Rooted in Relationship: Honoring Native American Heritage Month

Every November, Native American Heritage Month invites us to honor the histories, cultures, and contributions of Native peoples. Here in the Puget Sound region, that invitation carries special meaning. The land where we live, work, and gather has been home to Indigenous peoples and sovereign Tribal Nations since time immemorial, including the many Coast Salish peoples throughout the greater Puget Sound and Salish Sea, and they continue to shape the life and future of our region every day.

At the YMCA of Greater Seattle, honoring Native communities isn't a once-a-year observance. We honor them through relationships built over years, grounded in listening with humility and creating opportunities for shared learning, access, and service to the community.

Collaboration in practice

These relationships show up across our Y in ways both large and small. 

On the land we share. At our camps, we work alongside Tribal partners to care for the places that bring people together. We have collaborations with the Nisqually Indian Tribe on our Mineral Lake camp project and with the Squaxin Island Tribe on environmental restoration at Camp Colman, and we engage in cultural learning and consultation at Camp Orkila.   

In our communities. At the Snoqualmie Valley YMCA, our collaboration with the Snoqualmie Tribe has grown through cultural education, health and wellness, and shared investment in young people. During past Native American Heritage Month celebrations, members and neighbors have gathered for hands-on activities like making traditional medicine bags and cedar ribbon bracelets, and lobby displays have highlighted the Snoqualmie Tribe and Indigenous history. A group membership program opens our facilities and wellness programs to Tribal members and employees. The Snoqualmie Tribe’s generous annual support helps fund financial assistance and our Community Tween and Teen programs, creating accessible, welcoming spaces for young people to connect, learn, and grow. 

Around the campfire. Our overnight camps welcome Tribal families, including a Muckleshoot Family Camp Weekend featuring cultural canoes and an Awakening Ceremony.

Through access for all. Honoring community also means removing the barriers that keep people from taking part. Across our local Y’s, financial assistance helps make wellness, childcare, camps, and other programs possible regardless of ability to pay. Through our Y Social Impact Center, we support young people and families navigating housing instability, foster care transitions, and barriers to behavioral health services, with shelter, counseling, employment support, and pathways toward stability.

The work continues

We share these examples not as a finished story, but as a reflection of relationships we value deeply and continue to grow. Trust is built over time through listening, accountability, and consistency, and we are grateful to the Tribal Nations and community partners who walk alongside us. 

Our doors are always open, and we hope you'll join us in learning, engaging, and honoring this month. Visit the Squaxin Island Museum, Library and Research Center to discover the story of the People of the Water. Support Native artists and makers at Eighth Generation, owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, or at the Native Art Market at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center the weekend of Nov. 21. You can also explore Native American Heritage Month events and a staff-curated reading list of Indigenous poetry, fiction, and family stories through the King County Library System, and discover more of our heritage month stories on our blog.

Every step toward building deeper relationships is a step toward greater understanding, belonging, and community connection, for a better us.