About Us
“Unkitawa” is the Lakota word meaning “ours,” “yours,” and “mine.” It embodies the concept that what belongs to each of us individually equally belongs to all living things.
What We Do
Unkitawa uses traditional art, culture, and ceremony to assist and support Indigenous communities in South King County, Washington State, and beyond. Our founders and supporters are dedicated, results-oriented people who came together to support efforts that protect and heal the Earth for the benefit of all.
Unkitawa is a 501c3 non-profit formed and operated by All-Indigenous staff, senior staff, and board of directors.
Our Mission
"Empower Indigenous People through Spiritual and Cultural practices."
What We Mean by Spiritual and Cultural Practices
At Unkitawa, we believe culture is medicine. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples maintained healthy, thriving communities through spiritual and cultural practices that strengthened identity, family, and community. However, generations of colonization and forced assimilation—including boarding schools and government policies—attempted to erase these ways of life by prohibiting Indigenous languages, ceremonies, songs, dances, regalia, and traditional teachings.
Today, we are reclaiming what was once forbidden.
Our programs empower Indigenous people to reconnect with their culture through traditional songs, drumming, dancing, regalia making, language, storytelling, traditional arts, food sovereignty, and cultural gatherings that strengthen identity and belonging.
Our spiritual practices are rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and may include traditional ceremonies, prayer, cultural protocols, seasonal teachings, traditional medicines, and guidance from respected Elders and cultural knowledge keepers. These are not religious services—they are ancestral practices that have sustained Indigenous Nations since time immemorial and continue to promote balance of the mind, body, heart, and spirit.
By creating opportunities for Indigenous people to learn, practice, and pass on these traditions, Unkitawa empowers individuals, families, and communities to reclaim their cultural identity, strengthen resilience, and ensure these sacred teachings continue for future generations.
Our Vision
Seven generations of ancestral healing
Our Goals
Protect Unci Maka, Grandmother Earth
Provide support for efforts that protect our land, our water, and our air.
Educational Outreach Programs
Sponsor Native American / Indigenous people’s cultural, spiritual, and ceremonial activities that build and strengthen the Native American / Indigenous people’s community.
Equivalent Exchange
Rebalance the efforts that we support by giving back at least as much as we take.
Our Values
Community
Encourage and create a safe environment where our people have a sense of belonging.
Integrity
Perseverance
Growth
An ever-increasing number of Indigenous people yearn to connect with traditional and cultural knowledge. To meet those needs, we aim to increase our capacity by 20% – programs, participants, and staff.
History
Indigenous Peoples and allies all over Turtle Island and around the world heard the movement of Water Protectors that rose in response to the direct attacks on the water and land on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
With support from family and friends, Kyle Schierbeck, a Standing Rock Lakota tribal member living in the Seattle area, sold t-shirts to raise money for the people camping at Standing Rock. His efforts brought firewood for the people, which continued strong through the end of the camps at Standing Rock. We are grateful to The Common Acre for their fiscal sponsorship when we needed to support the People financially.
Friendships and family formed among Indigenous Peoples and allies residing in Washington State during Standing Rock. Many came through and shared space. As a circle, we gather to sing, hold ceremony, visit, and share meals.
Although many come through, there is a core circle of this Tiyóspaye, which, over the years, has been at the heart of our ceremony family.
We formed Unkitawa in 2017 at a pivotal moment when the fiscal sponsorship with The Common Acre ended. Members of the original firewood project, ceremony family, and others decided to create an organization to access more resources for Indigenous communities. Some members of the ceremony family were working in the community before the Standing Rock movement. We have always centered our work on traditional values; these are the grounding values of Unkitawa.
Contact us today to learn more about supporting Indigenous communities in our area.