As creatives, our goal is to maintain two distinct hemispheres to realize an Indigenous future.
Native Solutions for Native Issues
Native innovation for Native futures
Since we began operations, we have been deeply informed by the ongoing pandemic and its opportunities for Native community. We hope to accommodate a world that has realized the massive opportunity for virtual engagement, which has provided us with greater accessibility to our most remote Tribes and reservations. With the tremendous onset of COVID-19 across Indian Country, our home communities suffered greatly and we lost people we loved. More than ever, it is essential to meet people where they are and ensure their safety is of the utmost priority.
As our organization continues to grow and evolve, we will have many publicly available services. Our goal is to generate revenue through charitable donations, corporate philanthropy, public charities, State and Federal grants, and foundation dollars. In addition, we are looking to diversify our resources intelligently to supplement our operations and provide necessary programming back to the community.
We take a balanced approach when it comes to our energy. If we spend too long in problem-solving, we neglect to use our gifts and efficacy to bring about new things. As Tribal people, some of our most significant accomplishments come when we dance, pray, dream, and believe that the universe has a plan for us. When we are focused on abundance and life, abundance and life have a way of finding us. We understand that we have two lanes that work in, and it is our responsibility to plan and be in the moment.
As we create opportunities and pathways that shift worldviews, we must remain malleable. We are centered on the practical. We work knowing that nothing we are making needs to be perfect; it just needs to be who we are right now. Therefore, we remove the impossibility, reluctance, doubt, and fear from our creativity and call upon the strength, perseverance, and wonder of our ancestors to lead us to a new earth.
Our Energetic Process
To advance social change for Indigenous Nevada—as an organization—we operate in the 501(c)(3) space as a non-partisan entity. We offer support to Nevada's 27 Federally Recognized Tribes (and Colonies) by relational organizing across the State and mobilizing their community efforts in areas that uplift and empower people. Our goal is to pursue policies that promote the greater Indian good for all Indigenous People living in Nevada. When we do that, we change the nature of the State. As Great Basin People, we do the work of our Ancestors and for future generations.
Grounding
We intentionally maintain a core group of people whose sole profession is to read, write, research, and discuss topics that are of importance to the social good of Native Nevada. Unlike other organizations (or institutions), our brand of collective intelligence is as freethinking as it can be, even at the expense of our own identities. In every community, culture, and family, there are things that we struggle with: complexes, biases, attitudes, self-hate, and self-deprecation. Thus, our first demarcation on the road to combat colonization is an internal one.
Self Awareness
We take a highly proactive approach to problem-solving. At Tribal Minds, we can’t wait until Native Nevada self-corrects. Instead, we actively seek out problems that have historically handicapped BIPOC communities. Our strategy is to prepare Native solutions for Native problems; that way, when Tribal, State, Local, and Federal policymakers need to take care of issues of Nevada; the necessary networks, solutions, and research are in place.
Problem Solving
As People of the Global Majority, we are working on our healing. For the betterment of our Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Kinships, we strive to be forthright and just in our operations. We find alternate paths towards justice, equality, and healing by taking an objective approach to life—in search of balance—that our communities often struggle to find. We do not operate in an adversarial or poverty-driven mind state but from an empirical space that seeks practical resolve.
Consciousness
The greatest potential, as yet untapped, lies in Nevada. With a small total population concentrated in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada is presently on the threshold of development. Some twenty-six tribes, mainly Paiutes and Shoshones, live in Nevada. If these tribes were ever to form a strong political or economical alliance, they would exert tremendous influence within the state. The Nevadan Indian population is fairly young and the possibility of its developing a strong Indian swing vote as it comes to age is excellent
- Vine Deloria, 1969
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tribal Minds, Inc. based?
Where do you operate?
We are a statewide Native-led nonprofit that aims to empower Tribal spaces in rural and urban Nevada. Our focus is on remote Indian reservations that often get overlooked and underfunded. We have strong alliances with most Tribes of Nevada, grassroots organizers, and other in-state leaders that work to bring attention to the Tribal needs of the Great Basin. When we support the strengthening of Tribal sovereignty, we all win. If it's in Nevada, it's our business!
Tribal Minds, Inc. originated on the Hungry Valley Indian Reservation, a Tribal Community of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. Currently, we are based in Reno, Nevada as we serve Tribal communities across the state. We understand Reno to be a center where Tribal people across the Great Basin work, live, find community, and find each other.
What Organizations or Institutions are you willing to work with?
Who do you provide services to?
Tribal Minds is a fiscally-sponsored organization that is excited to work with anyone who wants to see the advancement of the Indigenous People of Nevada. We aim to collaborate with institutions that energetically align with our mission and purpose. We wish to build relationships that are prosperous and healthy and center the People and the Land. So if you have a program or project in mind, let’s make something happen.
At Tribal Minds, no one will be turned away, but we prioritize those in the greatest need first and foremost. The organization aims to ensure our Tribal communities receive opportunities not often afforded to them. As a result, we accrue higher buy-in rates and fulfill a more inclusive vision by diversifying our programming. We place a strong emphasis on uplifting the BIPOC communities of Nevada and all other marginalized individuals. Because we understand that we are all relations: when we help others, we help ourselves!
