgrounds to advocate, celebrate, and share resources that support community building efforts. Factors contributing to the problem relate to the solution by creating a platform for Indigenous communities to build positive and productive relationships, voice and practice living Indigenous values, build community organizing and communication skills, and grow capacity to share ancestral and modern processes. 

The PLACE Raising Program will incorporate and illustrate the power of mobilized Indigenous communities demonstrating the inherent agency and knowledge of our communities; support and empower our Indigenous peoples to mobilize, connect, activate, and celebrate our traditional knowledge and ways of knowing; and collect and disperse resources, information, and ideas to grow more opportunities for Indigenous peoples to find healing and balance. Topics of these session include- Cultivating Indigenous Resistance: Honoring Core Values; Listening to Music, Indigenously; and Land-Seed-Grow. Each session addressing the need for collaboration and resistance to systematic oppression in Indigenous communities.

Through an online platform, Native American presenters will provide lessons and build a cadre of Indigenous people that will support and empower others, encourage efforts to mobilize, connect, activate and celebrate traditional knowledge, collect and disperse resources, information, and ideas, and create opportunities to find balance.

PROGRAM GOALS

• Create programs that illustrate the power of communityship - the inherent agency and knowledge of our communities.

• Support and empower our Indigenous peoples to mobilize, connect, activate, and celebrate our traditional knowledge and ways of knowing.

The communities that will be served through this funding include New Mexico Pueblos and tribal nations, as well as national and international Indigenous communities. Through the online sessions, the organization aims to have multigenerational, and multicultural participation with an emphasis on youth participation

The REZILIENCE Organization is providing support for an Indigenous online community, needed during this crisis. Through PLACE, REZILIENCE will work to enrich understanding of ancestral heritage, help maintain and expand interconnectedness, build skill and knowledge through utilizing modern and traditional systems, and uplift Indigenous peoples, for generations.

By providing this online platform REZILIENCE will create a space for community members to highlight Indigenous philosophies and narratives, while acting in obligation to its members. The program is designed to directly supporting indigenous peoples, tribes and organizations in organizing and collaborating toward goals of sustainability and revitalization, over the long term. Such services are especially needed now during this time of pandemic and civil unrest, as well as into the future.

Create a cadre of Indigenous people that will support and empower others, encourage efforts to mobilize, connect, activate and celebrate traditional knowledge, collect and disperse resources, information, and ideas, and create opportunities to find balance and solve world challenges. Outcomes of the project include - communityship (kinship), self-reliance, encourage independence and self-efficacy, communication skills, goals setting, collaboration, social responsibility.

Our solution is unique because the organization will use collaborative knowledge and resources to provide a platform that focuses on -

• Mobilize - efforts to work towards empowering, healing and growing our communities; advocates and accomplices to conspire with indigenous peoples in equitable ways.

• Connect - people from different backgrounds, with similar goals/interests; dreamers with doers and supporters; Entrepreneurs with support/resources; Individuals with tools/processes.

• Activate - new opportunities for attendees/orgs/partners/etc; new or improved ways of building with indigenous peoples/communities, 

• Celebrate - Achievements, heritage, knowledge and life ways/philosophies of our people both past and present, to work toward a better future. A foundational element of Indigenous resilience.

• Collect & Disperse - Additional Resources, support, information, connection to potential allies/supporters, ideas and feedback.

The PLACE program consists of various strategies that work to build with Indigenous peoples across the country. In 2019, the REZILENCE organization coordinated the PLACE Raising program to engage community members from various tribal nations to design and coordinate the inaugural PLACE Convergence event in September 2020. With the cancelation of the 2020 PLACE Convergence due to the onset of COVID 19, REZILENCE we have shifted to delivering the collaborative workshops through an online portal. The PLACE Online Sessions will work toward the same goals that the Convergence event was aimed. Two sessions per month, beginning in June will be produced in collaboration with various knowledge keepers, leaders, artisans, and others to share their skills, tools, techniques and knowledge about various topics under the five tracks under P.L.A.C.E.

METHOD OF FACILITATION 

 
Each of these enduring understandings were explored through generative conversations of the PLACE Raising Cohort over four two-day convenings in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Pueblo of Santa Ana.  
 
