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Coalition Building
Some words of teaching about coalitions by Don Coyhis
Native
American Coalition Building
The next step in the Native American Wellbriety
Movement is coalition building. Twenty-four executive
directors from urban Indian centers around the country
will come to Denver for a technical assistance conference
designed to build a coalition of leaders who will then
build wellness coalitions in their own communities.
The conference for urban Indian centers and Native American
community and faith-based organizations will convene
from April 13-15 at the Holiday Inn Denver West in Golden,
Colorado.
| “Wellbriety refers to sober
living and a life that is balanced emotionally,
physically, mentally and spiritually.” |
Coalition building in many Native American
communities draws on the existing tradition of building
alliances that always existed in American Indian and
Alaska Native cultures. When today’s coalitions are
understood in a cultural context it is easier for Native
leaders to become emotionally and culturally committed
to whatever projects the partnership takes on. Don Coyhis,
Mohican Nation, President of White Bison, Inc. and an
inspiration behind the Wellbriety Movement, explains
the traditional context that will be presented at the
Denver meeting.
“Coalitions existed in Native communities
a long time ago but they were called clans or societies,”
he says. “We are adding that clan knowledge to the current
coalition training. The clan was always there to serve
the people first. They provided a service to the people.
The clan always knew who it was, it knew why it was
there, and it knew where it was going. The clan was
always identified by a symbol, something that was meaningful
to the tribe.”
| “An arrow by itself can be broken.
But when the arrows are put into a bundle none of
them can be broken.” |
Connecting diverse sobriety, recovery
and wellness coalitions by shared traditional experience
helps them work for the common good, Coyhis explains.
The meeting in Denver will plant the group identity
in a traditional environment before it takes on organizational
business. “I have an arrow for each coalition member,”
Coyhis continues. “An arrow by itself can be broken.
But when the arrows are put into a bundle none of them
can be broken. Every time the coalition meets we ask
them to bring their arrow and create the bundle during
the meeting. It means they’ve left their individual
ego identities as separate groups or organizations at
the door. They will make decisions and work together
for the people.”
| “Every time the coalition meets
we ask them to bring their arrow and create the
bundle during the meeting. It means they’ve left
their individual ego identities as separate groups
or organizations at the door. They will make decisions
and work together for the people.” |
The meeting agenda includes a review of
the Wellbriety Movement; discussion about the Wellbriety
Movement and the urban Indian Centers; a workshop on
the National Native American Wellbriety Plan; a workshop
on the use of technology to stay in touch; and a ceremonial
framework, to name just a few topics. “Coalition building
is not foreign to us, Coyhis said. “We knew it under
a different name in the traditional times when these
alliances were sealed in a ceremony. When we go intertribal,
the other tribes bring their arrows to add to the bundle.
This is the approach the Wellbriety movement is taking,
he concludes.”
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