While many people learned about the reality of life for various Native American tribes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are plenty who are not yet #NativeAware — and we need your help to change this.

For example:

• The COVID-19 pandemic crystallized the true meaning of disparities and the lack of social justice toward the tribes.
• Native Americans are stereotyped every year by Halloween costumes, and Columbus Day is still being celebrated despite harms done by the explorer and those who followed.
• Many Native Americans also face barriers to voting, especially those in remote communities. In the upcoming 2024 election, the Native American vote is more important than ever in helping tribal communities be fairly represented. For example, in a 2020 election day broadcast, CNN lumped Indigenous voters into a category of "Something Else."
• Native Americans have historically been undercounted in the census. They were undercounted by 5 percent in the 2010 census, missing out on thousands of dollars in federal funding. A fair and accurate count from the #Census2020 was critical to shaping the future, but it also undercounted Native people by 5.6 percent.
• Recently, Rick Santorum (a political commentator formerly of CNN) contributed to the erasure of Native people in a speech to the Young American's Foundation. He stated, "We birthed a nation from nothing. There was nothing here... we have Native Americans, but there isn't much Native American culture in American culture."

Look around — Native culture is everywhere. The land you walk on. The food you eat. The medicines we all use. The language and words we speak. Even the U.S. Constitution was influenced by the democratic principles of the Iroquois Confederacy. Native American culture has and continues to influence the American way of life.

Indigenous peoples in urban and reservation communities are innovating and adapting… creating, preserving, sharing, and surviving — enriching their own communities as well as the world around them.

PWNA provides critical goods and services to Navajo, Hopi, Pine Ridge, Standing Rock, the pueblos and more, all year long to support long-term solutions for sustainable change in tribal communities with the highest need in the U.S. Sign the pledge to learn more about how your support of our services impacts those we serve.

PWNA has been serving Indian Country since 1990 and so much has been done — but there is more to do. Sign the pledge today to help champion hope for a brighter future — please ask your friends and family to do the same!