Urban Indigenous Collective: Rebuilding Indigenous Systems of Care
Urban Indigenous Collective (UIC) is building a future where Indigenous people living in Lenapehoking and across the greater New York region have access to culturally grounded care, community, resources, and opportunities to lead.
In 2026, we continued moving beyond individual programs toward building an interconnected, Indigenous-led system of care, one that brings together community wellness, behavioral health, youth leadership, survivor support, research, advocacy, cultural programming, and community governance.
Building Community-Led Systems of Care
Our community center continues to serve as a home for Indigenous people across generations to gather, build relationships, access resources, practice culture, and care for one another. Throughout 2026, UIC offered free wellness and cultural programming including talking circles, land-based activities, movement and physical wellness, cultural gatherings, food and plant medicine programming, community celebrations, and opportunities for rest and connection.
At the same time, we began laying the foundation for a more comprehensive continuum of Indigenous behavioral health services. UIC is working toward establishing a culturally responsive outpatient behavioral health program that can provide Indigenous people with access to clinical care while remaining grounded in culture, relationship, community, and Indigenous ways of knowing.
This work includes strengthening our clinical infrastructure, expanding culturally grounded therapy and survivor services, developing an Indigenous behavioral health workforce pipeline, and creating opportunities for emerging Indigenous social workers and providers to receive training and supervision within community.
Supporting Indigenous Youth Leadership
Our youth work has continued to evolve from creating programs for young people toward building opportunities for Indigenous youth to lead. Through Woven Identities, UIC has created affirming spaces for queer and Two-Spirit Indigenous youth to gather, build relationships, participate in talking circles, explore culture and identity, and access peer and community support.
The Radicle Roots Youth Guiding Council provides another pathway for young people to directly shape UIC's youth priorities. As we grow this work, we are building longer-term paid leadership, internship, peer facilitation, mentorship, and professional development opportunities that allow Indigenous young people to move from participation into meaningful roles throughout the organization.
Supporting Survivors and Families
UIC continued strengthening our response to violence affecting Indigenous people through culturally grounded survivor services, advocacy, healing spaces, and direct support. The Opeqtawmetaemoh (Flying Eagle Woman) Survivors Fund provides resources for Indigenous survivors and families navigating violence and its impacts, while our survivor programming creates opportunities for culturally grounded healing, talking circles, care navigation, and connection.
Our MMIP Task Force continues to strengthen advocacy, policy, data, and community response to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Trans, and other Indigenous relatives. In May 2026, UIC convened our 4th Annual MMIWG2S NYC+ week of gatherings, bringing together survivors, families, advocates, researchers, artists, healers, community members, and leaders for education, collective healing, storytelling, remembrance, and action. We are also working to strengthen Indigenous representation within local and state policy responses to missing and murdered people and to ensure that Indigenous experiences are visible within systems that have historically failed to accurately identify, count, and respond to our relatives.
Indigenous-Led Research and Data Sovereignty
UIC is continuing to build an Indigenous-led research infrastructure grounded in community-based participatory research and Indigenous data sovereignty.
Our research examines questions identified by our community, particularly around behavioral health, pain, recovery, culturally responsive care, plant medicines, and traditional approaches to healing. But our goal is larger than participating in research. We are building the capacity for Indigenous communities to help determine what questions are asked, how research is conducted, how our data is governed, and how findings are returned to and used by community. As this work grows, UIC is developing the infrastructure necessary for greater community ownership and stewardship of Indigenous data while cultivating opportunities for Indigenous researchers, students, community members, and knowledge holders to participate throughout the research process.
Community Governance and Indigenous Leadership
UIC believes Indigenous communities should have meaningful power in shaping the institutions created to serve them. Alongside our Board of Directors and staff, our Community Advisory Board provides organization-wide community guidance and accountability. Community-led bodies including the MMIWG2S+ NYC Task Force, Radicle Roots Youth Guiding Council, and Survivors Fund Review Committee provide leadership within specific areas of our work. These structures help ensure that UIC continues to grow in relationship with the people we serve rather than building systems around them.
WHERE WE ARE GOING
Our next chapter is about strengthening the infrastructure necessary for this work to endure.
Build Indigenous Behavioral Health Services
We are working toward establishing culturally responsive outpatient behavioral health services designed with and for urban Indigenous communities. This includes clinical care, survivor services, community-based healing, workforce development, supervision and training for emerging Indigenous providers, and stronger pathways between cultural wellness and behavioral health care.
Invest in Indigenous People
Sustainable Indigenous organizations require sustainable Indigenous careers. General operating support helps UIC provide fair and competitive compensation for the staff, clinicians, researchers, organizers, cultural practitioners, youth leaders, and community members whose knowledge and labor make this work possible. We believe Indigenous professional expertise, lived experience, caregiving, cultural knowledge, and community leadership should be valued, not expected as unpaid labor.
Grow Youth Leadership
We are creating pathways for Indigenous youth to move from participating in programs to shaping them. Your support helps fund youth councils, paid internships, peer leadership, mentorship, cultural programming, professional development, and opportunities for young people to take on meaningful leadership throughout UIC.
Strengthen Survivor and MMIWG2S+ Response
We will continue expanding survivor support, community-based healing, direct assistance, advocacy, policy work, and Indigenous-led responses to MMIWG2S+ across Lenapehoking and the East Coast.
Protect Indigenous Data and Knowledge
We are investing in the research, technology, governance, and community infrastructure necessary for Indigenous people to have greater control over the collection, stewardship, interpretation, and use of information about our communities.
Keep Community Care Accessible
Our community programming remains an essential part of UIC. Donations help us continue providing free and accessible talking circles, cultural gatherings, land-based programming, movement and wellness activities, food and plant medicine programming, youth activities, community events, and other opportunities for Indigenous people to gather and care for one another.
Help Us Build What Comes Next
When you give to Urban Indigenous Collective, you aren't supporting just one program.
You are investing in Indigenous-led infrastructure designed to last.
Your donation helps us provide care today while building the systems our community needs for tomorrow, from behavioral health services and survivor support to youth leadership, research, cultural programming, advocacy, and community governance. Every contribution strengthens our ability to respond where the need is greatest while keeping our work community-led and accessible. Thank you for helping us rebuild Indigenous systems of care and create spaces where Indigenous people can gather, heal, organize, lead, and thrive.
Citations
"Investing in Native Communities: Philanthropic Funding for Native American Communities and Causes." Native Americans in Philanthropy and Candid Report 09/12/2019.