Mission

To create educational opportunities for indigenous cultures and people to teach, preserve and perpetuate their traditions, values and skills, while developing new skills that increase their ability to achieve self-sufficiency and improve their overall quality of life without sacrifice of historic and cultural traditions.

Vision

We continue to believe that racism toward and oppression of indigenous people and cultures are based on the absence, suppression or disregard of culturally accurate knowledge and understanding, compounded by perpetuation of myths and stereotypes, and that both have severely impacted the ability of indigenous cultures to realize their legal right to sovereignty and self-determination. Our vision is to become a leader in creating a society that is not bound by skin color, culture, religion, or gender, but by values and accomplishments judged by knowledge and understanding.

Values

WKI Values We place the highest value on the following core values:

• Spirit & Culture: We advocate and support educational, developmental and economic opportunities that do not compromise individual, family, organizational or community-held spiritual and cultural traditions.
• Community Participation:  We advocate and support equal and ample opportunities for community participation in our planning processes and in any organizational or project staff positions.
• Education: We advocate and support culturally appropriate and historically accurate education that ensures the elimination of myths and stereotypes, and that upholds the preservation and perpetuation of individual, organizational and community-held spiritual and cultural traditions.
• Community, Economic & Leadership Development: We are dedicated to finding or creating and offering programs that encourage the growth and development of healthy families, clans, organizations and communities, to providing access to learning skills necessary to build the personal, organizational and community capital and assets of indigenous people, and to creating opportunities to strengthen the skills of existing community leaders and identify and develop future community leaders.
• Political, Social & Economic Change: We advocate and support policies and practices that promote preservation and protection of community-held spiritual and cultural traditions, awareness and appreciation of cultural histories, prevention of and protection from institutional or other racism and oppression, and that ensure opportunities for achieving community, organizational and individual self-sufficiency and a decent life.
• Accessibility:  We are dedicated to making our services available as widely as possible in venues that encourage and accommodate participation by all, regardless of physical, economic or other restraints.
• Sustainability: We are committed to ensuring WKI’s permanency and sustainability through active pursuit of supportive community partnerships, continuous expansion of its grant and donor-related funding, and creative but thoughtful, forward thinking project selection.
• Commitment: We are dedicated to providing the highest level of constituent support and service to our project participants, community and funding partners.