Association on American Indian Affairs
The Association on American Indian Affairs is the oldest non-profit serving Indian Country protecting sovereignty, preserving culture, educating youth and building capacity. The Association was formed in 1922 to change the destructive path of federal policy from assimilation, termination and allotment, to sovereignty, self-determination and self-sufficiency. Throughout its history, the Association has provided national advocacy on watershed issues that support sovereignty and culture, while working at a grassroots level with Tribes to support the implementation of programs that affect real lives on the ground.
Vision, Mission and Goals
VISION
The vision of the Association is to create a world where diverse Native American cultures and values are lived, protected and respected.MISSION
The mission of the Association is to lead the grassroots fight to protect Native American Cultural Sovereignty.GOALS
The Association's goals are to protect sovereignty, preserve culture, educate youth and build capacity.History
The Association was created by an amalgamation of several non-profit Indian organizations that emerged in the early 1920s. The Eastern Association on Indian Affairs and the New Mexican Association on American Indian Affairs were the first of the predecessor groups to formally organize in 1922. The EAIA and NMAAI were made up of affluent non-Natives, most of whom owned land in Santa Fe and wanted to protect Pueblo culture. The American Indian Defense Association, headed by John Collier, formed to fight against the Bursum Bill and the Leavitt Bill, both bills seeking to end Pueblo ties to their lands, and outlaw cultural practices. These groups merged in the 1930s and eventually consolidated under the name the Association on American Indian Affairs. Today, the Association has an all-Native Board of Directors and Executive Director. The Association has waged innumerable battles over the years, touching on the material and spiritual well-being of Indians throughout Indian Country.Association timeline
1922 AAIA is formed
1922 AAIA helps Pueblos protect land and water rights
1945 AAIA helps to establish National Congress of American Indians
1948 First college scholarship awarded
1956 AAIA establishes Field Health Nursing program
1968 AAIA begins effort to prevent Otitis Media on Indian reservations
1968 AAIA works to protect Taos Blue Lake
1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act enacted
1978 Indian Child Welfare Act signed into law
1982 AAIA President Ortiz honored by MacArthur Foundation
1984 Tribal Government Tax Status Act becomes law
1986 Landmark Washington Indian Child Welfare tribal-state agreement signed
1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act enacted
1991 The Medicine Wheel Coalition for the Protection of Sacred Sites established
1994 Amendments to American Indian Religious Freedom Act approved
1994 Reaffirmation of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians by the federal government
1996 Bighorn Medicine Wheel Historic Preservation plan adopted
1998 First AAIA-sponsored diabetes conference takes place
2000 AAIA expands grants to summer camps
2006 AAIA creates Dakotah-language Scrabble game and hosts first tournament
2007 Dakotah language K-12 curriculum completed
2008 Tribal amendments to Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance Act approved in Fostering Connections for Success and Increasing Adoptions Act
Programs
The Association on American Indian Affairs offers undergraduate and graduate scholarships to federally recognized and non-recognized Tribal students. The Association works to protect and ensure appropriate implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which the Association helped to draft and enact in 1978 to protect Indian children at risk of being placed in foster care or for adoption. The Association works with Tribes and traditional Indian religious petitioners in efforts to protect sacred lands such as the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. It works with Tribes to educate Native people about diabetes and health related issues. The Association played a key role in enacting the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and continues to assist efforts to repatriate human remains, funerary and sacred objects to their tribes. The Association provides funding for youth summer camps with a cultural, language, substance abuse, and health and wellness focus. The Associationworks to preserve Native languages, with a particular focus upon the Dakotah language.Youth
Indian Child Welfare Act
The Indian Child Welfare Act is a federal law that seeks to preserve Native American families and keep American Indian children that must be placed out of the home with American Indian families, whenever possible. The United States Congress passed ICWA in 1978 in response to the alarmingly high number of Indian children being removed from their homes by both public and private agencies. The intent of Congress under ICWA was to "protect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families". ICWA sets federal requirements that apply to state child custody proceedings involving an Indian child who is a member of or eligible for membership in a federally recognized tribe.Advocacy and research by the Association served as a catalyst for the Act. AAIA’s first activities involved the representation of Indian parents whose children had been wrongfully removed from them, beginning with a case involving the Devils Lake Sioux Tribe Later, AAIA conducted a survey of states with large Indian populations in 1969 and again in 1974 which indicated that approximately 25–35 percent of all Indian children are separated from their families and placed in foster homes, adoptive homes, or institutions. AAIA’s Executive Director was the lead witness at the first hearing on Indian child welfare and worked with Congress to draft the legislation. In the 30 years since ICWA was enacted, AAIA has worked to ensure the effective implementation of the Act.
Scholarships
The Association offers graduate and undergraduate scholarships to federally recognized and non-federally recognized Tribal students. These scholarships are intended to help a variety of Native Americans with their education, regardless of how long they have been in college, or their age.Summer camps
The Association on American Indian Affairs supports efforts to provide Native American children with access to summerprograms that increase their understanding of their language, culture, and that educate youth about diabetes.
Cultural and community preservation
Native language preservation
AAIA Native Language Preservation program produces materials in the Dakotah language for use in preschools, daycares and schools and by families for language learning in the home. Because there are few fluent Dakota speakers left and most are elders over the age of 55, there is a strong need for language preservation. Younger people may have the ability to understand certain phrases or sing Dakota songs but lack the proficiency to keep the language alive for the next generation. AAIA materials include books, MS PowerPoint presentations, DVDs, CDs, and an animation piece that was nominated for Best Animation at the Native Voices Film Festival.In 2005, with the permission of Hasbro, AAIA created an official Dakota version of Scrabble, including a 207-page dictionary for use with the game. It has sponsored Dakotah-language Scrabble tournaments and made the games available to schools throughout Dakotah communities.
Joining with the Sisseton Wahpeton College, the Association on American Indian Affairs produced the first rap song ever recorded in the Dakotah language in 2005. The rap song, titled “Wicozani Mitawa,” or “My Life,” was recorded at a studio on the Sisseton Wahpeton College campus in Sisseton, South Dakota, on the Lake Traverse Reservation. “The entire concept behind this project is to create a way to have an entire generation of young people actually hear Dakotah being used,” Director of the Native Language Program for AAIA, Tammy Decoteau, said.
The program has also created a K-2 Dakotah language curriculum which all includes all of the books, CDs, games and other materials needed for implementation of the curriculum.
All of AAIA’s language materials are available for translation into other Native languages.