Taking Collective Action for Tribal Alliances
Earlier this month, 50 professionals and practitioners who work for 16 TOGETHER Bay Area member organizations gathered in downtown Berkeley to talk about personal learning, organizational change, and collective action.
The occasion was the closing session for the 2026 Phase One cohort of the Right Relations program. Over the past 9 months, the 50 participants listened respectfully to Tribal leaders, offered gifts in honor of Tribal leaders’ time and wisdom, attended workshops, did homework, went on field trips, learned to weave baskets, and discussed Native – non-Native partnerships. Throughout the program there have been opportunities for community building and sharing ideas. We learned about organizational change and how to influence change through a nature-based framework. And we spent time together to change how we think, how we see the world, how we see ourselves.
Co-led by Redbud Resource Group and TOGETHER Bay Area, the Right Relations program is changing how work to conserve, steward, and connect people to the land is being done across the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the past five years, 150 people from 34 organizations have participated. And the work is just beginning.
Phase One participants learn at a workshop at the California Academy of Sciences. February 2026.
Each organization committed to taking action based on what they learned in the program, and they shared their action plans at the closing session. Standing in front of your peers and expressing your commitment to action can have a meaningful impact on both the person with the microphone and the people sitting in the audience. It also can spread ideas and increase a sense of accountability.
What are some of the actions that were presented?
Here are just some of the 100+ actions that were identified by the participating organizations:
Research our agency’s history working with local Tribes, and ensure that staff understand this history.
Begin consultation in earnest on the rematriation of cultural objects
Consult and collaborate with tribes to develop interpretive materials, signage, and programs that meet tribal objectives and tell meaningful stories
Mandate a training on California’s history through an Indigenous lens for all new staff
Phase One participants after giving gifts to the Muchia Te Land Trust at HEAL Farm. August 2026. Photo by Mariah Tiffany.
What’s next?
The hard work of changing organizational cultures begins, and TOGETHER Bay Area and Redbud Resources Group are here to support. Phase One graduates will be invited to participate in the next Phase Two cohort in the second half of 2027. Workshops just for Right Relations alumni will take place in February and June 2027. The TOGETHER Conference in April 2027 will provide opportunities to learn and connect with others. And a new Phase One cohort will launch in January 2027, continuing and deepening our collective impact.
All of this is possible because of grant support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. And we are seeking additional funding!
Big thanks to the participating organizations for their commitment to this work, for their time to learn and unlearn, and for collaborating across organizations to advance healthy relationships with each other and the land.
- County of Santa Clara Department of Parks and Recreation
- East Bay Municipal Utility District
- Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area
- Grassroots Ecology
- Land Trust of Napa County
- Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
- Presidio Trust
- San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
- Sonoma County Ag + Open Space
- Sonoma County Regional Parks
- Sonoma Ecology Center
- Sonoma Land Trust
- Sonoma Resource Conservation District
- Sonoma Water
- Stillwater Sciences
Would you like to learn more? Would you like to contact someone at these organizations to learn about their work for Tribal alliances? Send us an email at [email protected]
Basket weaving at the opening session. January 2026.
