The SPAN Parent Advocacy Network is pleased to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. SPAN acknowledges that the United States is Native American land, and that our office at 35 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ is sited on the ancient lands of the Munsee Lenape Nation. We acknowledge and honor the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary land of all Nations, their indigenous peoples, and their continued sovereignty. We honor their history and culture, which inspires us with their wisdom and ways that nurtured their children and families. We also acknowledge their lands were taken without consent, causing great harm and suffering. Wherever SPAN goes, we honor the footprints and lives of those people who went before us, and we endeavor to heal past harms. Those wrongs can and must be righted. By offering this land acknowledgment, we declare that we will work to hold all those employed by and involved with our organization accountable to the needs and wishes of Indigenous peoples. We honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who stewarded it through generations. This calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit. It also calls on us to strengthen our efforts to provide the services and supports needed by families of all the Indigenous Nations in our state and nation to advocate for their children and families across early childhood, education, health, mental health, child welfare and juvenile justice. You can learn more about the Nations whose land is now “New Jersey” at https://native-land.ca/maps/
National Congress of American Indians: https://www.ncai.org/
