The Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) announced the three pilot sites for the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons Healing & Response Teams (HRT) project, in partnership with the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) and the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center (AKNWRC).
The MMIP HRT pilot sites include the Waking Women Healing Institute, the Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition (SWIWC), and the Dena’ Nena Henash Tanana Chiefs Conference Tribal Protective Services (TCC).
The Waking Women Healing Institute, an Indigenous women and survivor-led non-profit organization, works to protect against, heal from, and illuminate the impacts of settler colonialism that result in violence against Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit relatives, Water, and Mother Earth.
The Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition (SWIWC) is a statewide Tribal domestic and sexual violence coalition whose mission is to increase the capacity of Indigenous communities to address and respond to violence through education, training, technical assistance, policy & advocacy, and culturally responsive support services.
The Dena’ Nena Henash Tanana Chiefs Conference Tribal Protective Services (TCC) is an Alaska Native Tribal consortium dedicated to advancing sovereign Tribal governments through the promotion of physical and mental wellness, education, socioeconomic development, and culture of the Interior Alaska Native people.
The MMIP Healing & Response Teams Initiative focuses on MMIP cases intersecting with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking. The initiative aims to establish victim-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive pathways, and to enhance intergovernmental coordination in cases of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons.
The announcement of the MMIP HRT pilot sites is the beginning of building culturally-informed and community-specific healing and response teams to address the legacy of violence in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities within this country.
To learn more about the MMIP Healing & Response Teams Pilot Sites, and their respective visions for the MMIP Healing & Response Teams Model, visit: https://www.miwsac.org/national-programs/mmip-hrt/