Wisdom of the Elders, Inc

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc

A letter from the Executive Director – Teresa Montana

The 2024 Willamette Week's Give!Guide is Live!

We’re thrilled to announce that Willamette Week’s 2024 Give!Guide is officially in full swing, and we are beyond grateful to be a part of this fantastic community-driven initiative. The Give!Guide is an amazing opportunity to support our mission, and every donation counts—no matter the size.

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc

The 2024 Willamette Week's Give!Guide is Live!

We’re thrilled to announce that Willamette Week’s 2024 Give!Guide is officially in full swing, and we are beyond grateful to be a part of this fantastic community-driven initiative. The Give!Guide is an amazing opportunity to support our mission, and every donation counts—no matter the size.

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc

Indigenous Archive Initiative

The Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. Indigenous Archive Initiative is a monumental endeavor to preserve and share the rich cultural heritage and wisdom of Indigenous communities. By digitizing and organizing over two decades of recorded video footage, we are creating an accessible online interactive database. Please support our mission by donating to our fund today.
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc

Indigenous Archive Initiative

The Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. Indigenous Archive Initiative is a monumental endeavor to preserve and share the rich cultural heritage and wisdom of Indigenous communities. By digitizing and organizing over two decades of recorded video footage, we are creating an accessible online interactive database. Please support our mission by donating to our fund today.
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc

Our Mission

Wisdom records, preserves, and shares oral history, cultural arts, language concepts, and traditional ecological knowledge of exemplary Native American elders, storytellers, and scientists in collaboration with diverse institutions, agencies, and organizations. Our vision: Native American cultural sustainability, multimedia education, and cultural reconciliation.

Wisdom Newsletter

Native Wisdom Documentary Film Update

Wisdom’s multimedia team is continuing its work on an educational film shared with the forestry service, and also filming a program that features a variety of Grandmothers stories.

Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge: An Internship program

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. is pleased to announce the (ITEK Program) Indigenous Traditional  Ecological Knowledge. This program is designed for interns and focuses on traditional ecological knowledge passed down from generations.

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc 2024 Horizontal

Wisdom Projects, Community Action, & Events

Read more about what Wisdom of the Elders is doing in the community.

Made possible with support from these generous Partners, Funders, and sponsors

The Collins Foundation
First Nations Development Institute
Ecotrust
Native Arts & Cultures Foundation
national Endowment for the Arts
East Portland Action Plan
Zenger Farm
Portland Parks & Recreation
sauvi-island-center
Johnson Creek Water Shed
Open Signal
Leach Botanical Garden
East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
MHCRC Community Grant
ninety-nine girlfriends
Oregon Metro
Meyer Memorial Trust
Big Green DAO
 Willamette Week Give Guide

Made possible with support from these generous Partners, Funders, and sponsors

Notes from Wisdom’s Executive Director

Hello friends, families, colleagues, and partners,

We appreciate you stopping by to check-in.

First and foremost, we want to send out a thank you to all of you who have been working with us to get through a tough spot this year. 

Your compassion and grace are so very heartwarming. To be sure, as a team, we do share our thoughts and express our gratitude for each of you as we keep moving forward. 

I have to say I am deeply grateful for our team! Here at Wisdom, we hold so much regard for each other and this helps us to stay strong during challenging times. 

Everyone brings all their talents and passion to the forefront and are supportive of each other in so many ways. Together, we are fully committed to the success of all of our programs.

To Wisdom partners, you all are such a joy to work with. You have expressed to us that you are here to help accomplish our shared goals. Our staff in turn frequently say how much they enjoy working alongside you all. Thank you for standing with us as we look to the coming years to accomplish the good work for our shared communities

A quick update for our Multi-Media team and our Archive Project. 

We have had a portion of our archived films digitized. We will keep working to have them all done, which will take quite some time as there are at least 100k hours of footage to be taken care of. 

**This means a great deal of fundraising too! So if any of you have resources you are aware of, please let us know.***

In the meantime, we are planning to hold an event this month to review our mission, what we have already done, and what we will be accomplishing in the coming year. 

Finally, we want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported Wisdom over the years and to those of you who are just learning about our programs and have made contributions to help support our projects.

With gratitude and appreciation, we wish you all a joy-filled holiday and a prosperous New Year.

With gratitude,

- Teresa Montana,

Executive Director