United Indians of All Tribes - Other Initiatives

Other Initiatives

Another initiative contemplated by Whitebear was the People's Lodge at Daybreak Star, intended to include a Hall of Ancestors, a Potlatch House, a theater, and a museum, later called the "Daybreak Star Village" proposal, a project now indefinitely postponed for financial reasons. There is also the Pacific Northwest Indian Canoe Center, intended as part of the ongoing development at South Lake Union, just north of downtown,—for which ground was broken February 28, 2007. Both the People's Lodge and the Canoe Center were conceived by Whitebear but left in the planning phases at the time of his death.

Current UIATF initiatives include:

• The Community Story, a program to facilitate assisting the local indigenous community through input from the Native community and integrating the input into the foundation's programming and to identify their needs.
• Pathways to Prosperity, a program aimed to alleviate poverty by providing the necessary tools and knowledge to break this cycle in the Native community.

Proposed UIATF initiatives include:

• Daybreak Star College, a primary and secondary preparatory school.
• Bernie Whitebear Center for Human and Community Development, in White Center, an unincorporated neighborhood between Seattle and Burien, an area where there are an increasing number of Native Americans.
• Daybreak Star Youth Summer Camp.

A $3.5 million grant received October 2007 from the Northwest Area Foundation should allow the Bernie Whitebear Center, Daybreak Star College—two of the proposed projects—and the Northwest Canoe Center to proceed. The Canoe Center will be on South Lake Union. The grant will also fund various economic development activities focused on employment and small business development.