Why Change Our Name
For 25 years, we formed partnerships with community leaders on Native American reservations throughout the Northern Plains and Southwest. While we are well known and trusted on the 60 reservations we served as National Relief Charities, we changed our organizational name to reflect more clearly who we are and what we do in the reservation communities.
Our new name — Partnership with Native Americans — will help corporations, foundations, philanthropic groups, private donors and the general public understand we partner with and invest in Native American communities. Having our brand name be immediately associated with our work and more easily found in Internet searches will help us in achieving our mission.
In selecting a new name, thousands of reservation partners, donors and other stakeholders were surveyed and provided input. During this testing, our reservation partners stressed that “partnership” most accurately reflects the relationship that exists between our organization and theirs. The name Partnership with Native Americans was the overwhelming choice among all groups in that it is honoring of these relationships and the self-determined goals of the peoples we serve. It was also the name most favored by our Board of Directors.
One of the largest nonprofit organizations in the country aiding Native American peoples, our mission and programmatic focus is not changing. We continue to respond to immediate needs in reservation communities, providing critical supplies for food, health, education, animal welfare and emergency relief through more than 1,000 reservation partnerships.
Through these partnerships, we also engage in community-based projects that sustainably address pressing issues, develop community leaders and contribute to self-sufficiency. We know the solutions to poverty and challenges on the reservations we serve begin within the tribes, and we serve as a bridge between solutions they identify and reservation resources and collaborators.
PWNA is committed to educating the American public and dispelling the public's misconceptions regarding Native Americans. We are inviting and encouraging reporters and their media outlets to help us provide accurate information about Native cultures and conditions on the reservations and to let people know how they can get more informed and involved.
Website: www.NativePartnership.org
Contact: Helen Oliff, PR Manager, holiff@nativepartnership.org, 540-825-5950