Dear IPD Philly Community,  

Welcome to our Winter Solstice Newsletter from Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly!

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NIKKI KALANI APANA

Nikki, from the start of her IPD PHILLY career as a volunteer, has shown why she so quickly moved up to be the executive assistant and Interm Secretary of the Board. Her determination, as well as her clear mind, has been heavily instrumental in the growth of the organization, especially in the form of fundraising and co-leading workshops. We are so happy to have her as a part of the Executive, Board, and EDU teams and can not thank her enough for her hard work and dedication in helping us apply for grants. 

JAZMUND WALKER

Jazmund has not been a volunteer for IPD PHILLY for a long time, but without her voice and knowledge, we as an organization would not have a strong newsletter and social media presence. Since her start in the fall of 2020, she has worked tirelessly on creating a template for the newsletters to come. She is such a sweet and smart person that we will all miss as she leaves us to do more outreach projects within the community. We thank her so much for getting the newsletter off the ground! 

STEPHANIE MACH

Stephanie is the cofounder of IPD PHILLY and currently serving as an advisor and associate writer. From the very beginning, she has been instrumental in reaching out to Tribes and First Nations to help us celebrate Indigenous culture. As a scholar, she has provided insight on volunteering, communication, and how to uplift Indigenous peoples all around. She is fair in all situations and thoughtful about each and every one of us here at IPD Philly. We thank her so much for staying with us all this time!

TAI PELLI

Tai has been a powerful speaker and teacher providing knowledge to IPD PHILLY all around. She has been instrumental in the groundwork of IPD Philly since we incorporated and her amazing advice keeps us afloat as an emerging non-profit organization. We would like to thank her for being so strong in the face of opposition and for her continual help and advice to us. 

MIGUEL SAGUE

Miguel has recently joined our crew and we would have it no other way. Since joining us, he has become an adviser as well as a speaker at IPD Philly events. He is such a caring and stable soul, which we need here. We thank him so much for being a shoulder to cry on in times of need as well as a compassionate friend. 

BEN MILLER

Ben joined IPD PHILLY in the summer of 2021 and since then, he has been an inspiration to our movement in the state of PA. In our time of need, he came to the rescue. Without him, this year,  Indigenous Peoples’ Day at Shackamaxon would not have happened. He worked hard in getting the City of Philadelphia and other Tribes to support us in our endeavor. He has been generous to us as well as stubborn when he needed to be. We thank him so much for trusting us and caring for us.

TALON BAZILLE

Talon participate in IPD PHILLY 2020 as a hip-hop performer and recruited an amazing lineup of Indigenous artists for the online Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly. This year, he has been serving as an associate writer for our newsletter since its inception. We thank him for his amazing performance art, stories, and enduring will at IPD Philly. 

CURTIS ZUNIGHA

Curtis has been a proud supporter of IPD PHILLY since 2018. This year, he also served as an advisor and panelist for our workshops. His kindness and straightforwardness have helped our organization overcome numerous obstacles. We thank him dearly for trusting us to provide a space for him and the Lenape. 

AMERICO MENDOZA-MORI

Americo’s voice in education as well as his understanding and teaching of the Quechua language has helped increase awareness of Indigenous languages at every Indigenous Peoples Day since the inception of IPD Philly in 2017. As of this year, he is an associate advisor and we thank him for his continued support of us.

TAMARA ANDERSON

Tamara has been an inspiration to IPD PHILLY working along with Keziah in the school district to change the view of Native Americans / Indigenous Peoples and advocating for Indigenous Peoples’ Day citywide. She has been instrumental in assisting the EDU Team in getting the Coalition Building Workshops off the ground. She has also been instrumental in helping the Action Community Team uplift Indigenous voices at City Hall. We love the passion behind everything she does. Her energetic personality has empowered us. We thank her so much for her incredible caring heart and the dedicated partnership with IPD Philly.

ELSA KHAFIN

Elsa joined IPD PHILLY in 2021 as a partner. Her help with organizing IPD Philly’s Action Community Team in the summer and fundraising is one of the many reasons our organization is still going strong. Because of her fundraising, we were able to bring Lenape from across the country to #IPDPhilly2021. She has also taken on the personal task of building a bridge between Indigenous and Jewish Americans by helping us build the initiative Allies for IPD which has been so helpful in getting our messages out. She is such a kind person and we thank her for being so humble and helping the Lenape travel to their ancestral land this year. 

KEZIAH RIDGEWAY

In 2020, Keziah found IPD PHILLY and forever changed us for the better. Back then, when she started working with the school district to get Indigenous voices heard, she knew she could not do it without Indigenous voices present. Since then, she has been an inspiration to IPD Philly working along with Tamara. Her dedicated advocacy for Indigenous issues at the school level is astounding. Together, we were able to convince the School District of Philadelphia that it needed to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. She has also joined the Coalition Building Workshops to get it off the ground. We thank her so much for creating the idea of the Week of Action, as well as connecting us to educators who want to teach Native American / Indigenous studies in their classrooms.

ASHLEY CARANTO MORFORD

It is because of Ashley that the Week of Action for IPD PHILLY 2021 was such an amazing success. Her work in setting the fundamentals for it then building it up from scratch helped us to reach tons of educators and allies who wanted to understand Indigenous Peoples and more. Her compassionate yet firm standing helped get it all done in a time crunch! We thank her so much for getting the week of action off the ground.  

KIT HEINTZMAN

Kit is one of the newest volunteers of IPD PHILLY who has helped dearly with the archival work for the education classes in such a short time. Her work is improving our ability to teach others by having history on hand and ready for anyone to view. We thank her so much for her hard work! 

MANNY VASQUEZ 

Manny joined the IPD PHILLY family this summer and took up the arms of being the volunteer coordinator for IPD 2021. His organizational skills and leadership ability are what made it so easy to build the space and take it down in a timely manner. Without his skill, IPD Philly 2021 would not have gone as well as it did. We thank him so much for his continued support of us and for leading the volunteers.

JASON BIGPOND

Jason was the first intern this year for IPD PHILLY and his help with the archive set the groundwork for Kit. We thank him so much for being an intern here. Also thank you for speaking at the action at City Hall, you are super.

TRINITY NORWOOD

Trinity’s committed secretary work at the beginning of the creation of IPD PHILLY is the reason that we can call ourselves a nonprofit organization today. She set the standard and framework for the way our organization has worked since the very beginning. We thank her for being by our sides until this Summer and helping us grow into what we are now. We wish her all the best in her new endeavors.

ALEX BUTTLER 

Alex started at IPD PHILLY in the fall of 2021 as a communication intern. He has been a large help in reaching others through Facebook posts the first-ever week of action and he helps lift the spirits of the team. His contagious personality is the reason we appreciate him so much. We thank him so much for choosing our organization as his internship home while he was here in Philadelphia. We wish him well in the future! 

Lastly, a special thank you to all of you: CHARLES UNDER BAGGAGE, EUGENE BLACK CROW, MAHTOWIN MUNRO, AND MARK PETERS for joining the team recently. We look forward to working with each one of you in 2022!!

Sincerely,

Waníshi
Chaltumay
Wopila
Thank you
Gracias

Mabel Negrete (Executive Director), Jazmund Walker (Newsletter Assistant Editor), Alex Buttler (Fall Intern), Ashley Caranto Morford (Associate Writer / EDU Team)

NOTE:  This publication was established in the Lenape-Unami territory known Lenapehoking | U.S.A on Indigenous Land