Before the arrival of Europeans, there were some 60 million native people living in what came to be called the Americas; by 1900, there were 4-5 million. Their numbers had been decimated by disease, starvation, enslavement, displacement, and the technologically superior weapons of the invaders. (Here's a map showing the locations of the many groups that once occupied the Americas.)

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New Community Project has been involved with native communities since our beginning. Our first partnership was with the Gwich’in of Alaska, then the Siona, Cofan and other groups in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and more recently with the Dine of New Mexico. Here's a photo album with captions providing an overview of these relationships. 

 

While the “numbers” of native people has rebounded following their earlier decimation, native people are still beset by poverty, racism, and the loss of cultural moorings and the lands which shape their culture, religion and economic survival. “Our young people don’t seem interested in learning traditional medicine; I’m afraid these things will die out soon," Dine medicine woman and artisan Dorothy Keetso (photo) told our Learning Tour group. "Thank you for coming to visit me; I appreciate the support this shows for my practices." (NCP has raised money to help her gain additional training as a healer.) Along with the loss of 99 percent of their traditional lands, native communities in the USA were also relocated to areas that now are particularly vulnerable to climate change. 

 

Our goals in all these relationships:

• gain understanding of their history and present situation

• learn from their culture, especially in regard to living with the land and to healing practices

• show support for them in attitude and action, politically and personally, and appreciation for what they bring to our world

• be inspired by their courage, as they are often on the front lines of the battle with the extractive industries. Sarah James (at right) is a leader among the Gwich'in of Alaska as they oppose oil drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the birthing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, and the area the Gwich'in call "the sacred place where life began."

 

We take Learning Tours to visit; we educate our network about their realities; we support campaigns to assure their rights and survival; we provide financial support when appropriate (our If a Tree Falls... fund provides financial support for native communities as they seek ways to protect the forest)

 

The Cofan community in the Ecuadorian Amazon has warmed up to us over the 20+ years we have visited their village along the Pisuri River. Initially, we were seen as perhaps another outside group coming to tell them how to live, how to believe, how to arrange their families. But slowly we have developed a relationship with them through our regular visits and more recently through our economic support. We provided food relief during the Covid epidemic; school supplies for their underserved children; and medical support and then funeral expenses for our dear friend, shaman Aurelio, who passed away in spring of 2025. So the photo at right, with Aurelio in the center, was 20 years in the making.

 

And then over the past several years we have given financial assistance for Aurelia's grandson, Franklin (at right), as he sought the training necessary to become a shaman in his grandfather's footsteps. We are now helping him study to become a school teacher, as he is committed to making sure the Cofan language, culture and connection to the forest is preserved in the local public school. 

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