Below are four general categories of Woodfish Projects with a few examples:
I. PRESERVATION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
Urban Traditional Learning: a project to teach math concepts to San Francisco Bay Area urban Indian children
using instruction in basketmaking from a master Indian weaver.
Conference on Indigenous Health: a project to organize a think tank comprised of native scholars on the future of indigenous health and healing.
II. ASSISTANCE FOR INDIGENOUS HEALERS AND SHAMANS
Women’s Bush Medicine: a project to transmit traditional medical knowledge from elder women to young girls in a remote aboriginal Australian setting.
Travel Scholarship: a travel and accommodations scholarship to Tokyo for an Ainu shaman to meet with members of the Japan Institute of Psychotherapy.
Assistance for the ministry of an Indian elder: medical support for an 80 year old Shoshone elder plus funds for his food program for Kumeyaay Indians of Mexico.
III. TECHNOLOGY AND INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
Oral History Project: provision of portable videotaping equipment to a project (“Circle of Voices”) which records the last speakers of California Indian Languages.
Native American Radio Drama Project: a cultural exchange radio project in English and Spanish on biographies of Mexican and North American Indian leaders.
Digital Storytelling: a project to teach indigenous children to “sit at the feet” of their elders to learn traditional stories and then to be able to translate them in an appropriate way into “cyberyarns” which may be heard and viewed on the Internet. The aim is to simultaneously strengthen the fabric of their communities while teaching the children electronic survival skills.
IV. ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION
The Woodfish Prize: A cash prize for applicants who create a project, based on principles of reciprocity, involving Euro-american and Native American participants.
Indigenous Psychology and the Future of Mental Health: a grant to support an existing psychological association in its efforts to include greater ecopsychological awareness and indigenous outreach.
Scholarship for Indigenous Youth: travel and accommodations for a California Indian youth to participate in the
Bioneers, an annual conference on the environment.
It has been positively thrilling funding these innovative projects and, while doing so, networking Woodfish with many kindred spirits who share our vision.
These programs and others like them are made possible by your tax exempt contributions.
Please add us to your circle of philanthropic giving.
Dr. Leslie Gray
Executive Director
Woodfish Institute