The Enduring Legacies Project
The Enduring Legacies Native Cases Initiative began in 2006 as a partnership between The Evergreen State College, Northwest Indian College, Salish Kootenai College, and Grays Harbor College. The University of Alaska-Anchorage and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks later became partners as well as the National Indian Child Welfare Association. All of the partners wrote a substantial number of cases for this Initiative.
Our goal is to develop and widely disseminate culturally relevant curriculum and teaching resources in the form of case studies on key issues in Indian Country. The Native Cases Initiative has a special role in providing relevant curriculum for Indian students that supports their success in secondary and postsecondary education. Our collection of cases and teaching notes is open source and includes more than 115 cases that are being used by colleges and high schools across the U.S and overseas. We also offer professional development opportunities for educators through workshops and an annual summer institute.
We are grateful for the support of the Lumina Foundation for Education, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Nisqually Tribe, the Tulalip Tribe, and the Squaxin Island Tribe. The support of our Indian Advisory Board is also deeply appreciated. They help us identify key issues in Indian Country for our cases. We continue to seek the engagement of tribal communities for leadership and authoring in this project.
For further information contact the Enduring Legacies Initiative director: Barbara Leigh Smith at smithb@evergreen.edu">smithb@evergreen.edu. Linda Moon Stumpff (San Carlos Apache) is the co-founder and ongoing co-leader of the Native Cases Initiative.