About Right Relations
Right Relations is a 9-month, cohort-based program that supports alliances with local Native American communities through learning, action, and community. We are catalyzing collective action for healthy lands, people, and communities and building the region’s capacity to strengthen Tribal sovereignty. This program is designed specifically for TOGETHER Bay Area members in partnership with Redbud Resource Group.
In addition, Redbud Resource Group has launched Restoring Right Relations, a 12-month leadership program for California Native community members who want to build leadership skills, grow positive relationships within Indian country, and develop skills for implementing projects in their communities.
Learn more about the Pilot Program in 2022-2023. Funding for Right Relations in 2024 has been generously provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Phase 1
Together with your cohort, participants will learn and grow individually, organizationally, and collectively through curated experiences. You will develop action plans for your organization and build relationships with peers around the region at workshops, roundtable discussions, field trips, and debrief sessions that are held online and in person.
Phase 2
Organizations who participated in the 2023 Going Deep pilot program are invited to continue the learning, action taking, and community building. This 9-month program will focus on the organizations’ action plans, providing resources and support, and building community amongst participants. There will be multiple opportunities for learning new material not covered in Phase 1.
“I wish the Right Relations program were standard curriculum for all ages – right sized for each level of learning – from elementary school through college and in the workplace.
Every aspect of what we are learning and reflecting on is relevant to every person living in the US.”
~ Phase One participant, April 2024
Restoring Right Relations
Redbud Resource Group has launched Restoring Right Relations, a 12-month leadership program for California Native community members who want to build leadership skills, grow positive relationships within Indian country, and develop skills for implementing projects in their communities. Learn more about Restoring Right Relations here.
Application Timeline
Wednesday, November 1, 2023: Applications open for Phases 1 & 2.
Wednesday, November 15, 10:00–10:30 am: Right Relations Information Session online. Register here.
Friday, December 8: Applications due for Phases 1 & 2 by 5:00 pm.
By Friday, December 22: TOGETHER Bay Area will notify applicants of acceptance status.
More opportunities to learn & take action
In addition to the Right Relations program, TOGETHER Bay Area and Redbud Resources host opportunities for building Tribal alliances throughout the year. View the calendar for all upcoming events.
Going Beyond Land Acknowledgements
Going Beyond Land Acknowledgements is an interactive 2.5 hour workshop for individuals seeking to grow their allyship with Native peoples. Participants learn about the strengths and limitations of land acknowledgements and explore concrete, action-oriented strategies for building connections with Native communities and organizations.
Individuals working for TOGETHER Bay Area member organizations are invited to participate in one of the following online workshops:
- Tuesday, August 6, 2024, 10:00 am–12:30 pm
- Tuesday, November 5, 2024 10:00 am–12:30 pm
TOGETHER Bay Area has reserved 10 spots at each of the workshops for people who work for our member organizations. Anyone who works at our member organizations can apply: all departments, at any level. There is no cost for members to attend as part of this program.
TOGETHER members can register for space by emailing [email protected] with the date you would like to attend. First come, first served.
Redbud Resources
Redbud Resource Group offers an abundance of educational resources on how to take action beyond land acknowledgements, from videos to blog posts to databases and more. View them here.
2024 Spring Conference, May 7–10
Our 2024 Spring Conference will feature opportunities to build alliances with Native American tribes and communities for healthy lands, people, and communities. Learn more about the 2024 Conference here!
News & Announcements
Right Relations 2024 Begins!
Right Relations Expands!
Our first year of Right Relations
Inspirations and Acknowledgements
The Right Relations program is grounded in needs expressed by TOGETHER Bay Area members. In 2020-2021, a collection of TOGETHER Bay Area members expressed the need to build their capacity to build Tribal sovereignty and transfer resources (financial, staff and consultants, land, power) to Native American tribes and organizations without those resources. Specifically, we heard:
From TOGETHER Bay Area’s Native-led member organizations:
- We can’t afford to live in our ancestral territory.
- We want to own, manage, and/or steward land in our ancestral territory.
- We don’t have the funding or staff capacity to own, manage, or steward lands.
- The criteria and process for getting a collecting / gathering permit for cultural or medicinal plants from public land management agencies are inconsistent, confusing, and insulting.
- Our land trust is growing and we want to learn from other land trusts about how to do this work.
From TOGETHER Bay Area’s non-Native-led organizations members – which include Indigenous, Black, People of Color, and white led organizations:
- We want to return land to the original stewards of these lands.
- I don’t know what Tribe I should talk to because there isn’t a federally recognized Tribe where I am.
- I contacted a Tribe or group but I haven’t heard back.
- Am I doing harm if I work with two different Indigenous groups?
- We are confident that there is a shellmound under a parking lot on public land we manage, we want to remove the parking lot, and return the land to the local Tribe.
- Our staff want to create a land acknowledgement that we use organization-wide, and our Board is resisting it.
To respond to these needs, we designed and convened a pilot program in 2022-2023 in partnership with Redbud Resource Group. The Redbud team drew from their personal and professional experiences, especially their Going Beyond Land Acknowledgement workshops. Learn more about the pilot program here.
Right Relations stands on the shoulders of people who came before us and leaders in the field, including but not limited to:
- First Light Learning Journey
- The UNTraining
- Decolonizing transformations through ‘right relations’ by Irmelin Gram-Hanssen, Nicole Schafenacker & Julia Bentz
- 2012-2014 Capacity Building Cohort, SD Bechtel Jr Foundation
- Margaret Wheatley’s book, Turning To One Another
- Dr. Manuel Pastor’s writing about transformation, transactions, and translations
We thank David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Sobrato Philanthropies for providing financial support for the pilot program.
We thank David and Lucile Packard Foundation for their continued support of Phase One and Two in 2024 and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for their support of the 2024 Right Relations program.