Matriarchs vote!
A conversation with Iris Friday, President and Co-Founder of Native Action Network
Sitting in a room filled with bright light and beautiful artwork, Iris Friday, President and Co-founder of Native Action Network, virtually joined Viridiana Romero, Blue Heart’s Program Director, for a conversation about their work. Native Action Network shares stories and supports Native women’s work creating equity and justice in Seattle King County area and throughout the State of Washington.
Viry: We’d love to hear about your story, how you came into this work and what’s important to know about you?
Iris: My name is Iris Friday. I am one of the co-founders of Native Action Network (NAN) along with Claudia Kauffman. I am a member of the Tlingit tribe and Claudia is a member of the Nez Perce tribe. We both had the honor of working for one of the Seattle King County Native leaders who had been in leadership for decades. His name was Bernie Whitebear. He passed away in 2000 and he left a really strong legacy in our community. His passing left a huge void.
We wanted to be able to fill that void and carry on the work that he had done. We wanted to carry on the work of the American Indian Women’s Service League. This was an organization that formed in the early ’50s and helped to build the Native community in the Seattle King County area. All of the work that these past leaders had done was very inspirational to us and we wanted to be sure to pass on their stories to a younger generation.
We want to keep their legacy alive and ensure that the young people know their stories.
So we had a conversation and we were talking about why don’t we have this, why don’t we do that, and wouldn’t it be cool if we did this. We talked about it a little bit more and we realized that we could do this! We could hold a one day conference to bring people together. Some of the women who were founding members of the American Indian Women’s Service League were alive. We could invite the young people to share their stories of what it is like to live in the city and be disconnected from culture. Then we could bring in strong female role models that are working in different arenas in the area.
So, we organized that first conference in 2002 and it was a big hit! We had decided it was going to be just a one time thing but everyone enjoyed it so much that they were like, “You gotta do it again! You gotta do it again!” Every year we were like, “This is the last time.” We ended up growing and built-up a really strong volunteer base that helped support that effort. So we’ve continued to do it and we’ve honored close to about 76 Native women for their leadership roles in building strong, healthy Native communities. Now we’ve got all these amazing women that we can feature and highlight and show as role models to our young women.
Along the way NAN developed our Young Women’s Leadership Academy which has been going twelve years now.
Viry: It’s interesting to hear about the evolution of your work and that you’ve been doing this for over twenty years. Can you share what your community is like?
Iris: The Seattle King County Native community is made up of about 35,000 tribal members from different tribal regions across the country who have made the Seattle King County area their home. We have a history of activism in the community. It was really through the efforts of the American Indian Women’s Service League welcoming people to the Seattle area that we were able to get some of the Native non-profits that exist today. We have the Seattle Indian Health Board, the Seattle Indian Services Commission, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. There is a lot going on and a lot of passionate leaders.
It is a very vibrant community but it is not a community that has a real geographic location because everyone is so spread out and the prices in the area have gotten so high that a lot of folks have migrated to the outer county areas. Everyone comes together around different events. United Indians just held their annual pow-wow — and it was the first time since COVID. It was nice getting people out and being able to see one another again.
Viry: Can you tell us about how Native Action Network builds power in your community?
Iris: One way is getting folks registered to vote, informing them about the different issues that are taking place. Another is ensuring that we have a seat at the table.
Native Action Network was part of putting together an Urban Indian Vision Report for the Seattle King County area. We gathered information about what was important to our community, where the gaps in services were. We’ve really utilized that effort as a map to direct our work. Out of comments from the community, NAN started a ten month Legacy of Leadership program.
