Providing resources and opportunities for Native American women and their families across New England since 2002.

Gedakina Book Series

Gedakina is committed to raising the voices of Native American Women and encouraging Gedakina staff to write and share their works with the larger community. You can find the first of two books in our collection for sale here. We look forward to sharing more published work with you soon!

Banned books - our perspective.

We want all children to learn from these books. Far too often certain states or special interest groups think they know best, and they become the gatekeeper of our stories, at worst banning our books and at best failing to highlight or lift up our books. Their criteria are different from ours. They are entitled to their stories and opinions and likewise we are entitled to ours. We do not want one gatekeeper for our stories.

Cover photo of book Good Spirit Good Earth by Vermont author Patricia Austin
Cover photo of Abenaki Coloring Book by Native American autho Mikhu Paul

Gedakina works to expose our young people to possibilities, providing resources and opportunities and enable them to make choices and pursue positive life paths. Our programs include language learning, drumming, and singing for youth.

Our educational initiatives include working with community groups on the use of appropriate land acknowledgements into. Here we are with Vermont Land Trust. We are happy to work with you to create a unique program to support your needs.

Braiding Sweetgrass supports grassroots community-based projects inspired and led by women and girls. Our multi-generational mentoring and support system helps nurture and encourage all women in the community. We offer a variety of activities weekly.

Your support matters!

Students learning in a natural classroom.

Our Educational Programs

One of our Indigenous Artists from our Braiding Sweetgrass group.

Braiding Sweetgrass & Community Events

Buy bead work from Indigenous artists.

Braiding Sweetgrass Shop

 Our Mission

Gedakina is a multigenerational endeavor to strengthen and revitalize the cultural knowledge and identity of Native American women and their families from across New England. We work to conserve our traditional homelands and places of historical, ecological, and spiritual significance and to educate others as to their importance.

A basket used for teaching math in a Gedakina classroom project.

Pronounced /g’ DAH keen nah/

Gedakina means “Our world, our way of life” in the Wabanaki language.

At Gedakina, we incorporate a traditional Indigenous multigenerational approach, involving Elders, youth, and community members with a wide range of experience and knowledge.

Our community-based initiatives:

Our initiatives focus on leadership development, education & cultural revitalization.

Cultural Revitalization

  • Indigenous language revitalization

  • Traditional Native handcrafts

  • Hand-drum making & learning traditional songs

  • Develop relationship with culturally significant places

  • Connect with traditional knowledge

Gardeners and farmers planting indigenous crops

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

  • Indigenous plant identification

  • Gardening

  • Canoeing

  • Snowshoeing

  • Experiential learning in Nature

Community

We support our communities during times of struggle and celebrations through:

  • Talking circles

  • Team-building activities

  • One-Shelf Book Project

  • Seed Saving

 Learn about our activities

 Support Indigenous Artists