In this month’s newsletter:
- Take Action
- Announcements
- Events
- Online Resources
- Volunteering
TAKE ACTION
Give Feedback on Plan for Fort Chambers to City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department
Fort Chambers/Poor Farm Engagement
You are invited to help shape the future interpretive experience at Fort Chambers / Poor Farm – a unique site with deep historical, ecological and agricultural significance. Building on earlier community input and collaboration with Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives, the project is now in the design phase of the interpretive “Healing Trail,” which will create space for learning, reflection and connection to the land and its history.
Opening May 4, an online questionnaire (likely on the City of Boulder website) will ask community members to review and provide feedback on emerging design ideas for the interpretive experience. Whether you’re new to the project or have participated before, your input will help ensure the design reflects community values and shared goals for education, reflection and healing.
Additional questions about the project and requested feedback can be answered during in-person drop-in Office Hours on Wednesday, May 6 from 4-6 p.m. at Penfield Tate II Municipal Building, Room N101.
Farm Bill Heads to House Floor, Axes Tribal Food Program
Read more here.
After nearly three years of stalled negotiations, the House is poised to vote on the 2026 Farm Bill next week. The 2026 House Farm Bill, H.R. 7567, will not extend or make permanent the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) Self-Determination Demonstration Project. This project was established in the 2018 Farm Bill. It allows tribes and tribal organizations to enter into self-determination contracts which allow them to purchase culturally relevant foods of their choosing through commercial vendors of their choice.
This provision was excluded from the 2026 Farm Bill due to concerns about its cost. In the 2018 Farm Bill, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that the program would only cost $34 million to run successfully. This year, the CBO reported that the program would cost $380 million over an eight-year period, a significant increase in estimated cost.
Representative Tom Cole (OK-4), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, disagreed with the cost estimates of the CBO. In a letter he wrote to Representative Glenn Thompson (PA-15); he stated that the “CBO did not have or consider all the necessary details about how…self-determination contracts are carried out when initially formulating their estimated costs.” FCNL urges Congress to restore and expand the program’s permanency to ensure eligible tribes across the country can reliably access nutritional support for their communities. CLICK HERE to comment to congress.
Right Relationship Boulder invites you to support
The Annual Arapaho Unity Youth Gathering
Let’s give a generous welcome to Arapaho youth and elders when they meet here in their Front Range homeland.
Please donate now to meet our $30,000 goal!
In June, Arapaho youth and elders from Wyoming and Oklahoma will unite for a week of exploring and learning together. The Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center is generously hosting them! Right Relationship Boulder is raising funds to support their travel, food, and the elders who offer guidance and wisdom, including Arapaho language, history, and ecological knowledge.
The Northern and Southern Arapaho tribes have been geographically separated for 150 years, but “we are one people,” says Gathering organizer Fred Mosqueda. “By being together to learn the language, traditions, and culture, our youth will become more Arapaho, not more Northern or Southern. They will become stronger.” That’s the exciting goal of this UNITY gathering!
“This is an experience that will stay with the youth for the rest of their lives.” — Cedar Shirey
“Everyone who participated last year wants to come back!” – Fred Mosqueda
The ancestors of these Arapaho youths were forcibly removed from their Colorado homeland. Let’s begin a new chapter, welcoming them home. Please make a generous donation today!
Donate on the Right Relationship Boulder website: rightrelationshipboulder.org/donate (In the dropdown menu, select Land Group Projects).
Or mail a check via Mediators Foundation, our fiscal sponsor:
Mediators Foundation 2525 Arapahoe Ave, E-4 #509, Boulder, CO 80302 (Be sure to write “RRB Land Group” on the memo line)
National Park Signage
The federal government is dismantling Native and Black exhibits at national parks and museums.
From:
RRB:
If we care about telling accurate Native history in our National Parks, now is the time to lift our voices! See this Colorado Sun article for more information.
Please click on this link to submit comments to the Department of the Interior today. You can choose to comment about “signs and other information” about any specific site, so choose a site that is important to you. Or choose many sites and submit comments for them all. For example, one Colorado resident submitted this statement about the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site:
It is important to preserve the accurate history of Sand Creek as a massacre site, a massacre perpetrated by the US Cavalry against Native Americans (mostly the elderly, women and children). A marker referring to a supposed “Sand Creek Battleground” was removed in recent years because this was NOT a battleground, but a massacre site. This marker must not be returned to the site, as might be required by the “Secretarial Order” from the current administration. Please do not try to whitewash the history of this site. Historical accuracy is important, current political whims are not. Thank you.
RRB ANNOUNCEMENTS
Join RRB’s fundraising account with King Soopers!