Our Advocacy Bootcamp is a new program that we started this year. It is for 20 Native women to explore and expand their advocacy skills — and we snuck in a bit about running for elected office. The women in the cohort have an opportunity to connect with women who are already elected officials who talk about their experience, how they got into elected office, what motivated them, some of the challenges that they faced, and also the opportunities that they had to really change policy and make a difference. Through those conversations our Advocacy Bootcamp members really got inspired and realized that they, too, could run for political offices at some point. They just finished a one day public-speaking and communications workshop. We will work with them on what it takes to get appointed to one of the Governor’s boards or commissions, because we don’t have a lot of representation there. In December we will have a full day workshop on running for political office. We want to continue to have a relationship with the women and to support and nurture them as they continue on their leadership journey. If that journey includes elected office, we’ll be there to support them.
Viry: It seems that all this adds up to not just representation and leadership building, but also your role in building power. I’m curious what it means to you to “build power” or “momentum” in your community?
Iris: We call our Advocacy Bootcamp having a seat at the table, because in a lot of the rooms of power, we don’t have a seat. We want to make sure that we have representation at all levels–whether it’s city government, state government, or federal; boards and commissions; the non-profit arena. We are seeing some of that happen.
One of our Advocacy Bootcamp members is now statewide Native Vote coordinator. She really got inspired by the bootcamp and what she had learned. It’s exciting to see her take on that new role.
We are seeing our women enter positions in the philanthropic arena. One of our program managers just got appointed to an Indigenous commission for the city of Seattle. We are seeing them in different places, different spaces, having a voice and being able to make a difference. So we are seeing the powerbase grow amongst our graduates and alums.
Claudia Kaufmann, who is our co-founder, is running for Washington State Senate in the 47th District. Claudia held that position in the State Senate about ten years ago. She was the first Native woman to serve as State Senator. So she has that experience and is always happy to pass it on and really motivate others to see themselves as potential candidates. She brings that to her work at Native Action Network.
Viry: How do you see Native Action Network as part of a bigger movement?
Iris: Representation is a huge issue. Having done this for 20 years it is exciting to see women moving into other spaces: philanthropic, non-profit, corporate, political. And our youth community members going on to take leadership positions. I think that what you are going to see in our state is that Native women are going to have seats at all tables.
Native Action Network will be working on a statewide survey of Native women in leadership. That will draw attention to the role of Native women in leadership positions in their tribal communities, non-profit, government, and other spaces. We are excited to get this moving along. There is not really anything like this survey out there.
I have a vision to shine a light on all of the great works that Native women are doing in the communities–often times behind the scenes. This will show what a powerful force we are in our different communities.
One of the reasons we started our Enduring Spirit Awards was because we knew so many women who were doing amazing things. They were advocating for Indian child welfare. They were advocating for the environment, for healthy communities. We wanted to recognize and honor them. They are nominated by members of their community and it’s a good opportunity to show that whether you have a title or not you can be a leader in your community. We wanted to make sure that everyone knows about the work they are doing!
Viry: Anything you would like to share that you are particularly excited about?
Iris: It’s been very exciting to see the projects that the Legacy of Leadership cohorts have come up with. We divide the cohort into teams and each team does a community project. We graduated a group in June and one group created a journey game to teach young people about finances. We had a group that developed a directory for Native families on where to access resources in the area. Another team did an environmental justice camp for young Native students; they were able to partner with another non-profit that wasn’t able to make those connections with the Native community. They put on a very successful camp.
Viry: What would you say to people who want to show up for social justice issues and are looking to learn?
Iris: Get to know the community. Show up at events. Sometimes it is just a matter of getting to know who is doing what or volunteering for an event and things.
I encourage people to visit NAN’s website and sign-up for our newsletter. We highlight some of our partners and that’s a good way to kinda see what’s happening. There are some fun things in the fall. We have a Native Shopping Channel where we feature different Native artists and their work, so it’s an opportunity to learn about what inspired artists and also to do some shopping for the holidays.
Working with youth, supporting them through their educational pursuits and helping them get experience in different arenas–opportunities for internships and that type of thing. That is very helpful. This is such a vibrant beautiful community that I’d love for people to know what’s happening throughout.
Notes:
