" Indian Centers"

.. Analyzing Tommy Orange's There There

Today, Indian Centers like these are located across the United States. These urban Indian Centers survived the U.S. led Indian Termination Era (1950s - 1960s) and Urban Indian Relocation policies.

 
Intertribal Friendship House (IFH) located in Oakland, CA was established in 1955 as one of the first urban American Indian community centers in the nation. It was founded by the American Friends Service Committee to serve the needs of American Indian people relocated from reservations to the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area American Indian community is multi-tribal, made of Native people and their descendants—those who originate here and those who have come to the Bay region from all over the United States and from other parts of this hemisphere.

The Baltimore American Indian Center (BAIC) is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1968 with a mission to “assist and support American Indian and Alaskan Native families moving into an urban environment and adjusting to the culture change they will experience.” Following WWII, the neighborhood surrounding the BAIC became populated predominantly by American Indians and was referred to as “the Reservation.”

To support this Native American community, the BAIC provided services that included education, skills trainings, workforce development, child care, afterschool arts and seniors programs, as well as health and healing services. Over time, much of the American Indian ​community in Baltimore moved out of the city seeking more affordable housing and sustainable job opportunities. This demographic shift prompted BAIC to prioritize cultural heritage

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Baltimore American Indian Center Maryland State Fairgrounds 2200 York Rd, Lutherville Timonium, MD 21093

preservation and education programs, with health, housing and employment-related services provided on an ad hoc basis. While the BAIC was founded by Lumbee Tribal Members, the Center is open to Native community members from all tribes and nations; 

We continue to serve as a hub for the American Indian community’s social and cultural activities. With 78% of American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the U.S. living outside of tribal territories, our organization is an essential resource.

The BAIC is the only resource in the greater Baltimore area where Natives can learn what it means to be American Indian and that educates non-Native people about the myriad cultures and legacies of American Indian and Alaskan Native peoples.

Our organization provides a welcoming, safe space for the Native community to gather; a place where people are treated with dignity, respect and understanding, and where cultural practices are kept alive.

Work Cited
​https://www.ifhurbanrez.org/
https://www.baltimoreamericanindiancenter.org/

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