In last year’s Braden program a panel of Indigenous women spoke some powerful truths. They spoke of the vibrant organizing happening within Indigenous communities and about how to be in right relationship with that visionary work. Corrina Gould, an Ohlone woman whose ancestors are from the area now known as Oakland, began the panel by asking everyone two questions: “Do you know who are the people Indigenous to the lands you call home? And do you know the original name of the place you call home?” These questions are simple, yet many of us don’t know the answers.

Oakland was originally the Ohlone village of Huchiun, however current day Ohlone people have no communally held tribal land in the Bay Area. Corrina and Johnella La Rose are changing that. They founded a visionary project to return land to local Indigenous people. The Sogorea Te Land Trust, is the first ever land trust to return urban land to Indigenous stewardship.

Will you support this crucial work? No matter where you live, the struggle to support the Sogorea Te Land Trust is vital for the impact it can have here locally and the precedent it can set nationally. Please donate to this inspiring project here! Also, if you are local and have other forms of support you can offer please get in touch with the project.

Map of Indigenous peoples of the Bay Area

Johnella and Corrina started the Sogorea Te Land Trust                                             

“The Sogorea Te Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led community organization that facilitates the return of Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone lands in the San Francisco Bay Area to Indigenous stewardship. Sogorea Te creates opportunities for all people living in Ohlone territory to work together to re-envision the Bay Area community and what it means to live on Ohlone land. Guided by the belief that land is the foundation that can bring us together, Sogorea Te calls on us all to heal from the legacies of colonialism and genocide, to remember different ways of living, and to do the work that our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.”

With love and inspiration,

Dylan Cooke
on behalf of Catalyst Project