Right Relationship Boulder has set up a fundraising account with King Soopers! Link your King Sooper’s Rewards Card to “Mediators Foundation” (the RRB fiscal sponsor) and King Sooper’s will donate 4% of your purchases to Right Relationship Boulder at no cost to you.
How to sign up:
- Visit: kingsoopers.com/i/community/community-rewards
- Follow the steps to link your rewards card to Mediators Foundation
Why it matters:
- King Sooper’s will donate 4% of your monthly grocery purchases to RRB
EVENTS
National Day of Awareness and Week of Action:
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR)
May 5th; Week of Action 4-8th
More background and resources here.
Learn about the National Day of Awareness (May 5) and the National Week of Action (May 5-9) for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR), a crisis affecting Native communities.
How the West was Burned: A panel discussion on Tribal firefighting and the outlook for the 2026 fire season
REGISTER HERE
When: Thursday, May 7th | 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Where: ZOOM or University Memorial Center room 235, CU Boulder campus
Please join us for a special “Maymester” event where we welcome panelists from Washington, D.C., South Dakota, and Nevada to discuss the legacy of indigenous firefighting in the U.S. West and what we can learn to face the already volatile 2026 fire season.
New Exhibit: Colorado’s People of the Sacred Land
OPEN APRIL 24, 2026 – JULY 5, 2026
Museum of Boulder
As we consider the meaning of the 250th anniversary of American Independence and the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood, let’s center the voices and perspectives of Indigenous people, past and present, and reflect on the legacies we inherit. This exhibit highlights key findings from the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) Reports, paired with artwork by Native artists addressing the personal impact of these histories.
The TREC Reports by the People of the Sacred Land detail the losses Colorado’s historic tribes incurred. The Historic Loss Assessment details land cessions – legal, illegal, and coerced – and the underlying circumstances that precipitated such events. Through extensive research of individual title transfers, they report the value of dispossessed lands to be approximately $1.17 trillion (market value in 2021). The Legal and Political History of Colorado Tribes explores the legal and political history of the Apache of Oklahoma, Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Comanche, Kiowa, Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, Shoshone, Ute Tribe of Utah, Southern Ute, and Ute Mountain Ute. The third report examines the history of Indian education in Colorado.
More information here.
New Film: People of the Sacred Land
To be added to announcements about future screenings contact: eight16creative@gmail.com
The idea that we are living on stolen land isn’t new, or even novel; it’s a reality that exists across settler communities worldwide, and many people in the United States are aware of the blatant agendas, coercion, and profound immorality of the treaty process. What’s often missing from that conversation, however, are rigorous, comprehensive, academically supported Native-led studies proving that— even through the lens of modern law— large areas of what we call the United States remain illegally occupied. And nowhere is the evidence and culpability more dramatic than in the state of Colorado. PEOPLE of the SACRED LAND (2026, 32 min) follows Richard Willams (Oglala Lakota, Northern Cheyenne) as he recounts the findings of the Truth, Restoration, and Education Commission (TREC) of Colorado’s TREC Reports. While Rick’s story focuses on Colorado, the approach, implications, and impact of his work provide a model for Native leaders across the continent.
Richard Williams: Executive Producer I Dewi: Director, cinematographer, editor I Sarah Ortegon Highwalking: Field director I Jason: Cinematographer, finishing editor
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
Friday, May 22 (4:30 pm) to Saturday, May 23 (2:00 pm), 2026
Kiowa County, CO
***Note: This journey is capped at 45 participants. Because of the high level of interest and limited capacity, we ask that participants from last year’s offering give priority to new participants. If you would like to be placed on a wait-list, please email Sarah Hartzell.***
Journey with Us
What took place at Sand Creek on Nov. 29, 1864, was eight hours: “…that changed the Great Plains forever…The Sand Creek Massacre: profound, symbolic, spiritual, controversial, a site unlike any other in America.” National Park Service.
You are invited into a time of sacred journey, a time to simply be present with a harsh reality from the past that continues to shape our lives in the 21st century. We will travel to the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in Kiowa County, Colorado, where we will experience the site of the November 29, 1864, massacre of peaceably encamped Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples by the U.S. Army. We will hear the history from National Park guides as well as stories from Native elders who are descendants of people who were there. Following presentations and a time of prayer, participants will have ample opportunity to walk the paths individually or in small groups.
Guides on the journey include:
- Co-founders of the Colorado Coalition of Indigenous Allies Marti Dever and Sarah Hartzell
- Co-founder and Executive Director Sarah Augustine, the Rev. Joe Hubbard, and Amanda Pittman from the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery
- Sand Creek Guide Martton Dormish from Every Day Epics.
