It has been an action-packed and fulfilling year at Wisdom of the Elders, Inc, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our board, staff, partners and other friends and colleagues. As a Wopila, or thank you, we’re looking back at 2015 at Wisdom in review and sharing our reflections and photos of special events with you!

January 2015

Wisdom announced in January 2015 that 2014 total income increased to nearly $300,000, reflecting steady growth and sustainability since 2006. Executive Director Rose High Bear also reported to the board that non-grant income had increased by 1,800% over five years, from $7,305 (2010) to $130,000 (2014). This substantial increase reflects Wisdom’s commitment to achieve long-term financial sustainability to accomplish our vision of cultural sustainability, multimedia education and race reconciliation. Based on this record of stability, our board of directors and staff began to draft our next Three Year Strategic Plan: 2016-2018 which included plans to fund and launch our Executive Transition Plan.

February 2015

Wisdom formed its new Native American social and economic workforce venture:  Wisdom Workforce Development, LLC in February 2015. WWD will provide Native American adults with environmental assessment and habitat restoration work opportunities in local natural areas in the Portland area as well as paid internships. We continued the lengthy process of submitting proposals for work contracts; acquiring state certifications, bonds and insurance policies; and then recruiting and training our workforce team.

March 2015

Wisdom partnered with the Advisory Council of the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association to hold its annual NISA Storytellers Retreat which was held in Seattle in March 2015. We also sponsored an all-day storytellers gathering at Daybreak Star Indian Culture Center at Discovery Park. 120+ members of Seattle’s greater community enjoyed presentations by Washington tribal storytellers sharing their art and culture along with an elk stew and salmon dinner.

This event is growing into a two-day gathering and will be held in April 2016 at University of Washington’s wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (from the Lutshootseed language and phonetically pronounced “wah-sheb-altuh”), or Intellectual House, in partnership with UW’s Native American Studies.

April 2015

National Endowment for the Arts announced a $30,000 award to Wisdom in April for our Climate and Native Wisdom documentary film and radio series. Click here to view a clip from one of our award winning films. NEA also notified us of a $20,000 award to the Northwest Indian Storytellers Association for our tenth annual tribal storytelling events. Wisdom has been honored to receive NEA funding since 2001 including a number of years where multiple grants were awarded.

May 2015

Wisdom taught climate science with a Native American perspective to more than 250 eighth graders at Highland Park STEM Middle School in April and May using our Discovering Yidong Xinag* materials. Our educators provided our culturally-tailored multimedia environmental and climate lesson plans to the Beaverton schools students along with professional development training for their educators. Our learning model integrates music, storytelling and traditional arts into discussions and activities that raises their awareness of environmental and climate issues from the perspective of the region’s Native tribes. Special thanks goes to Louise Wilmes at Beaverton School District for her guidance and support. We also began planning two Summer Field Science Camps for Native students being held at Beaverton in June and NAYA in July. (*means “the old wisdom” in Deg Xinag dialect of Athabascan)

June 2015

150 friends and colleagues joined Wisdom for our June 2015 Summer Solstice event, “An Evening with Wisdom of the Elders.” Guests, presenting sponsor Providence Health and Services, and sponsors Metro, Oregon Health Sciences University, Oregon Health Authority Office of Equity and Inclusion, Indian Country Today Media Network, Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Equity Program, National College of Natural Medicine, and AARP helped to raise more than $21,000 for Wisdom of the Elders. During this fourth annual celebration, we enjoyed cultural presentations including music, dancing, storytelling, and a keynote address from Paul Lumley (Yakama), Executive Director of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. The evening included a salmon dinner and silent auction of Native American arts and crafts, vacation getaways and other items.

