The invitation extended to the Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) to participate in the renovation of the Great Plains Action Society’s (GPAS) Healing Justice Center represents a pivotal moment in contemporary Quaker witness.
This invitation is an opportunity to take part in meaningful and practical work toward decolonial repair. Right now in Iowa City, the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) is beginning a project that’s more than just a vision—it’s a real, on-the-ground effort to shape what a more just future looks like for Indigenous communities. GPAS is building the actual infrastructure to make it happen and inviting partners to join in.
This map is my vision for Quaker meetings of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) to support the Healing Justice House. Scattergood Friends School is offering lodging for those who will be helping with this renovation, which is from November 30th to December 6th
This project is the 1.2-acre Urban Resilience and Innovation Hub, an endeavor that is far more than an assembly of sustainably retrofitted buildings and innovative programs. It is, in the words of its creators, a “true testament to Indigenous Futurism where our worldviews and lifeways can help reimagine the world”. This vision represents a deliberate and powerful shift in methodology. For generations, Indigenous resistance has necessarily been a “posture of reactive protest”. This work, while essential, is also acknowledged by GPAS leadership as being inherently “traumatic”. The Hub represents a courageous and healing evolution: a move from this state of constant resistance toward the proactive, joyful, and sovereign act of creation. GPAS, an organization forged in the crucible of the NoDAPL resistance at Standing Rock and in Iowa, is now leading the way “from protest to prototype”. They are building a working model of a decolonized, resilient, and sustainable world.
I wanted to show this diagram to those who haven’t been engaged with this work, yet, to give an overview of how these pieces have been coming together over the past eight years.
Storybook: The House with a Heartbeat
A story about renovating Great Plains Action Society’s Healing Justice House in Iowa City.
Helping renovate the Healing Justice House with the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) is a great opportunity for us to accomplish some decolonial repair and an example of centering Indigenous leadership.
I want to be clear that the following groups are currently doing their work on decolonial repair and are loosely associated with each other. The hope is more intentional and deeper connections will continue to be made. For example, while work has been done by Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), my yearly meeting, there is not yet a direct connection to other organizations shown below. There are a small number of IYM(C) Friends involved with Des Moines Mutual Aid, the Decolonial Repair Network, and/or the Great Plains Action Society.
I wanted to show this diagram to those who haven’t been engaged with this work, yet, to give an overview of how these pieces have been coming together over the past eight years.
In Iowa City, a groundbreaking initiative is taking shape that transcends conventional definitions of a community center, an urban farm, or aneconomic incubator. The Great Plains Action Society (GPAS), an Indigenous-led organization, is in the process of acquiring and developing 1.2 acres of land to establish an Urban Resilience and Innovation Hub [1]. This project, however, is far more than an assembly of buildings and programs; it represents a profound and tangible manifestation of Indigenous Futurism. The hub is conceived as a radical act of world-building, a space where Indigenous epistemologies and lifeways move from the theoretical realm into applied, everyday practice. It stands as a direct, material response to the intertwined legacies of ecological devastation and social injustice born from colonialism, while simultaneously serving as a proactive blueprint for a decolonized, resilient, and sustainable future.
The Indigenous-led Great Plains Action Society – a key partner in the work of both Honor Native Land Fund (HNLF) and Decolonial Repair Network (DRN) – is seeking volunteers to help with renovating their Healing Justice House in Iowa City, IA. Their vision is below. Dates: Sunday, November 30th — Saturday, December 6th. No matter your skills, you are welcome to join in! Del (of Niskithe Prayer Camp and DRN) and Jack (of Dancing Rabbit eco-village and DRN) will be main work leaders alongside Sikowis Nobiss of GPAS.
Housing for 7 folks is available at the nearby Scattergood guest house. (Breakfast is at 8:00a; Dinner at 6:15pm.)
We are also looking into other housing possibilities.
Please email me if you are able to join for all or part of this important renovating work (and/or also bringing meals, offering housing, funds, etc.) eric.anglada@gmail.com
As Great Plains Action Society writes of their new Resiliency and Innovation Hub, “This hub is a reclamation of Indigenous and Matriarchal agency that will help the community work towards environmental and social justice. Essentially this a true testament to Indigenous Futurism where our worldviews and lifeways can help reduce carbon emissions through community building, reimagine the world and establish a just economy.”
Great Plains Action Society’s Healing Justice space will be located in a residential house that will be renovated. GPAS works in community with several forward thinking therapists and social workers who are currently forming a BIPOC Healing Collective. We plan to provide a space for this collective to carry out healing justice work, which is important for several reasons.
Holistic Approach: It recognizes that individual health is inextricably linked to community health and the social determinants of health, such as education, housing, and economic opportunities.
Challenging Dominant Paradigms: Healing justice challenges dominant Western medical paradigms, which often prioritize individualism, pathology, and profit over collective well-being and social justice.
Fostering Collective Liberation: Healing justice is rooted in the understanding that individual healing is linked to collective liberation.
Cultivating Resilience: Healing justice acknowledges the resilience and strength of marginalized communities, which have survived and resisted centuries of oppression. It seeks to amplify and support these existing strengths, rather than imposing external solutions.
Promoting Policy Change: Healing justice informs policy changes that address the social determinants of health, such as education, housing, and economic opportunities.
By acknowledging the importance of healing justice, we can work towards creating a society that values collective well-being, addresses historical trauma, and promotes social justice for all.
From the responses of the when2meet, it looks like the date/time with the most availability (and plenty of lead time) is Sunday, September 28 between 1 and 7 pm. Does anyone have proposals of where to hold the potluck, or would anyone be willing to host? If mid-day, I think a public park like Vilas, James Madison, or Orton could all be good options.
