Native Organizers Alliance

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. ⁶⁷

Organization and Leadership

NOA is fiscally sponsored by the Alliance for a Just Society. ¹  It has conducted annual four-day organizing sessions for Native American community organizers⁸ with Alliance for a Just Society since at least 2014. ⁹

Former national vice chair of the Communist Party USA Judith LeBlanc is NOA’s director. ⁶ LeBlanc sits on the board of left-of-center Native American activism group NDN Collective¹⁰ and on the board of the Emergent Fund,¹¹ a project of the center-left Proteus Fund.  She is on the advisory council of the left-of-center activism group IllumiNative¹² and was a 2019 Fellow of the left-of-center Roddenberry Foundation. ¹³ LeBlanc spoke in opposition to then-President Donald Trump at the January 21, 2017, Women’s March¹⁴ and participated in the anti-pipeline activism at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. ¹⁵

Activities

Native Organizers Alliance is fiscally sponsored by the left-of-center Alliance for a Just Society,¹⁶ a part of the left-wing consortium of community organization groups, People’s Action. NOA routes its public donations through ActBlue¹⁶ and is a member of the left-wing Movement Voter Project’s “Native Voter Fund.” ³

NOA was active in the 2020 Census and 2020 and 2018¹⁷ election cycles. ¹⁸ NOA partnered with Native Votes, holding virtual town halls to mobilize Native American voters ahead of the presidential election¹⁹ and co-sponsored two presidential forums in conjunction with left-of-center Four Directions²⁰ and other Native American activist organizations. ^{21 22}

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. ⁵

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. ²³ NOA’s website thanks Sierra Club supporters for their support of Haaland’s confirmation. ²⁴

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. ²⁵

Funding

NOA has received donations from a number of left-of-center organizations. NOA received $40,000 from the Hidden Leaf Foundation in 2020. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷

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. ²⁸ 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,²⁹ $75,000 from left-of-center Novo Foundation through a grant to the People’s Action Institute,³⁰ and $1,000 from the left-of-center First Nations Development Institute. ³¹

Environmentalist advocacy group Solutions Project issued a grant of $35,000 to People’s Action for a “fighter fund grant” to NOA in 2017. ³²

Related Organizations

Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) sister organization to Native Organizers Alliance. ³³