A project of Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, Mending the Sacred Hoop, Inc. is a Native American non-profit social change agency working to eliminate violence against women: battering, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Since 1990, Mending the Sacred Hoop Inc. has been working to change the way the criminal justice system and service providers respond to Native American people by confronting and challenging the myths still inherent in dominant culture society that are a significant factor in the response of systems to violence against American Indian and Alaska Native Women.

Our mission is to address violence against women in Native communities on a social and institutional level. Our vision is to reclaim the sovereignty and sacredness of Native women by organizing across tribal communities to improve their response to Native women and children who are victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault and to restore safety and integrity to them and to future generations.

Mending the Sacred Hoop Inc. has three distinct projects. Our local Duluth, MN program (MSH) works with individuals, programs, and tribal governments representing reservations, rancherias, pueblos, villages, and urban Native community programs throughout the United States and Canada. We provide culturally relevant trainings, workshops, consultations, and materials to programs to programs that address violence against Native women. MSH trainings include:

• We Teach Each Other: Advocacy & Organizing for Social Change
• Creating a Coordinated Community Response in Tribal Communities
• Sexual Assault in Tribal Communities
• Principles of Advocacy
• Domestic Violence Introductory Training

MSH also offers training and referral on shelter development, stalking, tribal code development, sexual assault protocols for law enforcement or prosecution, the effects of violence on children, facilitating education groups, and grassroots organizing on other issues that affect the safety and sovereignty of Native women. Consultations are available for planning and program development. These may include one to three days of evaluation and assessment of services such as shelter, advocacy, batterer re-education, developing a coordinated community response, the law enforcement response to domestic violence, developing tribal visitation centers, and other related programs. Trainings in the can be customized to fit your community?s needs.

Our national project, Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project (MSH-TA), is funded by the Office on Violence Against Women to provide training and technical assistance to OVW Tribal Grantees. MSH-TA is currently working to: 1) increase the capacity and sustainability of tribal programs addressing violence against women by providing strategic planning on program and organizational development focusing on program management and grant administration and 2) enhance offender accountability through the implementation of culturally based Batterer Intervention Programs and the creation of a national network of Tribal Batterer Intervention Programs: www.msh-ta.org.

Sacred Hoop Tribal Coalition organizes within the state of Minnesota around the issue of domestic violence against Native women. We believe that grassroots community organizing and dialogue increases the opportunity to learn from each other and share effective strategies to end violence against Native women. The challenge for our Nations is to reclaim traditional views of women, developing a culturally based response that ensures safety and upholds accountability. It is our responsibility to develop strong and cooperative working relationships with one another. It is within our grasp to dramatically alter our responses to Native women who have been battered--keeping their voices at the forefront of our work.