Our Mission
Advance Native Political Leadership (Advance) is the first and only national Native-led organization working to build an interconnected, research-informed approach to power building: leadership development, community and ecosystem investment, convening and relationship building, storytelling and creating impact. Advance Native Political Leadership Action Fund is our 501(c)(4) project, and is fiscally sponsored by Beyond Impact.
Our theory of change is when Native Peoples lead, all communities thrive.
Our Culture & Values
Indigenous Sovereignty We uphold the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous peoples and affirm our right to self-determination in all spaces, political, cultural, and spiritual.
Relationality Our work is rooted in relationships built through trust, accountability, and care. We lead with connection, knowing that change happens in community, not in isolation.
Authenticity We create spaces where Native people can lead as our full, complex, authentic selves.
Community Wisdom We honor the knowledge, experience, and expertise of our communities. We listen deeply, move at the speed of trust, and ground our work in what our people know and need.
Healing & Wellness Leadership must be sustainable. We center healing, mental health, and wholeness as essential to personal and collective power.
Resilience & Joy Our work is hard and sacred and we lead with joy, ceremony, and celebration.
Collective Power We believe that building power is a shared responsibility. We lift as we climb, and we work across generations and geographies to build a future where we all thrive.
Narrative Justice We challenge invisibility and misrepresentation by lifting stories of Native leadership, resistance, and brilliance.
OUR BACKGROUND
- Voting rights
- Financial constraints
- Gender issues
- Racism and implicit bias
- Data barriers
- History of relationship with the federal government
- Lack of a national infrastructure
- Lack of research
Read our Report