Tag Archive for: national training

NativeOrganizersAlliance

Apply Now: National Organizing Training

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We’re excited to announce that applications are now open for our November 16-21, 2026 National Native Community Organizing Training.

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Application deadline is 11:59 PM EST on Friday, August 28, 2026.

Our national trainings are for Native organizers and Tribal leaders committed to engaging our communities with organizing strategies guided by Inter-Tribal Indigenous values. The week-long gathering focuses on sharpening community organizing skills to build effective grassroots campaigns and movements to build power in our Native Nations and Native Communities. We will also focus on the changing political landscape and how we meet the challenges and opportunities before us.

The training will be held in Federal Way, Washington State. The cost of housing, transportation, and most meals will be covered by Native Organizers Alliance.

We are now accepting applications.

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Participants spend time together envisioning how to mobilize community action to make change possible and strengthen sovereignty and self-determination.

  • We explore how we have traditionally and historically used our traditional values to organize in our communities and how we continue to do so today.
  • We discuss building political power for change and how Tribal and urban communities can challenge the power that denies our peoples’ inherent and sovereign rights.
  • We share organizing tools and share knowledge gained from our teachings and life experiences.
  • We learn from our rich history of Inter-Tribal cultural values of building community by using interactive sessions that are grounded in collective learning. And folks go home energized with a shared theory of change rooted in traditional Inter-Tribal Indigenous community building.

Our week-long, in-person Native Organizing Trainings are a part of our year-round efforts of growing a powerful ecosystem of Native leaders who will continue to build our collective community power.

We encourage Tribal and Native community leaders in rural, reservation, or urban communities — and the staff of Native nonprofits, service agencies, and Tribal entities — to apply.

Native Organizers Alliance is pleased to cover the cost of housing, transportation, and most meals. Participants are responsible for additional costs. Organizations, Tribal governments, groups, or individuals who can contribute to defraying the costs of this training will provide the opportunity to go beyond 30 participants.

Jennifer Fairbanks

A Reflection on the May 2024 National Organizer Training

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Last month I had the honor of joining the Native Organizers Alliance for the National Organizers Training in Federal Way, Washington which is the traditional land of the Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Puyallup. I’ve worked for NOA since 2022 but the timing never aligned for me to join this five day long trip that weaves together principles that are vital for grassroots organizing with traditional values. Everything happens for a reason and I believe I was supposed to be a part of this cohort. 

The organic connection between all of us as individuals was a beautiful thing. There was an understanding that we were all there for the same reason: to learn and grow so that we could return to our own communities with new tools that make our work more meaningful. 

There is a good balance between the various modules that have been uniquely and intentionally curated by the NOA Training Team. Some topics were heavier than others, but each day started with prayer and ended with reflection. Most importantly: every participant is equally valued. We all brought a different perspective to the space which only added to the tapestry of the work we are involved in around Indian Country.

I am so grateful to have been a part of this May 2024 cohort. My experience was spiritually fulfilling and will impact the work I am involved in through NOA. And I can’t wait to see what everyone else in the cohort is up to over the years! Overall, I left the National Organizer Training with renewed hope. 

A big thank you goes out to Judith and Robert, who are great examples of strength and humility, as well as the rest of the Training Team who took the time away from their families and communities. This experience is one I won’t forget.

Wado (thanks in Cherokee) for reading,

Shea Vassar Gomez

Jennifer Fairbanks

Native Community Organizer Training Participant Q&A

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For the Native Organizers Alliance National Native Community Organizer Training in May, 19 participants were brought together in Federal Way, WA for a week of sharpening grassroots organizing skills using traditional Indigenous values. The curriculum is designed to create a foundation for Native power building for social change and strengthening sovereignty.

We’ve asked April Fournier (Navajo), Program Manager at Advance Native Political Leadership, to share her reflections and learnings from the week with us.

NOA: What was your level of understanding of organizing prior to the training? How familiar were you with grassroots organizing prior?

AF: Going into the training I would say that I was fairly informed, but didn’t have a lot of depth in my knowledge of organizing theory and strategy. I had been involved with different movements, but not enough to have deep knowledge. I would say a little more than a surface understanding.

NOA: What were your key takeaways from the training that you feel can be applied to your work?

AF: SO MUCH! Being able to put into words the way in which we operate from an Indigenous Model of Teaching and Organizing. We operate knowing all things work in relation. We have to recognize where power and influence exist in order to understand where power can be shifted. We also have to be strategic and engaging with our communities and come at this work in a good way. When we come into this work with our ancestors on our shoulders, our community in our heart, and the generations who come after us in our minds we change the game.

NOA: What tools or resources do you feel were most beneficial to you and your work?

AF: The Power Mapping activity was so powerful, being able to understand who we should spend our time on when we’re engaging with decision-makers was a really important exercise. It shapes the whole campaign and how we think about energy investment. If someone is a low-impact non-decision maker, why spend time and energy engaging them. We have finite resources, invest them accordingly. Bringing it all together in a group to develop a strategy was also really great, we have to do that regularly so flexing those muscles and putting the learning into action really helped cement what we spent the week learning.

NOA: What was your overall experience of the training? Any particular aspect you enjoyed the most?

AF: I’ve not ever had the chance to sit in community with so many Native leaders. Spending a week in this space, connecting, learning from and teaching, laughing and feeling. It was incredible. It also allowed us to really focus on the work and the content. So often we don’t have the time or space to remove distractions and really sit with information or each other. Taking the time and honoring this space felt really special.

NOA will be holding an additional National Training from November 13-19 along with several state-based trainings later this year. Watch our website for application announcements.

info@nativeorganizing.org

3518 S Edmunds St, Seattle, WA 98118

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