The Native Organizers Alliance (NOA) is a left-of-center Native American activist group fiscally sponsored by Alliance for a Just Society, a part of left-wing community organizing group People’s Action. [1] NOA is a participating member of the left-of-center Climate Justice Alliance[2] and a member of the left-wing Movement Voter Project’s “Native Voter Fund.” [3] The group is heavily funded by left-of-center interests, including the Tides Nexus and NoVo Foundation.
NOA participates in anti-pipeline activism and get-out-the-vote efforts. In a March 2021 statement on “indigenous sacred places and cultural protections,” NOA calls for “the United States to engage in a Truth and Reconciliation process” for its treatment of Native Americans. [4] After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, left-of-center CNN commentator Van Jones praised NOA and other Native American groups as “responsible” for Biden’s win. [5]
Former national vice chair of the Communist Party USA Judith LeBlanc is NOA’s director. [6][7]
Organization and Leadership
NOA is fiscally sponsored by the Alliance for a Just Society. [8] It has conducted annual four-day organizing sessions for Native American community organizers[9] with Alliance for a Just Society since at least 2014. [10]
Former national vice chair of the Communist Party USA Judith LeBlanc is NOA’s director. [11] LeBlanc sits on the board of left-of-center Native American activism group NDN Collective[12] and on the board of the Emergent Fund,[13] a project of the center-left Proteus Fund. She is on the advisory council of the left-of-center activism group IllumiNative[14] and was a 2019 Fellow of the left-of-center Roddenberry Foundation. [15] LeBlanc spoke in opposition to then-President Donald Trump at the January 21, 2017, Women’s March[16] and participated in the anti-pipeline activism at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. [17]
Activities
Native Organizers Alliance is fiscally sponsored by the left-of-center Alliance for a Just Society,[18] a part of the left-wing consortium of community organization groups, People’s Action. NOA routes its public donations through ActBlue[19] and is a member of the left-wing Movement Voter Project’s “Native Voter Fund.” [20]
NOA was active in the 2020 Census and 2020 and 2018[21] election cycles. [22] NOA partnered with Native Votes, holding virtual town halls to mobilize Native American voters ahead of the presidential election[23] and co-sponsored two presidential forums in conjunction with left-of-center Four Directions[24] and other Native American activist organizations. [25] [26]
After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, left-of-center CNN commentator Van Jones praised NOA and other Native American groups, saying they were “responsible” for Biden’s win. [27]
NOA endorsed Deb Haaland for confirmation as Secretary of the Interior in 2021 and NOA co-sponsored an online petition in support of her nomination with environmental activist organization 350.org. [28] NOA’s website thanks Sierra Club supporters for their support of Haaland’s confirmation. [29]
In January 2021, NOA was named as one of the organizations that will play a role in the development of the University of Michigan’s Research for Indigenous Social Action and Equity Center. This center is funded by a $5 million Just Futures Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. [30]
Funding
NOA has received donations from a number of left-of-center organizations. NOA received $40,000 from the Hidden Leaf Foundation in 2020. [31] In 2019, NOA received a $45,000 grant from the Tides Center, $25,000 from the Whitman Institute, and $50,000 from the Libra Foundation. [32]
In 2018, the left-of-center People’s Action Institute paid $391,930 of program expenses and disbursed a $40,000 grant in support of NOA. [33] In the same year, NOA received a $10,000 grant from the left-leaning Rainforest Action Network to support efforts to stop the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,[34] $75,000 from left-of-center Novo Foundation through a grant to the People’s Action Institute,[35] and $1,000 from the left-of-center First Nations Development Institute. [36]
Environmentalist advocacy group Solutions Project issued a grant of $35,000 to People’s Action for a “fighter fund grant” to NOA in 2017. [37]
Related Organizations
Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) sister organization to Native Organizers Alliance. [38]