Dear Community Members,

Thank you to those who attended our very hot March meeting! A special thank you to Leah Resendez for leading, Groppi for providing awesome insight to questions based around the Land Acknowledgement, and everyone else who participated and attended. We appreciated having students from the Cabrillo Scuttle and CTC attend, our supportive and encouraging trustee, Christina Cuevas, and CCEU President, Tasha Sturm, as well as a mix of faculty and staff.

We have also been celebrating Women's History Month by honoring two Native American women on our Instagram daily. Please find us there at @nasssc.cabrillocollege.

In our next meeting, we’ll continue our conversations around Land Acknowledgement while also celebrating and honoring our Mother Earth during the month of April. While Earth Day (April 22) is widely recognized, many communities observe the entire month as Earth Month, a time to reflect on our relationship with the land and our shared responsibility to care for it. Our meeting on Tuesday April 21st will be the same day as our Earth Day celebration on our Aptos campus, where we will be hosting a table to promote Native Earth Awareness

For many Indigenous communities, our relationship with the Earth is not only environmental but deeply cultural and spiritual. We come from the land and therefore have an established kinship with her. The land is our teacher, our provider, and our relative. Indigenous teachings remind us that all living things are interconnected and that we carry a responsibility to care for the Earth not only for ourselves, but for future generations.

Imagine people living in the 1800s thinking seven generations ahead and how the decisions they made then continue to impact our lives today. Now imagine what the Earth might look like seven generations from now (around the year 2200) based on the choices we are making today.

This reflection invites us to consider how our actions, both individually and collectively, shape the future of the land, waters, and communities that will come after us.

April, as a time when the natural world is renewing and growing, provides an opportunity for us to honor these teachings and reflect on how we can live in better balance with the land and waters around us. 

Please check the meeting page for this month’s reading and discussion questions, as we deeply value your voice and perspective in these conversations.

Our group is always honored to have students participate in our gatherings, as they are the voices that will lead us forward. We are trying to do work that not only honors our ancestors, but also helps educate and support our children.

Land Acknowledgement & Local Tribal History

PLEASE NOTE: Our current Land Acknowledgement is being thoughtfully reworked to ensure we properly honor the ancestors and stewards of these lands. In the meantime, we pause to reflect on the land itself: its peoples, animals, waters, and native plants that have been here since time immemorial. We consider the knowledge and care carried by the first peoples, passed down through generations, and we commit ourselves to learning, evolving, and changing our ways to honor those who came before us and continue to guide us today. 

Pronunciations of the local tribes are: Amah (Aaa-Ma), Mutsun (Moot-sun), Uypi (You-P), Awaswas (Aaa-Was-Was).  

Local Tribal History

Original Inhabitants: The Awaswas

• Tribe/Group: Awaswas

• Linguistic Family: Ohlone (also known as Costanoan)

• Territory: Coastal Santa Cruz Mountains, including present-day Santa Cruz County.

• Villages: Many small villages throughout the region, often located near creeks and coastal areas. Some notable ones were around the San Lorenzo River and Soquel Creek.

• Lifeways: The Awaswas people lived in seasonal villages and relied on fishing, shellfish gathering, acorn harvesting, and trading with neighboring groups.

Today:

The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band includes descendants of the Awaswas and other Mutsun-speaking Ohlone peoples. They are actively working to revitalize culture, language, and reclaim stewardship of ancestral lands. Although not federally recognized, they are deeply engaged in environmental and cultural restoration efforts in the Santa Cruz region.