Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Is an Indigenous-led, community-based organization located in the ancestral homelands of the Tongva People in Los Angeles

Our mission is to build the capacity of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples throughout California, the United States, and around the world to protect sacred lands, waters, and cultures.

Together, we can create paradigm shifts that support environmentally and socially just systems and assure the continuation of Indigenous cultures and peoples.

We utilize multiple strategies within our programs to build community power and achieve community-identified goals including grassroots organizing, direct action, law and policy research and advocacy, civic engagement, media outreach, public education, and leadership development:

· Empowering Native Nations: We are flexible and responsive in our support for Native Nations and Indigenous communities working on the ground to protect sacred lands, waters, and cultures.

· Research Justice: We support direct community-based research on environmental issues which is critical to Indigenous climate justice.

· Indigenous Leadership Development: We engage activists, artists, and youth concerned about climate justice and the protection of sacred places.

· Coalition Building: We create networks, support coalitions, and build partnerships to raise awareness and generate public enthusiasm for the protection of sacred lands, waters, and cultures.

SPI began in 2012 to provide in-person and virtual spaces for Native Nations and Indigenous People to think and strategically plan about how best to protect their sacred sites as well as advance the environmental justice priorities of tribal communities. As one of very few California Native-led and BIPOC-staffed organizations in California working on these issues, Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples represents a unique, necessary voice within the environmental and ocean conservation movements.