Toni Lodge, CEO of The NATIVE Project, beamed as she introduced a new four-story children’s health center in Spokane, a crowning achievement for an organization that started with $100 nearly 40 years ago and was now unveiling a $12 million centerpiece of community pride.
Speaking at the March 21 grand opening of The NATIVE Project’s Children and Youth Services Center, Lodge expressed her appreciation for both the moment and the future.
“Thank you all for being here to witness the blessing of this building, this new home for our youth and our children,” Lodge, citizen of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe, told the crowd. “We hope that when they come into this building, that their hearts are full of joy and love.”
Walking into the new building that morning, community members were greeted by a staff member using an eagle fan to help spread smoke from the smudge burning in an abalone shell. Lodge welcomed them to the new space, reminiscing on how far The NATIVE Project has come in the past few decades.
One of the original founding members of The NATIVE Project, and current CEO, Lodge remembers when the organization launched in 1987 with just $100 to its name. As the story goes, that $100 turned into $200 after a board member donated an old Ford Pinto that was raffled off at the Kalispel Powwow. That money allowed the organization to apply for 501(c)(3) status.
The NATIVE Project officially opened its doors on May 15, 1989. The original $100 has now turned into millions of dollars — and the Children and Youth Services Center. Through community support, the $12 million project was completed without any debt.
“We left our children no debt,” Lodge told the gathered crowd on March 21. “We left our children a four-story building, a place and a space for them to do the work that they need to do, for healing, for fun, for culture, for therapy, for treatment.”
The NATIVE Project
Beginning in 1989, The NATIVE Project set out to serve urban Indigenous youth through services such as leadership camp. It was founded based on efforts led by Indigenous matriarchs from the community.
“A lot of the actual work was done with all the heavy lifting by a bunch of Native women from different tribes,” Dylan Dressler, citizen of the Aaniiih Nation from Fort Belknap and health services director at The NATIVE Project, told Noeledrich + ICT. “I would say a handful of five to seven Native women built the clinic, and so on top of the clinic, we still ran our children, youth services, prevention health program that did AA groups and intensive outpatient treatment.”
What started as a small nonprofit serving Native youth and families quickly grew into a full-blown health center, as the organization opened a medical facility in 1999.
The NATIVE Project is a Federally Qualified Health Center and Urban Indian Health Clinic. Since 2011, it has opened its doors to the broader community. Now, about 53% of its patients identify as Native and about 47% identify as non-Native, according to Dressler.
As a primary health care facility, it provides comprehensive care to the wider Spokane community, with an emphasis on Native health and serving Indigenous community members.
“We really started out as a nonprofit for children and youth and families to have kind of like a safe haven to do extracurricular activities like culture leadership development and just building community,” Dressler said. “And then it turned into a small health center.”
The NATIVE Project provides a range of services for the Indigenous community and beyond in Spokane, with a goal of promoting balance of mind, body and spirit, according to its website. Services include: primary health care; dental health care; prevention; youth behavioral health; pharmacy; care coordination; and more.
All along the walls of the new Children & Youth Center, dispersed between art by Indigenous artists, the words “Sacred Hospitality For All” is painted in gold lettering.
Building the ‘matriarch monarch’
“We call it the matriarch monarch,” Dressler said about the new Children and Youth Services Center. “A lot of Native women built this building. Put their time, love and energy into it.”
Canoe motifs are scattered throughout the building, including a traditional Kalispel canoe that greets visitors to the center, created by Shawn Brigman, a citizen of the Spokane Tribe of Indians.
On the fourth floor resides a canoe that has actually been on canoe journey, also built by Brigman.
“When kids come in the door, the first thing they see is the canoe, and it symbolizes the journey,” Lodge said. “No matter where you go in this building, there is a reminder that we are just on the journey, and we’re honoring all the people who come through our door.”
The new center will allow staff at The NATIVE Project to expand services for community youth. This includes wraparound services, grounded in Native traditions, to connect youth and families to resources. Youth-focused substance use treatment programs and efforts to reach at-risk youth will be offered.
The new campus offers a variety of different rooms for counseling and behavioral health support; an area for music therapy; art therapy space; and space for the Native Youth Council to meet regularly, encouraging youth leadership.
“As we teach kids about their journey, we teach kids about their healing and their wellness,” Lodge said. “We have reminders of all the ancestors that came before us. We’re here as a result of their prayers.”
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