The first convening centered on building community and relationship with the PLACE Raising Cohort. The second convening gave attending to the principle of cultivating collaboration. The third gathering was directed to the ways cultural competency is necessary in creating programs that serve our communities. The final convening was dedicated to the practice of creative monetization and featured discussion as well as practitioners who model this practice. 
 
Each session integrated holistic practices of prayer, movement when possible as well as the assertion of communityship through the peer sharing and reflecting on their own experiences. Unique worksheets featured in this field guide, show a culturally responsive facilitated by the created of this curriculum.  
 
While the focus of this program was to create a community of practice with shared language and directed tools for use in their own work moving ahead, focus was given to how these principles would be use to created the PLACE Convergence event - a name that generated through this program’s facilitation.

1. Build positive and productive relationships with our participants, presenters and hosts.

2. Voice, practice and live our values & expectations to grow enduring relationships.

3. Center our Indigenous teachers, knowledge systems, philosophies and narratives. 

4. Act in obligation to our people by providing culturally conscious and responsive content.

5. Provide high engagement learning opportunities to participants.

6. Grow capacity and agency for our people by sharing ancestral and modern processes, tools and methods that support community building efforts.

The REZILIENCE Organizations serves Indigenous Communities throughout the United States and Internationally. There is no telling how many people the organization has impacted as we share resources with one individual who can then share the resource with their whole community. 

The PLACE Program has the potential to help up to hundreds of thousands of Indigenous peoples from all over the world. 

The biggest barriers that currently exist for the organization are financial and COVID 19.

The organization hope to overcome these barriers by producing and submitting more grants for funding and providing online programs for people to use, as to curb the spread of the disease. 

REZILIENCE was founded in 2015 by Warren Montoya of Santa Ana Pueblo (Tamaya) and Santa Clara Pueblo (Khapo’ Owingeh). Along with a team of 10, this organization addresses the need for culturally-specific programming, knowledge dissemination and resource development focused on indigenous peoples and communities. This young organization now produces community based programming and is moving rapidly into having national engagement. This new path forward seeks to support Indigenous community members, professionals and entities from various nations, in building capacity for their communities to grow and thrive.

The REZILIENCE Organization has 4 contracted employees

The REZILIENCE Organization is well positioned to deliver this solution with the creative resiliency of Indigenous peoples at the center of our work, we create culturally responsive programs, events and tools. These mechanisms aim to support our people in developing holistic methods for positively impacting the life and trajectory of our communities. Each person working with the organization brings to the table expertise and experience within Indigenous communities, both nationally and international. 

Over the years we have partnered with many organizations to produce our Indigenous Arts Festival such as Wings of America, IAIA, The Heard Museum, The National Hispanic Cultural Center, Indigenous Comic Con, City of ABQ. 

The REZILIENCE Organization will use several methods of fundraising to help sustain the program and organization. 

A.  Annual Fund

• Donor Acquisition

• Mass mailings and email blasts

B. Renewal

• Use website to renew gifts and attain pledges

• Online donations

• Appeal for annual fund

C.  Events and benefits

• Virtual events can take the place of actual gatherings of groups and can reach new audiences

• Announcements of events and benefits

D. Foundation Grants

• Submit online proposals

• Online proposals writing 

E.  Corporate giving

• Some corporations will run an active campaign for a nonprofit

There are certain fundamental social components that must exist to support the growth, well-being and promotion of any community. Within many Indigenous communities, cultural aspects and community values have been passed down through generations and promoted through ceremonial practices to maintain connection and understanding of our place in this world and realm. In our past and still today, many stories, methods, technologies and beliefs continue to work against Indigenous peoples, breaking down our ways of life. But, there are also many stories, methods, technologies and beliefs that Indigenous people are practicing and utilizing today, some generations old and some new ways, that are working to build our people up and maintain connection, understanding and self-reliance in the face of this adversity. These proactive methods and mentality are the fabric that binds our communities and will continue to promote cultural vitality, increase knowledge and engagement between our people and this world in positive and considerate ways. We acknowledge this truth and allow it to guide our work to support the collecting, building and sharing of knowledge, tools and practices that encourage growth for our peoples, near and far.

The organization would like to partner with various organization to share knowledge and resources. By helping one another we can create vast networks of tools to ensure that all become sustainable. 

The REZILIENCE Organization is open to partnering with other Native organizations and museums.