United Indians of All Tribes (also known as the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, or UIATF) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

foundation that provides social and educational services to Native Americans in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding Satellite city, satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–T ...

and aims to promote the well being of the Native American community of the area. The organization is based at the

Daybreak Star Cultural Center The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American cultural center in Seattle, Washington, described by its parent organization United Indians of All Tribes as "an urban base for Native Amer ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington's Discovery Park. UIATF has an annual budget of approximately $4.5 million as of 2013.

History of Native Americans in the Seattle area

Many tribes historically inhabited the Seattle area and, to a greater extent, the surrounding

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

area, because of the rich resources of food and fish. Major groups of local contemporary native peoples or tribes include the

Suquamish The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Su ...

, Duwamish, Nisqually, Snoqualmie, and

Muckleshoot The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe ( ; ), also known as the Muckleshoot Tribe, is a federally-recognized tribe located in Auburn, Washington. The tribe governs the Muckleshoot Reservation and is composed of descendants of the Duwamish, Stkamish, ...

(Ilalkoamish, Stuckamish, and Skopamish) tribes. Many Alaskan Natives and Native Americans from the Inland Northwest have also come to live in Seattle. As a result, the city has a large and very diverse urban Indian population. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 86,649 American Indians/Alaskan Natives living in the Seattle, Tacoma, and Bremerton area. The

area has become a nexus of many different tribal cultures from all over the country, with large influences from

Coast Salish The Coast Salish peoples are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak on ...

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

, Haida, and Plateau Indian cultures.

History of Daybreak Star

UIATF was established in 1970 during the struggle by Northwest Natives to gain ownership or control of a portion of

Fort Lawton Fort Lawton was a United States Army Military base, post located in the Magnolia, Seattle, Washington, Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington overlooking Puget Sound. In 1973 a large majority of the property, 534 acre ...

, as the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

had shrunk its base there. Bernie Whitebear emerged as the group's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, a position he held until shortly before his death from cancer in 2000. After winning the concession of a renewable 99-year lease on 20 acres (81,000 square meters) in what was to become Discovery Park, Whitebear led the fund-raising for Daybreak Star. Whitebear's brother, the designer and sculptor Lawney Reyes, set forth the "philosophy, nomenclature, and organizational needs of UIATF," working with Northwest architect Arai Jackson to design the center. Whitebear negotiated with then-governor Daniel J. Evans for a $1 million construction grant from Washington State; he also obtained an $80,000 grant for artwork for the building's interior from the Seattle Arts Commission, of which he became a member. Further donations came from tribes and corporations, including many of the materials used in the building. UIATF Pow Wow 2009 - 006

Beginning in 1975 with the grant for artwork, the foundation opened the Sacred Circle Art Gallery at Daybreak Star. The Sacred Circle Art Gallery features both a permanent collection as well as a temporary exhibit space. Until 2001, the gallery featured contemporary art by renowned Native artists such as James Lavadour, Edgar Heap of Birds, and Marvin Oliver. After Whitebear's death, a new group of leaders made changes to the gallery, such as changing its name from the Sacred Circle Art Gallery to the Daybreak Star Indian Art Gallery, whittling two viewing rooms down to one, and shifting the focus away from contemporary Native American art. The gallery carries some contemporary work and continues to rebrand itself. Daybreak has also put on several art markets throughout the year.

Other initiatives

The United Indians of all Tribes Foundation also provides programs such as Indian child welfare services, therapy, and treatment; elder services, including a lunch program; a GED education program; and youth services, including advocacy,

substance abuse treatment Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. The general int ...

, and housing for homeless youth. Other programs have included the Ina Maka family program, education and employment services, a child development center, and the ECEAP (Early Childhood Education & Assistance Program) preschool. The foundation also organizes the annual

Seafair Seafair is an annual summer festival in Seattle, Washington, that encompasses a wide variety of small neighborhood events leading up to several major citywide celebrations. Its main events include the Torchlight Parade (and accompanying Torc ...

Indian Days, one of the larger

pow-wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity for Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their ...

s in the Northwest, held in conjunction with the city's festival called Seafair. The pow-wow draws tribal members from across the state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Canada. Youth services include the 25-bed home Labateyah Youth Home (sometimes written ''La-ba-te-yah'') at 9010 13th Avenue NW, near Holman Road in Seattle's Crown Hill neighborhood. Since 1992, Labateyah has offered transitional and state group housing to youth between the ages of 18 and 24. The name ''Labateyah'' is Lushootseed for "the transformer". The program is not exclusively for Native American youth, who compose about a quarter of the facility's clients. Another initiative contemplated by Whitebear was the People's Lodge at Daybreak Star, intended to include a Hall of Ancestors, a Potlatch House, a theater, and a museum,Reyes 2002, p. 190. later called the "Daybreak Star Village" proposal, a project now indefinitely postponed for financial reasons. There is also the Pacific Northwest Indian Canoe Center, intended as part of the ongoing development at South Lake Union, just north of downtown,—for which ground was broken February 28, 2007. Both the People's Lodge and the Canoe Center were conceived by Whitebear but left in the planning phases at the time of his death. Current UIATF initiatives include: *The Community Story, a program to facilitate assisting the local indigenous community through input from the Native community and integrating the input into the foundation's programming and to identify their needs. *Pathways to Prosperity, a program aimed to alleviate poverty by providing the necessary tools and knowledge to break this cycle in the Native community. Proposed UIATF initiatives include: *Daybreak Star College, a

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and secondary preparatory school. *Bernie Whitebear Center for Human and Community Development, in White Center, an unincorporated neighborhood between Seattle and Burien, an area where there are an increasing number of Native Americans. *Daybreak Star Youth Summer Camp. A $3.5 million grant received October 2007 from the Northwest Area Foundation should allow the Bernie Whitebear Center, Daybreak Star College—two of the proposed projects—and the Northwest Canoe Center to proceed. The Canoe Center will be on South Lake Union. The grant will also fund various economic development activities focused on employment and small business development.Northwest Area Foundation Awards $3.5 Million to United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
Northwest Area Foundation Press Release, 10 October 2007, posted by ''Philanthropy News Digest'', 15 October 2007. Accessed online 25 October 2007.

Notes

References

* Ruby de Luna
Phil Lane, Jr.: Profile of United Indians’ New Leader
KUOW, June 26, 2007. Transcript and recording. Accessed online 12 March 2007. *Lawney L. Reyes, ''White Grizzly Bear's Legacy: Learning to be Indian'', University of Washington Press, 2002. .

External links

United Indians of All Tribes
official site
United Indians of All Tribes
YouTube user page

map of proposed completion of Daybreak Star property.

Free online encyclopedia about Washington State history.
Urban Indians and Seattle's civil rights history
Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, contains numerous oral histories, research reports, and other documents, many of which relate to UIATF. {{DEFAULTSORT:United Indians Of All Tribes Non-profit organizations based in Seattle Native American organizations Organizations established in 1970 1970 establishments in Washington (state)