2023 Indigenous Peoples Summit
Event Synopsis
The 2023 Indigenous Peoples Summit took place across two days in Omaha, Nebraska, ancestral home of the Umonhon Nation.
The public-facing elements of the Summit took place between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at Metropolitan Community College South Omaha Campus on Wednesday, August 9 and Thursday, August 10.
The financial cost to attend was $50.00 per day or $90.00 for a two-day ticket.
There was no financial cost for attendance for Indigenous People.
Event Content
The Summit featured a mighty schedule of presentations, panels, and Indigenous cuisine and music. The two-day experience was a multilateral, dynamic, interdisciplinary gathering of Indigenous and nonindigenous people from all walks of life to discuss this year’s themes of Indigenous womanhood, seedkeeping, and rematrition, a word meaning a return to matriarchal structures and worldviews.
Perennial issues of climate change, decolonization, the rights of nature, the necessity of clean water in this region and globally, and food sovereignty were also discussed.
Unique Position in the Indigenous World
While many symposia, summits, conferences and gatherings take place on this day, few of these events draw from such a professionally, geographically, demographically diverse array of speakers, panelists, and guests as the Indigenous Peoples Summit.
The event was collaboratively designed by a planning committee and is co-hosted by two Omaha-based nonprofit organizations: Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim and the Maya Economic Development Corporation.
Summit speakers and panelists included Great Grandmother Mary Lyons (Ojibwe), Deb Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Renee San Souci (Umonhon), Dr. Elena Darshan Campos (Boricua), Chef Anothony Warrior (Absentee Shawnee/Mvskoke/Sicangu Lakota), Chef Nico Williams (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ Cherokee Nation) , Dr. Kristina Kintziger and many others.
Summit Goals
The Summit’s 2023 goals were:
Summit sponsors included Oatly; The Nature Conservancy; University of Nebraska Medical Center Water, Climate & Health Program; and ACLU Nebraska.
About the Summit’s Co-Host Organizations:
Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim (CMPI) is a 501 (c)(3) organization of the Maya Community in Nebraska dedicated to empowering the Maya people through community development programs. CMPI’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of Maya people through community development strategies in Omaha, Nebraska, the United States, and Q’anjob’al Maya territory consistent with the Maya Q’anjob’al system of social organization, in honorable relationships with U.S. sovereign tribal nations, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP).
Maya Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is a 501 (c)(3) organization of the Maya Community in Nebraska furthering the economic integration and advancement of Maya citizens by fostering entrepreneurship. The ongoing mission of the Maya Economic Development Corporation, as a Q'anjob'al Maya-led enterprise, is to foster entrepreneurship among all Maya citizens, create socially responsible investment opportunities, provide access to competitive capital for Maya-owned businesses, and drive trade with other Indigenous communities and the world.
The 2023 Indigenous Peoples Summit took place across two days in Omaha, Nebraska, ancestral home of the Umonhon Nation.
The public-facing elements of the Summit took place between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at Metropolitan Community College South Omaha Campus on Wednesday, August 9 and Thursday, August 10.
The financial cost to attend was $50.00 per day or $90.00 for a two-day ticket.
There was no financial cost for attendance for Indigenous People.
Event Content
The Summit featured a mighty schedule of presentations, panels, and Indigenous cuisine and music. The two-day experience was a multilateral, dynamic, interdisciplinary gathering of Indigenous and nonindigenous people from all walks of life to discuss this year’s themes of Indigenous womanhood, seedkeeping, and rematrition, a word meaning a return to matriarchal structures and worldviews.
Perennial issues of climate change, decolonization, the rights of nature, the necessity of clean water in this region and globally, and food sovereignty were also discussed.
Unique Position in the Indigenous World
While many symposia, summits, conferences and gatherings take place on this day, few of these events draw from such a professionally, geographically, demographically diverse array of speakers, panelists, and guests as the Indigenous Peoples Summit.
The event was collaboratively designed by a planning committee and is co-hosted by two Omaha-based nonprofit organizations: Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim and the Maya Economic Development Corporation.
Summit speakers and panelists included Great Grandmother Mary Lyons (Ojibwe), Deb Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Renee San Souci (Umonhon), Dr. Elena Darshan Campos (Boricua), Chef Anothony Warrior (Absentee Shawnee/Mvskoke/Sicangu Lakota), Chef Nico Williams (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ Cherokee Nation) , Dr. Kristina Kintziger and many others.
Summit Goals
The Summit’s 2023 goals were:
- Goal 1: Create Working Councils of Indigenous Peoples on urgent issues, such as Conservation and Indigenous Agriculture Systems
- Goal 2: Create international, multilateral, cross-sector conversation around the most pressing issues facing Indigenous People
- Goal 3: Inspire greater appreciation and preservation of Indigenous Spiritualities and The Sacred through the incorporation of ceremony, ritual, prayer and other forms of spiritual expression
- Goal 4: Produce written formal documents to guide action toward greater Justice for and Sovereignty of Indigenous People including trade
Summit sponsors included Oatly; The Nature Conservancy; University of Nebraska Medical Center Water, Climate & Health Program; and ACLU Nebraska.
About the Summit’s Co-Host Organizations:
Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim (CMPI) is a 501 (c)(3) organization of the Maya Community in Nebraska dedicated to empowering the Maya people through community development programs. CMPI’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of Maya people through community development strategies in Omaha, Nebraska, the United States, and Q’anjob’al Maya territory consistent with the Maya Q’anjob’al system of social organization, in honorable relationships with U.S. sovereign tribal nations, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP).
Maya Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is a 501 (c)(3) organization of the Maya Community in Nebraska furthering the economic integration and advancement of Maya citizens by fostering entrepreneurship. The ongoing mission of the Maya Economic Development Corporation, as a Q'anjob'al Maya-led enterprise, is to foster entrepreneurship among all Maya citizens, create socially responsible investment opportunities, provide access to competitive capital for Maya-owned businesses, and drive trade with other Indigenous communities and the world.
