by Ken Lupoff, Associate Director of Business Development

Photo by Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA – Day 286: Indigenous Peoples Day

Since its adoption in Berkeley, California 31 years ago, the celebration of Indigenous People’s Day has spread across the United States, replacing or being held in conjunction with Columbus Day. Today, some 18 states and innumerable cities and towns celebrate Indigenous People’s Day on the first Monday of October. The holiday celebrates and honors the histories of the many Indigenous nations that once controlled most of the land that make up the present-day United States.

For this year’s Indigenous People’s Day holiday, RDA is recognizing the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in Oakland that facilitates the return of appropriated land to Indigenous tribes. To mark Indigenous People’s Day, RDA has made a charitable donation to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust as a show of support for their work around cultural revitalization and land restoration.

In addition to receiving charitable donations, the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust has established the Shuumi Land Tax, a voluntary annual contribution that non-Indigenous people living on traditional Lisjan Ohlone territory in the Bay Area can make to support the Sogorea Te’s critical work. Sogorea Te’s community-based work also includes the establishment of Lisjan, a traditional village site in deep East Oakland and the first piece of land rematriated by Sogorea Te’ within the historic territory of Huchiun.

As an employee-owned, majority-woman-managed California Social Purpose Corporation, RDA works to help public and community-based organizations meet the needs of the communities they work in. This work, at the strategic intersection of applied research and implementation, is grounded in RDA staff’s commitment to equity, access, and opportunity.

Please join us as we celebrate this year’s Indigenous People’s Day holiday by supporting the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.