Indigenous Children of the Americas (ICOTA)

By Sage Hales

Graduate Student, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (Fall 2005)

Organization

Indigenous Children of the Americas (ICOTA) is a nonprofit organization with the purpose of providing needed relief, through its programs and services, to impoverished Native American children and families who reside both on and off of reservations throughout the Americas (SixFeathers).

ICOTA offers a variety of direct services through its five program areas, which include: winter needs, humanitarian, education, well being, and the Christmas toy drive. The winter needs program gathers blankets, hats, gloves, socks and other warming items for those who often do not have heat. The humanitarian program provides care packages and emergency services such as food, propane in the winter, and baby care items. The education program provides paper, writing instruments, rulers, workbooks, and other educational supplies to children who would not otherwise have these items. The well being program distributes informational sheets and gives referrals to doctors for diabetes, depression, heart disease, and addictions. And finally, the Christmas toy drive collects toys and distributes them to needy children during the holiday season (Indigenous Children of the Americas).

Historic Roots

ICOTA began in 1999 when four indigenous women from different areas of the country including Southern California, New York, Illinois, and Kansas/Oklahoma met at an indigenous political gathering. The women shared stories about inequalities that they saw occurring on their respective reservations, and decided that they could help each other through providing basic services and goods to those who need assistance (SixFeathers).

Their first project was to collect toys for distribution at Christmas time. Initially, the founders met these needs through their own personal contributions. As time went on, the volunteer and donation base grew to the friends and family of the founders. In early September of 2002, ICOTA became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This helped them immensely because donations could then be tax deductible (Indigenous Children of the Americans). Within the past few years, the programs have become larger, serving more people with increased volunteer help. In late 2005, ICOTA was in the process of pursuing its first grant to supplement its individual donation support (SixFeathers).

Importance and Ties to the Philanthropic Sector

ICOTA provides needed resources to Native Americans living both on and off of reservations mainly in the form of donated goods. The organization serves Native people living throughout the Americas including the U.S., Cuba, Mexico, and Guatemala (SixFeathers). As Rebecca Adamson noted in her article “Money with a Mission: A History of Indian Philanthropy,” during the 1970s, many foundations stopped funding direct services to reservations and began to fund projects that looked to solve the root causes of Native American poverty (Adamson, 28). Because of this lack of resources and support, there are not many organizations that specifically focus on providing support to native peoples and there is an extreme need for such services.

According to the US Census Bureau, between 2002 and 2004, the poverty rate for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives was 24 percent, compared to the overall U.S. poverty rate of 12.4 percent (U.S. Census Bureau). The services that ICOTA provides are crucial to the survival of many families because of the high poverty rate and the lack of resources in many Native American and Alaskan Native communities.

Related Ideas

American Indian, Native American, or Indigenous person – These terms are legal and/or racial terms to describe a person who is a native inhabitant of North America and the term Indigenous person is used to define a person whose historical familial roots are based in whatever area he or she inhabits. A tribe may define the term American Indian, Native American or Indigenous person in a different manner than the government does. Under U.S. Federal law, each government recognized tribe can determine its own members, although the courts may not recognize all members as American Indian under its own definition (Sokolow, c2000).

Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples – This refers to the universal freedom from discrimination including “civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that belong to all human beings” (The People’s Movement for Human Rights Education). Indigenous people enjoy some rights based upon their identity, including rights to maintain their culture and language without discrimination, rights of access to ancestral lands and subsistence land, rights to decide their own development patterns, and rights to autonomy over their affairs (The People’s Movement for Human Rights Education).

Reservations - Land set aside for the “use, possession, and benefit of a Native American tribe and its members by the president or Congress” (Sokolow, c2000). The tribe for whom the land is set aside may be self-governed, meaning that they may create courts to resolve civil disputes or to persecute those who violate tribal laws. Usually, “land became a reservation through aboriginal title, treaty, federal statute, or agreements or by executive order of the president” (Sokolow, c2000).

Important People Related to the Topic

• Rebecca Adamson (1949 - ) is a Cherokee. Ms. Adamson was the founding president of First Nations Development Institute (1980), and also founded First Peoples Worldwide (1997). She has worked extensively with grassroots tribal communities. In her work, she established a new field of “culturally appropriate, values-driven development” (First Nations Development Institute) (Wood 2005).
  
  
• Joy Persall (birth year not available) is an Ontario Ojibwe and is the executive director of Native Americans in Philanthropy. She has experience in unique and cutting-edge community-based grant making programs. In addition, she has directed a capacity building program that provided technical assistance to grassroots organizations and served as a connection between the grassroots and philanthropic communities (Native Americans in Philanthropy).
  
  
• Linda SixFeathers (birth year not available) is a member of the Blackfoot Lakota Nation. Ms. SixFeathers was one of the founders of ICOTA and is the current executive director (SixFeathers).

Related Organizations

• First Nations Development Institute works through ”education, advocacy, and capitalization to restore Native control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own.” They also work to create more assets within Native communities (First Nations Development Institute) (Wood 2005).
  
  
• Native Americans in Philanthropy works with both Native and non-Native peoples to increase the understanding of philanthropy. The organization does this by providing communication mechanisms between the native grassroots communities and philanthropic sector, providing professional development opportunities to Native Americans in philanthropy, and supporting Native leadership in the field (Native Americans in Philanthropy).
  
  
• Seventh Generation Fund was founded in 1977 and is the “only Native American intermediary foundation and advocacy organization that works in promoting and maintaining the uniqueness of Native Peoples throughout the Americas.” The Seventh Generation Fund offers support in the form of technical assistance, training, and
  
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