July 2015

Wisdom Workforce Development, Wisdom’s new Native American workforce team worked for Metro between June and September collecting and processing Native seed species. Our team of nine gathered Native species of seeds, including two camas species Camassia quamash (Common Camas) and Camassia leichtlinii  (Leichtlin’s Camas) and a number of other species*. Some of the team members also got to work at Metro’s Native Plant Center cleaning the seeds. (* Phlox gracilis (Microsteris), Potentilla gracilis (Northwest Cinquefoil), Carex densa (Dense Sedge), Carex pachystachya (Thick-headed Sedge), Carex Obnupta (Slough Sedge), Carex unilateralis (One-sided Sedge), Carex scoparia, Carex stipata (Sawbeak Sedge), Juncus tenuis (Slender Rush) and Rumex crispus (curly dock).)

August 2015

To support Discovering Yidong Xinag activities, Wisdom recruited a group of five Native youth who completed our Native Peer Mentor training during spring and summer months. The group was led by Peer Mentor Liaison Jacquelyn Nielsen (Eastern Band of Shoshone) who was also our Running Strong for American Indian Youth DreamStarter. The group mentored k-12 students at Beaverton schools in June and incoming ninth grade students at NAYA during July. At the same time, they recorded their group’s activities using video and digital still images. During August, after camps were over for the summer, they produced six videos highlighting Summer Field Science Camp sessions. We then hosted a dinner to honor them and screened their video productions to their families and friends which was a fitting, documented tribute to the conclusion of the camps.

September 2015

In September, Wisdom continued its Native Climate Council meetings in preparation for Climate and Native Wisdom documentary film and radio series production. Wisdom formed the Native Climate Council during the summer in preparation for two Oregon films. We held several meetings, gathered names of Oregon’s tribal elders, scientists and cultural leaders and discussed unprecedented issues they are facing. We also announced funding from Native Arts and Cultures Foundation which will support our 2016 Native Arts Academy for emerging Native producers. Plans are being made to partner with Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians to train a group of Native youth who are producing climate videos during 2016.

October 2015

The Northwest Indian Storytellers Association celebrated its tenth annual season of traditional Native American storytelling in Portland during October and November. We provided five evenings of storytelling at several venues, including Portland Art Museum, PCC Cascade and the First Unitarian Church in October and at Zenger Farm’s new Urban Grange in November. We also held training sessions for emerging Native storytellers at the new Portland Community College student center at their Cascade Campus. National Endowment for the Arts, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and other funders have supported this festival series since 2005.

We are honored to announce that the past decade of storytelling festivals and series of radio programs and documentary films attracted the attention of NEA’s Chairman Jane Chu who will travel to Portland in January and include a site visit at Wisdom’s offices.

November 2015

By November 2015, the number of Wisdom staff had doubled from three in January to six staff members. This includes Multimedia Production Coordinator and DOStv Producer Daniel Dixon (Menominee), Wisdom Workforce Coordinator and Educator Ciarra Greene (Nez Perce), Jordan Molnar (Cherokee, Choctaw, Osage), Educator Dawn Lowe (Apache, Hawaiian, Mohawk) and Nico Wind (Assiniboine, Ojibwe) are working with executive director Rose High Bear to prepare for the incoming deputy director. They all attended Wisdom’s fall-time staff retreat at Mt. Hood. Our Executive Transition Plan also launched in November. The national search for the Deputy Director is still underway with interviews continuing through January.

December 2015

In December, Wisdom launched its Star Storming Campaign to fund its Climate and Native Wisdom documentary film series. This campaign is picking up speed and Wisdom’s Nico Wind is gifting t-shirts to fellow Star Stormers. It takes only a $50 donation to the Indiegogo crowd funding campaign to get one of your own. If you can help with a contribution to Wisdom to continue sharing climate issues from the perspective of Native Americans, click here. While you’re there, check the updates to view a clip from Wisdom of the Elders’ documentary short, Climate and Native Wisdom: The People of the Caribou.

BREAKING NEWS: Wisdom was recently notified that Rose High Bear has been nominated as a finalist for TWO Humanitarian Awards for the first two films in the Climate and Native Wisdom series: the IndieFEST Film Awards 2015 Humanitarian Award and the 2015 Global Film Awards Humanitarian Award!