Purpose
This toolkit is designed to support the work of FVPSA state administrators and domestic violence coalitions. As recipients of the designated domestic violence federal funds, states and coalitions are expected to outreach, engage, fund and support underserved communities, including Indigenous Nations.
The toolkit begins with an overview of the history of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and will provide the context of the present day conditions of Indigenous Nations. The sections that follow, Learn History, Understand Funding and Building Relationships between State Domestic Violence Coalitions and Tribal Coalitions, build on the historical context. In the Understand Funding section, you will find detailed information for state administrators to assist in outreach, engagement, and funding Indigenous programs. The Statewide needs assessment and state planning section is helpful for both state administrators and coalitions staff, as both must participate in the process. Coalition staff will find helpful resources and information in the State Domestic Violence Coalition & Tribal Coalition section to help build authentic and equitable relationships.
This toolkit was designed to provide you with information about best practices, helpful tips, templates and videos. Videos will showcase the oral history of indigenous communities and allow you to hear Indigenous advocates in their own words.
We hope that you find this to be a resource that will be useful to you now and in the future. The toolkit will continue to be updated to reflect new or revised best practices or funding for Indigenous Nations.
Terminology
A note on the terminology used throughout the toolkit. Colonization takes many forms, including stealing native homelands, killing the people, separating families, not allowing the oppressed Nations to speak in their native language and renaming places and the people to fit with the colonizer’s ideas. Indigenous Nations have been working for centuries to reclaim what was taken from them including their language.
Why is this important? The names that we are familiar with are often not the same name that nations use for themselves. For example, the Navajo call themselves Dine’, which means “The People.” As part of outreach, engagement and building respectful relationships it is important to use the language and terminology preferred by the community.
We use the term “Indigenous” throughout the toolkit to be inclusive of Indigenous Nations in Hawaii and Alaska that do not identify with the word “tribe.” Where the word “tribal” appears is because this is how the community identifies itself, for example Tribal Coalition or the Alliance of Tribal Coalitions to End Violence (ATCEV) or it is the terminology used in federal funding, such as Tribal Grants.