On Saturday, January 21st, Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) joined the national Women's March on Washington as part of the Indigenous Women Rise (IWR) collective. The collective is comprised of: Advance Native Political Leadership, NAP, Native Voice Network, Native Voices Rising, National Indian Women's Resource Center, UltraViolet, The Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas, North American Region, Indigenous Environmental Network, and other key organizations working to advance Indigenous Peoples issues and rights. As the original protectors and strength of our country, the collective called upon Indigenous women and people to rise with us to ensure that our voices on the issues that affect us all were resoundingly heard.

Many others joined in support online and walked in solidarity in D.C. and in 20 cities at sister marches across the country. Indigenous Women Rise even had a contingent in Peru representing at the Women's March there!

You can read more about our involvement in the march in D.C. from the LA Times:

• Indigenous women were among the last to sing along Constitution Ave.
• LA designer Bethany Yellowtail creates silk scarf for Women's March on Washington
• Indigenous Women Front and Center at Anti-Trump DC Protest
• Indigenous Women Rise: Women’s March on Washington

After the march, NAP along with the IWR planning committee hosted a National Strategy Meeting to discuss next steps for the collective and to build out priority issues for the collective platform to educate allies. There was interest expressed by many in attendance to stay connected and deepen relationships through advocacy and state chapters.

NAP will continue to support the IWR collective by implementing a research agenda on women, girls, and boarding schools. The research will serve as Phase ll of NAP's Indigenous Lifecourse initiative. Some next steps for IWR include network webinars and dialogues to build capacity around advocacy and organizing, strengthen networks, and to build out the IWR platform to raise awareness and understanding about these issues and their intersectionality. Please keep an eye out on our website for any updates from IWR.

Indigenous Women Rise would like to send a special thank you to Bethany Yellowtail for her beautiful scarf design for NAP. Check out our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the photos, videos, and livestreams of the marches. Be sure to tag #IndigenousWomenRise so we can share yours!