Civic Sage

Sovereign tech solutions for political healing

Civic Sage is on a mission to unleash sovereign technology solutions to promote political healing in tribal communities. Sacred Generations is a healing and racial justice movement of medicine organizing system-impacted tribal communities to end educational inequity, mass incarceration and climate injustice in Native California. Educational inequity, mass incarceration and climate injustice are interconnected issues and we're building the power of sovereign solutions to drive transformative systems change in Native California. Through the MIT Indigenous Communities Fellowship, we hope to scale nationally because there is an unprecedented economic crisis facing system-impacted tribal families in our nation. Civic Sage is an #IndigenousInnovation accelerator for system-impacted tribal communities building sovereign tech solutions for political healing. We believe developing and supporting civic venture leaders and ideas to build political power results in systems change movement building. Our fellows are entrepreneurial rebels driving transformative solutions to end violence against Mother Earth with bold and innovative civic ventures restoring our sacred land and people. Civic Sage is unleashing a creative ecosystem of Indigenous tech innovators building civic leadership to champion healing and economic justice for tribal communities.. Last year, Sacred Generations published the very first mobile-friendly voter guide designed to educate and heal Native California called Sacred Vote. By asking every candidate on the ballot to publicly share their solidarity with sovereign tribal communities, Sacred Vote introduced a powerful advocacy tool for Native movement building and attracted 1K+ voters statewide in two weeks. Nearly half reported to be first time voters and represented an intergenerational, women-led, generation of young men that is traditionally disengaged. After using our voter guide, 100% of voters were more 1) knowledgeable about Native voting rights 2) prepared to cast an informed vote and 3) empowered to vote. Led by system-impacted tribal communities, Sacred Vote served as a groundbreaking voter education resource and historical movement building advocacy tool building civic leadership pathways in a state where the largest population of Natives in the nation resides with 109 federally recognized tribes. Civic Sage will increase the capacity of civic leadership pathways and advocacy tools nationally. Building an ecosystem of civic venture leaders and ideas, Civic Sage will accelerate and strengthen our ability to protect sovereign nations and honor the sacred in our ancestral homelands. We anticipate reasonable barriers given the low internet access of rural tribal communities and lack of physical office space. Although, we’ve tested several solutions to overcome these barriers. Building a diverse portfolio of partners such as schools and creative community spaces is instrumental to execute our vision of Civic Sage serving as the political force restoring Native people and land.

Civic Sage will use existing hardware technology (laptops, connectivity) to provide curriculum, coaching and connections for #IndigenousInnovators accessing traditional cultural technology in the process of creating new software technology (mobile apps, etc). We anticipate using the funding from the fellowship to purchase the hardware technology to launch the pilot and provide new ventures through the prototype stages of civic venture development with capital support. Providing $10,000 will provide the hardware technology to launch a pilot. Providing $100,000 will provide the hardware technology to launch a pilot AND provide the financial investment in an ecosystem of civic venture technology.

Civic Sage is building a civic venture ecosystem of #IndigenousInnovation driving transformative social and policy systems change restoring Native people and land. We are not building a tech product serving a limited purpose and generation. We are increasing the capacity of system-impacted tribal communities to build civic leadership pathways and economic justice. Civic Sage is unleashing the force of intergenerational political medicine to protect sovereign nation and honor the sacred. Our civic venture leaders and ideas are entrepreneurial rebels championing sovereign tech solutions for political healing in tribal communities

Our fellows will access hardware technology (laptops, connectivity) for curriculum, coaching and connections. They will also access financial capital to prototype their civic venture ideas. This requires a significant investment from MIT to pilot. Yet, given the funding disparities Native-led organizations face in philanthropy, an equitable investment is aligned to the goals of the MIT Indigenous Communities Fellowship.

: We define system-impacted tribal communities as Native communities that are personally and disproportionately impacted by systems of mass incarceration socially, emotionally, financially, spiritually and politically. Communities are personally impacted by systems of mass incarceration by having self, family, and extended support networks or members of the community being incarcerated or formerly incarcerated and experiencing some form of state control, supervision or monitoring limiting choices and freedom. We’re building our Indigenous organizing model currently impacting hundreds of system-impacted families in California. Sacred Vote impacted more than 1K voters. It’s our hope Civic Sage will reach 20-50 tribal families during the first pilot.

Future project goals for Civic Sage include scaling to tribal communities across the nation using the power of technology and building capital capacity to support early stage civic venture prototype development. Over the next year, our project goals include recruiting, developing and supporting a cohort of fellows during the first pilot program. In addition, identifying scale sites and strategy will be imperative to our growth trajectory. Over time, Civic Sage will grow into a community of political healing and economic justice for system-impacted tribal communities.

The founder of Sacred Generations was named a 2018 Echoing Green global fellow for her #IndigenousInnovation last year and launched the Sacred Vote civic leadership campaign the same year. We’re excited to partner with Solve to continue building civic leadership pathways and economic justice for system-impacted tribal communities through sovereign tech solutions for political healing. Our social impact has been highlighted by many social impact leaders and national organizations such as Teach For America, authored by Native journalists.

Solve is an incredible opportunity to access a network of coaching, capital and connections in the innovation ecosystem. I’m also eager to join a community of #IndigenousInnovation working to restore Native people and land through a diverse portfolio of technology solutions. My experience in social impact spaces and opportunities for growth as a next generation leader align with the aspiration to support and scale sustainable economic development and resiliency using technology.

We are excited to announce a new partnership with Native Realities, a creative firm, unleashing the Indigenous imagination. Featuring the incredible tales of Indigenous icons, First Nations freedom fighters, Aboriginal astronauts, and Native American superheroes whose stories have long been co-opted, unheard or ignored, Native Realities strives to provide the most original and authentic representations of Native and Indigenous peoples through stories and texts that educate and entertain children, youth and adults. Together, we will be working on several civic leadership projects including the Civic Sage pilot.

We’d love to partner with organizations aligned to the original instructions reflected in the wisdom of The Dann sisters (Shoshone), “We can’t stop the violence against our communities if we don’t stop the violence against Mother Earth because what drives violence against Mother Earth is the same thing that drives violence against our communities.” In addition, we’ve identified opportunities to collaborate with Native Women Lead and believe spaces like IndigeHub are beautiful collaboration opportunities.