Peacemaking Trainers 

(L-R): Donna Chippewa (Grand Traverse Band), JoAnne Cook (Grand Traverse Band), Brett Lee Shelton (Oglala Sioux Tribe), Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians)

On May 27-29 2026, the Native American Rights Fund’s (NARF’s) Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative (IPI) conducted the 2026 Central California Introduction to Peacemaking Training at the Tule River Tribe’s Eagle Mountain Casino and Resort facilities in Porterville, California. We had over 100 registrants for the 3-day event, and participants came from several Tribes and County programs within Central and Southern California.

Our partners in producing the event were the Central California Training Academy, based at California State University at Fresno, and the Tule River Tribal Courts. The event was conceptualized in the context of ongoing relationships between NARF’s IPI and these partners, which includes active participation in a variety of efforts in the region to enhance cooperation between Tribes and Tribal agencies and State and County agencies involved primarily with Indian Child Welfare Act implementation in the State

Peacemaking is increasingly recognized as a best practice for making decisions involving Indian (and other) child welfare, in addition to many other areas, from juvenile offenses to human resources. The training provided people from the Tribes in the area, as well as others who work with Tribes in the area, an opportunity to be introduced to the theoretical roots and framework of traditional indigenous dispute resolution practices most commonly called “peacemaking,”  along with some of the basics of the actual practice of peacemaking, and possible applications. This, in turn will allow tribes to begin or continue development of their own traditional practices as formal programs within their modern governmental structures and systems.   Most importantly, doing so will enable them to offer people potentially preferable alternatives to handle conflicts that naturally arise whenever people work together on important issues.  Participants were exposed to the how the process works, how it can be implemented, and many of the reasons it can be preferred to other alternatives in many situations.

Local Planning Committee members who attended the Central California Peace Circles Introductory Training 

(L-R): Zack Zukovsky, Dominique Carillo, Angela Kaster, Cindy Alexander, & Leah Lujan

Representatives from the host Tribe, Tule River, joined the Peacemaking Training.

This training was a part of NARF’s efforts to pursue it’s priority of the Preservation of Tribal Existence, by helping local Tribes in attendance with knowledge about how peacemaking can be a modern adaptation of traditional practices and values that lead to stronger communities and better outcomes. NARF routinely provides such trainings, but usually on a tribal-specific basis and in conjunction with technical assistance at essentially the same time, to help Tribal nations create their own systems specifically designed to operate within their own existing systems and rooted in their own cultural background.  NARF also facilitates sharing between Tribes as they pursue these efforts, primarily though a collection of peacemaking related written materials from Tribes and other experts, as well as by facilitating sharing by experts from other Tribes.