>>>> June 2017 >>>>

Our Native American crew at Wisdom Workforce Development LLC gained new work opportunities thanks to partnerships with Friends of Trees, WHPacific and West Multnomah Soil and Waters Conservation District. They had a range of opportunities from planting and mulching trees in Lents and other neighborhoods, to planting Native plant species in a natural area in Lake Oswego and at NARA Northwest, and helping WMSWCD add diversity issues to their trainings for partners and community members.

 
(Left: Wisdom Workforce finishing Beaver cages at NARA, Right: Wisdom Workforce installing Beaver cages around trees at NARA)

>>>> May 2017 >>>>

Wisdom’s team traveled to Corvallis and Eugene in May to hold Film Screening and Community Consultation events in partnership with the Oregon State University Native American Longhouse and University of Oregon’s Tribal Climate Program. Funders for this outreach included the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and the Oregon Cultural Trust. The Wisdom Workforce Development interns traveled to Corvallis to attend OSU School of Forestry’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge Conference. Many thanks to Gail Woodside and Valerie Goodness who helped to arrange these events.

We will continue to hold Film Screenings and Community Consultations for our friends and colleagues into 2018 upon request from sponsors.

  
(Top Left: Presenters at Traditional Ecological Knowledge Conference at OSU, Top Right: Wisdom at the OSU Longhouse, Bottom Left: Wisdom on stage in Eugene)

>>>> April 2017 >>>>

The Native Wisdom Documentary Film Festival was held in Portland on Saturday, April 15 for 175 guests. Two new documentary films were shown featuring Oregon tribes, their emerging environmental issues and rich cultural arts. Wisdom’s film production team led by Executive Producer Rose High Bear and Producer/Director Larry Johnson (Lawrence Johnson Productions) worked for three years years to fund, record and produce these two films. They are part of the series of four short documentary films which have been produced since 2012. Partners include the Northwest Film Center and funders Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, Spirit Mountain Community Fund and Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Wisdom is continuing to seek funding support for the upcoming production of two full length documentary films and is continuing to screen the short docs that have been produced.

 
(Left: Larry Johnson and Rose Highbear on production, Right: Rose HighBear interviewing Tom Younker (Coquille) for Native Wisdom Films)