 A young Akwesasne Mohawk mother and child who worked with the First Environment Collaborative.
Organization: Women is the First Environment Collaborative
Year: 1998-Present
Tribe: Akwesasne Mohawk
Location: Berkshire, NY and Washington, DC From its local field operations in New York State and Washington, DC, Women is the First Environment Collaborative seeks to advance the reproductive justice agendas of American Indian women towards an expanded and revitalized reproductive justice movement. The First Environment program, founded by Katsi Cook (Akwesasne Mohawk) also intersects with diverse social justice movements through advocacy, communications and curriculum development.
This program is made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation.
The project works to develop American Indian youth leadership to encourage a new generation to protect and promote social justice in environmental, reproductive rights and Native rights arenas.
The legacies of colonialism, including historical trauma, multi-generational soul-wounding, the erosion of family and gender relations from the boarding school experience and the toxic contamination of subsistence life ways have forged diverse socio-cultural contexts from which Native American women must formulate opinions, ideologies, and solutions to the problems they face in everyday life. From puberty into the childbearing years; into menopause and elder-hood, there is a need to incorporate and integrate biomedical knowledge, indigenous knowledge, ideas and practices (the “traditional”) in developing resources for community education, training and research. Building from an empowerment model based in cultural survival, Women is the First Environment Collaborative aims to include a new generation of young American Indian women at risk who are most in need of ties to positive models in community culture.
RECENT HAPPENINGS FROM THE FIRST ENVIRONMENT COLLABORATIVE:
KATSI COOK ON NATIVE AMERICA CALLING
Thursday, July 17, 2008 – Midwives and Native Women
Many Native people have close ties to the places and environments where they are born. So when and why did Native women stop giving birth at home and move into the hospital?
Most women who’ve had children faced the choice; giving birth in a “traditional” hospital, with the drugs and quick access to an operating room if needed, or staying home and working with a midwife to ensure a healthy baby.
Are midwives making a comeback in Native communities? What are the benefits of using a midwife? Guests are midwife Katsi Cook (Mohawk) and Senior Consultant for the Indian Health Service, Carolyn Aoyama.
(listen)
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FATHERS AND CHILDREN WORKSHOPS
August 2-5, 2008 Eagle Butte, SD
 Avrol Looking Horse with his daughter Makasa in 2008.
A series of workshops and conversations will be undertaken by the Gathering for Fathers and Children of about 50 participants at Cheyenne River Reservation Elderly Nutrition Center on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation.
The purpose of the gathering is to support the prayer of 11-year-old Makasa Looking Horse for fathers and children at this year’s Green Grass Sundance, August 6-10, 2008.
The broad goal of the Gathering is to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for American Indian youth, including environmental and reproductive health. Our efforts are rooted in the vision that all children have the right to be wanted, loved and nurtured in healthful environments.
Among the many indicators of children’s health and well-being, American Indian children have the right to their cultural identity. The loving and meaningful presence of a father in a child’s life is important to the well-being of the child, father, mother and extended family.
Makasa’s prayer specifically seeks to remember the importance and significance of fathers; that they must return to their traditional roles within the family. Her vision is that they once again become hunters and support their families and nations, as did our ancestors before them.
Participants in the events are members of the Indigenous Elders and Youth Council from the Six Nations Reservation in Ontario, Canada, Slim Buttes Ag Development Project at Pine Ridge and Woman is the First Environment Collaborative of Running Strong for American Indian Youth, as well as the South Dakota PRAMS Study Data Manager of the Northern Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center in Rapid City, SD.
Together, the participating organizations are also co-sponsors and collaborators of this event.
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