economic democracy • community self-determination • Land restoration • climate resilience • social cohesion & belonging

PROGRAMS

Our activities are driven by our community. We seek to build, heal, and resist when necessary, so that life persists, that ancestral wisdom flourishes, and our children have a future where they can thrive.

Shown here: *We traveled to other communities as we dreamed and planned for what our community would create.* Top left: *Our Learn-X adult cohort visited Ka WaiWai Collective’s space (shown here with Keoni Lee),* Top right: *We learned about social enterprises at Ma’o Farms (and chipped in), Bottom left: In each location, we saw how Indigenous sensibilities were applied, as with Na Mea Books & Things,* Bottom right: *We traveled to Detroit more than once to give our community first hand exposure to other communities working to reinvent the future of what’s possible.*

ACORNOMICs: A (k)new ecosystem for life

July 2023 - present

From developing a young adult land restoration team and holding community Arts & Culture workshops to providing our community spaces to practice culture and growing healthy food and Native plant gardens, we’ve moved from episodic events to building the foundation for regenerative, community development and resilience.

Acornomics is Native Roots Network’s Indigenous ecosystem framework to build and support a healthy, resilient, empowered community and landscape. This framework is the cornerstone program of our current work and weaves our projects and events together.

At the metaphorical heart of the Acornomics model is the Acorn, a traditional staple of many Native California Indigenous Peoples, is a readily available nutritious food that comes from several different types of oaks, each with their own character and flavor. Only through human care and tending of the landscape were large stands of healthy oaks sustained. Development, destruction, disease and catastrophic fire-prone lands choked by brush reduce the productivity and resilience of the oaks. Like our human community, the acorns and oaks are the literal and metaphorical sources of sustenance who are in need of care and tending. Through workforce development and place making, we would reinstate our traditional role as land caretakers and cultivators in ways that are not exploitive of the Earth or our labor.

Learn more here

Shown here: Top and bottom right: May 2024, after rematriating a property in Bella Vista for our nascent community resilience center the community came out to weed whack, dump trash, clean and establish a community garden. Bottom left: *January 2025, shortly after rematriating a former ranch, the community helped to repair, clean, rearrange and enjoy the spaces now under our care.*

Co-Lab Shasta: An intercultural solidarity economy community

May 2021 - present

Over the years, we’ve met many local, fellow travelers at our public events who align with our Indigenous values and our goals for a regenerative community ecosystem. Understanding the scale of need and realizing that people benefit from as well as enhance community solutions together, we purposefully incubated and developed an intercultural group to build a solidarity economy together. Co-Lab Shasta - or Collaborative Laboratory, Shasta - is an active group of both Native and non-native folks working together to build systems we want and deserve in our local, rural area.

From Culture Bearers versed in basketweaving, songs and dances, and working in language revitalization to artists, architects, engineers, planners, and more - the Co-Lab community plays an integral in the building of our solidarity economy development and work.

PROJECTS

Indigenous Community wellness gathering

March 25, 2023

This gathering was organized by and for the Indigenous community in Shasta County, California to self-assess and identify Indigenous community needs in our region to guide the work of regional, Indigenous CBOs. The day also featured traditional foods, Indigenous speakers, and cultural presentations, including youth feather and pow-wow dancers! The assessment and the gathering itself was intended to raise the health and wellness outcomes of Indigenous Peoples in our region - and it was also a real good time!

What the community also surfaced was the need for safe community space for meetings and gatherings, more learning opportunities for youth and adults, places for cultural practice, workshops for health and wellness, and more.

wayken-pana elpom

(Wintu mural on Redding’s cascade theatre)

June 7 - 18, 2022 (Completed July 2022)

NRN began working in collaboration with Redding District stakeholders in 2017. Two catastrophic wildfires - Carr Fire and Camp Fires - and the ongoing pandemic delayed the project. In early fall of 2021, we picked up and completed the project with Wintu Conceptual Artists, Michelle Radcliff-Garcia and Vanessa Scholfield and the help of Yurok Master Muralist, Carl Avery.

This significant mural is an important work of art that places Wintu Peoples and culture within their homelands in Redding’s downtown. Our imperative was to reverse Wintu erasure and uplift the original caretakers of this place.