What Does Creating Community Mean To You?

These last 11 months we’ve had to reevaluate how we interact with our communities that we love so dearly. But, that being said, the idea of community hasn’t changed. We asked eight people across our communities what creating community means to them. See their answers below for some Sunday inspo!

Burrell Jones, Diné, Grandfalls, AZ

“I think creating a community depends on different perspectives. From my perspective, when we examine the past and into the present, a community shares a fundamental principle based on a concept known as trust. This simple but complex idea of trust forms bonds and relationships among a group or community. In Navajo culture, our clan system used this concept to build community among family and extended relatives. Overall, the one thing for a community to work is being able to trust in one another, this is where it all begins.”

Above: farming represents building a community based on trust and peace with others and oneself.

Annie Lascoe, Tongva Land

”For me, community is love. It’s connecting to a sense that I belong to a greater whole, to a network of people who care about me as I care about them. Community is a collective effort to create a microcosm of the world we want to experience so we can birth that vision in greater society, together. And community is a soft place to land, a space to find safety and comfort and nourishment, a respite from harshness and loneliness and isolation. Community is my lifeline, and I dream of gathering in community in person one day soon.”

S.A. Lawrence-Welch, Nêhiýaw & Métis | @lawrencewelchnw

“Community is embodied by people, coming together to take care of one another.

As a displaced Native, who has been working so hard to find family and start healing generational trauma, encouragement on my journey to finding myself, my people and my kin is paramount to my success. I’ve been so fortunate to have met so many incredible people who not only I hold space for, but they also hold space for me.

That’s what community means to me: support and encouragement.”

Pictured left to right: Sarah Rose Harper, Nikki Laes, Tokata Iron Eyes and S.A. Lawrence-Welch at IPDNYC ‘19

Carleigh Lameman, Diné, Pueblo Territory - Albuquerque, NM | @c.lameman

“Creating community to me means being able to lean on one another. Coming together for support, healing, teaching and learning.

It means feeling safe.

Creating community is important for our well being-mentally, physically and emotionally.”

Miranda Morales, Diné & Hopi, Cameron, AZ | @mmeeranda

“When I was a young girl, my family lost my youngest uncle in an ATV accident. After hearing of the news my grandmother told her children, “tell your little ones that we lost a person of great importance.” This always stuck with me as my grandmother firmly believed, no matter their age, little ones are still a part of the family/community. I value this teaching more than ever, as we go through difficult times, we are all in this together.”

Above: Miranda and her youngest niece Zoey.

Natalya Robbins Sherman, Diné, Tó Naneesdizí

“Creating community happens when you are a good relative to one another and to the plants, animals, and water.”

Photo: Natalya, her daughter Wylie, and her husband Latimer with their horses.

Katie Janss, Los Angeles, CA | @kjanss

“To me, creating community means building relationships beyond transaction. Communities consist of people helping each other because they care what happens to each person, not because they’re getting something material out of it. By helping other people out, you help yourself.” 

Chantel Yazzie, Diné, Tuba City, AZ | @acehlnteiklm

“Working under the Western Navajo Fair, I have the opportunity to help coordinate an annual event that is enjoyed by many and attended by thousands. That’s thousands of new memories being made, thousands of conversations that may not have happened, and thousands of smiles and giggles to look back at years down the road. Creating community throughout this 4 day event has brought a sense of gratification I was unaware existed. Creating community is otherworldly. Creating community is healing. Creating community is medicine.”

Above: photo from one of the many fair events organized by Chantel and her team