I also want to pass on a call for additional organizing to support a state Rights of Nature resolution being drafted:
“WISDOM is organizing events on Indigenous People’s Day, Monday October 13th 2025 to highlight Rights of Nature as a way to restore human beings and corporations to be in right relationship with the natural world.
State Representatives Vincent Miresse (Stevens Point), Angelito Tenorio (West Allis) and Darrin Madison (Milwaukee) have drafted a state resolution to raise up the issue of Rights of Nature as a way for us to restore right relationship with the natural world and address climate change. The state resolution is attached.
These three state representatives will also introduce a package of bills on Indigenous People’s Day, October 13th 2025 that will confer Rights of Nature on some specific Wisconsin natural treasures in addition to the state resolution that is attached. Guy Reiter, a leader from the Menominee Tribe and WISDOM, has helped to craft the resolution and these bills.
WISDOM, as a community of faith and a people of justice, is a leader and supporter of Rights of Nature. We are asking affiliates and other people of good will to organize events across the state on Indigenous People’s Day, October 13th 2025 to voice support for the attached resolution and the package of bills that will be introduced. A goal will be for us to be imaginative and raise awareness and support for this approach and these bills.
Please let me know if you are willing to get involved and how we might support each other in this important work. Please share with other supporters to help build our collective strength.”
Some people on this mailing list are explicitly interested in organizing around Rights of Nature — maybe organizing a walking tour or conversation around Rights of Nature could be a good working group task. If you’re interested in getting involved, email Conor Williams at conor@wisdomwisconsin.org.
One event being hosted that day in accordance with this call:
Throughout the month of September will be legal proceedings regarding the challenges to the Wisconsin DNR’s permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 Relocation Project, a proposed 41-mile extension of the Line 5 pipeline around Bad River Reservation. Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA, representing various environmental groups), Clean Wisconsin, and the Bad River Band each issued legal challenges to the permits over concerns about inadequate environmental protections and violations of Mashkiiziibii’s (Bad River Band’s) treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. Proceedings will begin at 9 am each day. Attending the hearings is a good way to show the presiding judge that this is an important issue to Wisconsinites, to connect with other people passionate about this issue, and also an opportunity to share conversation and materials related to colonial harm and decolonial repair.
9/11 Food & Faith Summit at Mt Zion
When: Thursday, September 11th from 13:00-16:00 (1-4pm) Where: Mt Zion Baptist Church, 2019 Fisher St, Madison, WI 53713
“The Food & Faith Summit will bring together religious leaders for multi-faith networking and strategic brainstorming about food insecurity in Dane County. Despite differences in theological and spiritual imperatives, the mandate for compassion towards those in need—especially the hungry—is deeply ingrained across belief systems. REAP Food Group will present the Dane County Food Action Plan, a community-centered initiative developing a comprehensive strategy for our regional food system through collaborative, inclusive processes that ensure all stakeholder voices are heard and integrated. We invite multi-faith leaders to the table to discuss and strategize how the broader faith community can contribute to our shared mandate: ensuring food as a human right.”
9/22 Community discussion of film SUGARCANE with Land Justice Futures
When: Monday, September 22nd, 2-3:15 pm CT Where: Online, sign up at this link: SUGARCANE
On September 22nd, Land Justice Futures will be hosting a community discussion of the award-winning documentary SUGARCANE, a moving, cinematic portrait of a community reckoning with a groundbreaking investigation into abuse and death at an Indian residential school. If you are committed to accountability from Catholic/Christian institutions and repair with Indigenous communities, please invite your community members to watch the film with you and join us in conversation!
PLEASE NOTE: This event is not a screening of the film, but a community conversation guided by Land Justice Futures. Registrants will receive a special link to view the film at their own convenience. We ask that registrants watch the 1 hour 49 minute film in the weeks before the community discussion. After grounding in some shorter clips from the film, our time together will be used for processing the grief, injustice, and complexities of what happened as well as our collective responsibilities and actions needed for healing and repair moving forward. This event will not be recorded and registrants will not receive a replay, so please join live if you’d like to be part of the conversation!”
9/27 Harvest Gathering 2025 at Yowela Farms
When: Saturday, September 27th from 2-7 pm Where: Yowela Farms, 2625 Oak Lawn Road Stoughton, WI 53589
“Join Dan Cornelius and the REAP Food Group for Harvest Gathering at Yowela Farms in Stoughton, Wisconsin. This event celebrates Indigenous knowledge, local food, and seasonal bounty. Highlights include cultural food workshops, opportunities to participate in regional food planning, a farm tour, live music, and a family feast featuring locally grown ingredients.”
You can learn more and purchase tickets for the event here, or reach out to Tabitha or Violeta for potential volunteer opportunities!
When: October 2-5, with options to attend before, after, and partially throughout this period Where: Malcolm, Nebraska (20 minutes from downtown Lincoln)
The Niskíthe Prayer Camp is peacefully occupying land in resistance to Indigenous erasure. The prayer camp began in 2022 in response to proposed land development at Wilderness Crossing, which threatened a local sweat lodge and gathering grounds, and the exclusion and erasure of Indigenous voices opposing the project. You can learn more about the prayer camp and Intertribal Spiritual Lodges at their website.
The dates for the fall encampment have been announced via their Facebook page. Members of DRN have attended their spring encampment, and members are encouraged to attend again in support and solidarity.
People of faith, broadly defined, are welcome to attend the Mount Graham Sacred Run for ceremony and prayer. Find more information about Chi’chil Biłdagoteel (Oak Flat) below.
Decolonial Repair Network 