Welcome to Gedakina
Gedakina is pronounced /g' dah keen nah/ and means, "Our world, a way of life" in the Abenaki language.
News
Gedakina is accepting applications for summer and year-round internships. Ideal candidates will be undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing careers in education, environmental studies, social work, or adventure based counseling. We are looking for self-starters, problem solvers, and passionate people who want to make a difference for young people and for the world we live in. Learn More.
Our Mission
Gedakina is a multigenerational endeavor to strengthen and revitalize the cultural knowledge and identity of Native American youth and families from across New England and to conserve our traditional homelands and sacred places.
Our Roots
In the summer of 1999, at a camp for at-risk Native children and teenagers in Maine, a group of educators, human service professionals, activists and traditional family and community leaders discussed the challenges and hardships that our youth are facing, the lack of consistent youth programming and the impacts of multi-generational exposure to systemic oppression, poverty and violence. Out of these continuing discussions emerged the concept of Gedakina. Gedakina was officially founded in 2002, and is a 501c3 organization incorporated in Vermont, and registered in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
What We Do
Gedakina is a region-wide organization that works with Native American/First Nations youth and families from rural, urban and reservation communities across New England. Community members from the Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi'qmak, Mohawk, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Wampanoag Nations as well as other tribal nations have participated in our activities. Our goal is to develop new ways of reaching our constituency, rooted in traditional cultural teachings and values, which will provide them with skills and resources to better navigate the challenges they face in a changing landscape. Our initiatives focus on leadership development, community health and wellness, indigenous traditional ecological knowledge (ITEK), healthy relationships and cultural revitalization/survival. Our approach emphasizes interconnected programs to reach Native American youth and families, with clear recognition that the challenges our people encounter on a daily basis are also interconnected. We organize through grassroots community-based initiatives, regional alliance-building, and public programs with a broad outreach.
Community based initiatives are continuing multi-year programs undertaken in response to the requests and needs of our constituency, which reflect our long-term organizational vision. We incorporate a multigenerational approach, involving community Elders, youth and volunteers with a wide range of experience and knowledge; we believe that everyone has something to share and that we can always learn something from each other. All of our programs embed lessons that enable our constituency to develop the skills and knowledge essential to being strong family and community members and leaders. Community-based activities have included indigenous language revitalization, hand-drum making & learning traditional songs, native plant identification, tracking & orienteering, basketry, canoeing and kayaking journeys, snowshoeing, nature walks/hikes, trips to places of historical and cultural significance, talking circles, conflict resolution and team building activities.
Our broad public educational programs include Native American film & discussion series; presentations and workshops with regionally & nationally known Native authors, community and academic scholars; conferences at colleges and universities; and our "Hear the Woman" series on oral traditions of family and community.
Key Areas of Interest
Community Building (Erasing barriers that divide us)
Community Health & Wellness (Strengthening ourselves physically, spiritually and mentally
Domestic & Sexual Violence Prevention, Education and Healing
Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK)
Native Language Revitalization & Cultural Survival
Food Security & Economic Development
Our Symbols
From left to right, the three symbols in our banner are:
Eastern Medicine Wheel - This represents many aspects of the lives and spirituality of First Nations Peoples.
Tree of Peace - The tree of long leaves is meant to shelter all nations that embrace the philosophy of "peace, power, righteousness", called the Great Law of Peace.
Unity Flag - This flag represents the equality of all Indigenous nations. The single feather means, "all of one mind."
Donations
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