Advocates to the Front! 2024 WSCADV Conference

Yeha:wi means “holding her sacred.” In our Yeha:wi Service Center, we deliver powerful cultural healing services that nurture, embolden, and honor a new generation of Native women leaders. This panel will discuss the ways that Mother Nation supports Native and Indigenous women in their healing journeys from gender violence and homelessness by reclaiming their cultural heritage, building strong relationships of sisterhood, and participating in their community.

Mother Nation was founded in 2013 by Norine Hill, with a mission to deliver social and cultural healing services for Native women that nurture, create stability, and inspire growth through sisterhood. Today Mother Nation is a Native American 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers culturally informed healing services, advocacy, mentorship and homeless prevention in Washington State. We support Native and Indigenous women during times of transition from chronic homelessness and gender-based violence to stable housing by providing counseling, connection to social services, sisterhood, community, and spiritual support.

Our panelists, Rokea Jones, BLK MAMAS Collective, Jamie Lovato, Spokane Tribe Indigenous Birth Justice and Jessica Houseman-Whitehawk, Ttáwaxt Birth Justice Center, are combining their expertise as doulas and birth justice advocates, while utilizing holistic, healing, plant, and cultural knowledge in their support of birthing families and training of doulas. They focus on dismantling oppressive systems and fighting for healthcare equity for Indigenous, Tribal, and Black birthing families. We invite you to join in on our discussion, facilitated by Andrea Garcia Brown, on what birth justice means to us and how it connects to our advocacy work.

In this session, we will delve into the significance of incorporating culture as a primary means of prevention, especially within minoritized communities. Harnessing the wisdom passed down through our indigenous teachings, Snxestwilxtn staff will explore how cultural practices play a pivotal role in establishing and nurturing healthy relationships. Through a hands-on mindfulness activity rooted in our traditions, we will engage in meaningful dialogue about our shared responsibility in amplifying BIPOC voices and anchoring culture in prevention efforts. Discover why culture is not just an add-on, but a cornerstone of building and sustaining thriving communities.

Martin Spotted Bear (Blackfeet), Shanna Howtopat (Yakama), and Madeline Rider (Algonquin Anishinabeg) will share their experiences providing culturally specific, Intergenerational trauma informed, street outreach to Native American survivors of violence. They will share how homelessness response and prevention is intricately connected to ending gender based violence and the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR).

Mother Nation was founded in 2013 by Norine Hill, with a mission to deliver social and cultural healing services for Native women that nurture, create stability, and inspire growth through sisterhood. Today Mother Nation is a Native American 501(c)(3) nonprofit that offers culturally informed healing services, advocacy, mentorship and homeless prevention in Washington State. We support Native and Indigenous women during times of transition from chronic homelessness and gender-based violence to stable housing by providing counseling, connection to social services, sisterhood, community, and spiritual support.