This is just a quick post about a Boston-area event taking place at the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB) - a barbeque at their location, from noon to 6 pm at 105 S. Huntington Ave., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.
Some of you may recall an earlier diary I'd posted about my initial contact with NAICOB (pronounced like "naycobb" if you say it instead of spell it, for efficiency's sake). When I went to their last event, I saw a strong group of people with their friends and families from all age groups: the people were very warm and welcoming.
Membership in NAICOB is available to individuals who can provide documentation of their Native-American status and who live within NAICOB’s service area. As long as these two criteria are met, membership is for one’s lifetime.NAICOB is a non-profit organization, and as such - like many people and organizations - times and resources can get tight. When I spoke briefly with Joanne Dunn, the executive director, she mentioned in passing that they might be launching a Kickstarter soon. I'll keep folks informed.
There are no membership fees and members have access to all NAICOB events, programs and services.
Community membership meetings are held three times per year or more as needed. Board elections, for which individuals can either be nominated by NAICOB members or self-nominated, are held in March of each year. All active members are eligible to vote and a minimum of sixty (60) votes are required for each board election.
Joanne asked me to pass along an invitation to folks - Indian and non-Indian alike - to attend, so here 'tis. I'm going to stop in early, and hopefully have an opportunity to meet up with her.
I have some questions for the NAN folks here: What would like to ensure that I share with the folks at NAICOB about the Native American Netroots community, and what would you like to know about NAICOB that I could ask about?
Let me know in the comments below any questions you'd like me to ask, and any information you'd like me to pass along. I haven't gotten far on my intent to learn more about other New England-based Native American communities, centers, tribes, Nations, reservations and activities - do you have thoughts or suggestions about a way to approach and introduce NAN to them, and inviting them to participate if they like?
The stated definition of NAN as given on the profile page is "political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history" - in that sense, I'm hoping that my own (rather shaky & not yet consistent) efforts to reach out and learn more about the local Native communities and organizations will help introduce more folks to the idea (and opportunity) of engaging online for sharing resources, garnering support and information, and helping ensure that issues facing their communities aren't overlooked, particularly if just expanding awareness of events might significantly help allay or clarify issues.
In that sense, another Daily Kos group - Connect! Unite! Act! started and continues a great tradition of helping to engage and integrate the cyber-community with real-life, meat-space communities. It's not just a starting point for our online communities to meet and engage in the real world - it's also a great starting point for a way to expand our experience and participation in the greater communities around use locally.
So, hopefully I'm not erroneously conflating and combining the elements from both groups. If I am, I hope my friends here on Daily Kos - regardless what groups they may belong to - will let me know. In the meantime, I'm going to look forward to meeting new and different groups of folks in and around my community and hope that others are also keeping open their opportunities to grow and expand their circles of friendship, knowledge and community.
Namaste.