Wičaktepi Remembrance Garden in Mni Luzahan. Photo by Angel White Eyes.

With fiery leaves and a crispness in the air, we are once again called into a season of transition. As we enter the fall, we are reminded of the importance of letting go. Watching the trees shed their leaves to prepare for winter poses the question to us – what do we need to let go of so that new life will become possible?

One thing we have been working on letting go of is the false dichotomies placed on us and instead embracing the complexities and resilience as Indigenous Peoples. We especially feel this with the approaching elections and being asked to participate in a democracy that has never worked for our communities. This is why, instead of voter turnout, we have been focused on developing voter resources, including a guide to question candidates about LANDBACK priorities and a resource to help ensure voters know their rights at the polls. We are also highlighting the different perspectives of what it means to vote while Indigenous because we believe there is a lot of wisdom to be learned in the nuance. 

We hope this work is just the beginning of an ongoing conversation to sharpen our collective political analysis of the role of voting in the fight for Indigenous self-determination. As we fight for our liberation, we plan to use every tool at our disposal because we refuse to let political climates threaten the good work we see our Indigenous relatives doing for their communities every day across Turtle Island and beyond.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 2025. Photo by Angel White Eyes

We know the promise of American democracy has always fallen short for Indigenous and Black communities. While we do not believe that voting is sacred, we recognize voting as an organizing tool to protect all that is sacred – lands, waters, and our communities. This is why we created two resources to help our communities leverage the 2026 elections to encourage participation in the electoral process with a clear strategy and set of goals.

The Know Your Rights Voter Guide is a tool to help individuals develop a strategy to ensure their votes are included in upcoming elections. It is meant to empower Radical Voters to be prepared by knowing their rights as a voter and what to do if those rights are being suppressed. 

The Know Your Candidate Guide is a tool to assist individuals and communities in assessing candidates who are seeking their votes. The guide lists a handful of important issues identified as priorities by NDN Collective partners and the LANDBACK Action Network. It highlights qualities and commitments we should be looking for in candidates to determine if those candidates are aligned on those issues.

In response to volatile political and economic shifts that continue destabilizing communities across Turtle Island, NDN Collective has assembled an advisory council to strengthen the organization’s infrastructure, network, and reach. By adding the advisory council to their already robust movement ecosystem — which encompasses grantmaking, impact investing, direct action strategies, organizing trainings, narrative power, and more — NDN Collective will continue to resource Indigenous communities, organizations, practitioners, and individuals who are leading the charge for justice and equity for all people and Mother Earth.

Welcome to the He Sapa billboard designed by Oglala Lakota artist Marty Two Bulls Jr. Photo by Angel White Eyes.

Join our comrades at The Natural History Museum on Friday, October 9th 12PST/1MST for “Welcome to He Sapa: A Living Legacy of Resistance,” a virtual roundtable featuring Lakota artists, activists, and knowledge-holders Madonna Thunder Hawk, Marty Two Bulls Jr., and Taylor Gunhammer. Held in conjunction with the billboard campaign “Welcome to He Sapa. You’re on Stolen Land,” the conversation will connect present-day mining struggles to generations of resistance, cultural survival, treaty rights, and stewardship in He Sapa, the Black Hills.

When wildfires tore through the Colville Nation in Eastern Washington this summer, we saw many Young Indigenous Warriors step forward. These Indigenous Wildland Firefighters put in long hours to protect their homelands and faced conditions that left their lungs strained and their bodies exhausted. Learning of their efforts, Miss Anne’s Maypop Herb Shop and NDN Fund quickly joined forces to support these efforts. Drawing on traditional plant knowledge, community care, and mutual aid, they prepared and shipped hundreds of tinctures, teas, and salves specifically formulated to support respiratory health and recovery. The Young Warriors received and used the remedies to ease smoke-irritated lungs and restore strength after punishing shifts on the fire line. What began as an urgent response grew into a quiet but powerful collaboration—one that honored Indigenous knowledge and the deep responsibility to care for those who protect the land.

MMIP Central Oklahoma received a 2026 Community Action Fund grant from NDN to support their community-led organizing around the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples. In May 2026, they hosted an MMIP Honor Walk at the Oklahoma State Capitol to raise awareness of this important issue. They shared that the support provided by NDN made it possible for impacted families to participate in a meaningful and visible public action without facing as many financial barriers. Flexible funding opportunities for grassroots Indigenous organizations are critically important because they allow communities to respond directly to urgent needs in culturally grounded ways. 

2026 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Artists. Graphic by Jordan Brien.

If you can’t join us in MniLuzahan Otunwahe in downtown Rapid City, SD, on October 12 for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, join us online! We will start the day with a rally and end the evening with a concert to honor and uplift Indigenous brilliance and resistance from the He Sapa to Palestine! In a time when we are constantly defending our lands, waters, and peoples, we hope this day in community grounds us in our legacy of resistance and all that we are fighting to protect.

NDN will be streaming the rally and concert live across all our platforms and on landback.org/live starting at 4 pm MT on Monday, October 12.

We are hosting a series of webinars to educate the community on mining projects currently threatening the Black Hills. 

Text HESAPA to 50302 to receive an update when our next webinar is announced!

Graphic Art by JayCee Beyale.

For generations, Indigenous Peoples have been preparing for this moment. NDN Collective has built power through grantmaking, storytelling, frontline action, and sustainable investing.

The For The People Campaign is designed to provide critical resources directly to Indigenous communities through our existing grantmaking programs and organizing work to strengthen our movement, enhance the resiliency of frontline actions, and continue making transformative change under this authoritarian administration.