Our Next Meeting will be on: Thursday, January 22nd, 2025

Located At: Horticulture Building, Cabrillo College Aptos Campus 6500 Soquel Dr, Aptos, CA 95003

Sign up Sheet for Potluck

Homework to be discussed - We will be starting to review the Land Acknowledgement for our campus. 

California Community College Land Acknowledgement Toolkit

Native Governance Center: A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment 

The National Environmental Education Foundation Land Acknowledgement guide

Our Meeting Agenda Format

• The majority of our meetings are held in person so we can take the time to be present with one another.
  We typically begin with a potluck-style gathering where everyone brings a small food item, keeping in mind any allergies or dietary needs that may have been shared ahead of time.

• Once we convene, we welcome everyone and offer our land acknowledgement, which can be expressed in multiple ways to honor the ancestors of this land and our own.

• We then refocus our minds on the purpose of the gathering and do a quick “whip around,” where each person introduces themselves and responds briefly to a prompt or question.

• Next, we review the agenda and acknowledge any new members joining us.

• We then take time to revisit our mutually agreed-upon norms.

Native American Studies & Student Support Committee Norms

1. Be curious, open, respectful.

2. Remember, no one knows everything, and "we are all perfectly imperfect."

3. Speak from your own experience, and avoid generalizations.

4. Take space for yourself and make space for others. 

5. Be conscious of the intent and impact of messages. 

6. Assume good intentions of others. 

7. Take responsibility: if you're impacted by comments; pause, reflect, then speak up

8. If you realize that your comments have been unskillful, own it and make amends as needed. 

9. Look for learning in all the conversations.

10. Appreciate one another generously.

11. Realize that all the voices that are relevant may not be present. Try to find ways to include them. 

12. Recognize that some members of the group may feel that there are real risks to speaking. 

13. There may be comments/conversations that should remain in the room. (What happens here stays here. . . What we learn here leaves here.)

14. Strive to learn about, honor, and enact Native American values and attitudes towards leadership and decision-making. Group collaboration should be honored (e.g. humility, listening, deliberation, waiting for a consensus to emerge).

• We may have a brief discussion about the significance or context of the place where we are meeting.

• At this point, we typically break into small groups of 3-4 for homework review and break off from the group. Afterward, we reconvene and share highlights from each group’s discussion.

• We then move into major announcements that pertain to the group or individual members, followed by:
  • Financial updates
  • Outreach items
  • Promotion of coursework or upcoming events
  • Scholarship updates
  • Confirmation of the next meeting date

• We conclude with closing remarks.