Cost: $150 This fee covers travel and honorariums for speakers and elders, a donation to the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation, dinner on Friday evening, and lunch on Friday.We hope to make this journey possible to all wishing to participate. For financial assistance, please reach out to Tracy Methe.
Lodging: Participants are responsible for their own lodging. We are holding a block of rooms at the Cobblestone Hotel in Eads, Colorado (719-438 2021). When you call, ask for the group rate of ($159) plus tax for the Colorado Coalition of Indigenous Allies. You can also book on line using Group Code: COLOR260522-185906Rooms with 2 queen beds are available. The rooms are newly refurbished and must be reserved by April 22 to obtain the group rate.
You are also welcome to make your own arrangements elsewhere. Travelers Lodge is nearby but has limited rooms and doesn’t offer breakfast. However, nearby JJ’s Restaurant is open for breakfast.
Travel Waiver: Be sure to download, sign, and return the Travel Waiver, email to tracy@episcopalcolorado.org or mail to: The Episcopal Church in Colorado
Attn: Truth & Remembrance Sacred Journey
1300 N. Washington St.
Denver, CO 80203
Contact: Tracy Methe
Online Resources
Truth, Restoration, and Education Reports (TREC)
The Truth, Restoration & Education Commission, led by the People of the Sacred Land in Colorado, has been examining the legal and political pasts of the state’s tribes, with a focus on restoring the status of tribal nations. In one of the final reports, the commission reveals a history of genocide, land grab, theft in perpetuity and the elimination of Tribal Sovereignty in Colorado, and recommends actions for restoration and reparations.
First Nations’ colleague and People of the Sacred Land President Rick Williams (Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne) tells CBS News, “We would like to see the state of Colorado and the federal government own their responsibility for restoring justice to Indian people in Colorado. It isn’t doing land acknowledgments…. It’s about helping us protect sacred sites. It’s about trying to find ways to maybe bring these people home.” See the 3 min. interview and article here.
The Truth About 250-150 Project
Click here for the StoryMap
The Truth About 250–150 Collective unites Wakáška Yuza – Native Youth Leaders, Control Group Productions, and Create áyA to tell Colorado’s true history through Native-led art, performance, and story. Together, they are developing a mobile history and art exhibit that will travel statewide in 2026, blending Native truth-telling with contemporary creative expression.
At its center is The Breathing Healing Bus, an immersive gallery and theatre experience by Control Group Productions in collaboration with Cinnamon Kills First, Bill TallBull, and Kaden Walksnice (Cheyenne). In 2024, the Bus carried audiences from Denver to the Sand Creek Massacre site, confronting Colorado’s violent origins and offering a space for reflection and healing.
In 2025, the project expanded to tell the broader story of Native Colorado, including the enduring presence of the Ute Nations, through their voices, and to highlight findings from the Truth Restoration Education Commission (TREC) report that includes the legal and political histories of ten Tribal Nations that ceded land to what is now Colorado.
In 2026, the Breathing Healing Bus will anchor the Truth About 250–150 Mobile Tour, a Native-led initiative DISRUPTING Colorado’s official 150th-anniversary celebration. The tour will share untold stories of displacement and resilience while affirming the truth that “We Are Still Here.”
How to Show Up in a Good Way: Lessons for white settlers in Indigenous-led movements
Access the Zine here.
This Zine (a short, illustrated booklet) shares advice from activists with the movement against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline on how white folks can show up in a good way to an Indigenous-led movement.
The Zine is free — please feel free to share, print, and distribute, and consider donating to an Indigenous-led climate justice nonprofit or movement. Brigid Mark and Timothy Cominghay compiled the information in the Zine, and artist Jackie Fawn created the illustrations, and many other activists contributed to and provided feedback on the Zine.
Access the Zine here.
Learn History of Colorado’s Ute Tribes
This PBS Colorado Experience documentary film gives a good overview of the history of the Ute tribes in Colorado, mostly in the words of Ute tribal members themselves.
Building Relationships with Native Peoples: Examples and Tips from Colorado Communities.
We invite you to watch this recording of an April 16, 2025 webinar that was hosted by the Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples program.
Speakers from Right Relationship Boulder, the Longmont-Northern Arapaho Sister Cities program, and the Broomfield-Cheyenne and Arapaho Sister Cities program shared their experiences of building relationships with tribes whose ancestors were forcibly removed from the Boulder Valley. Watch the recording here, and forward it to others who might find it useful and inspiring as they consider ways to build right relationships in their own communities.