This fund is about building resilience in Mendocino County by broadening the definition of mental health and substance use disorder treatment and housing services beyond the euro-centric “Western” interpretation. We believe a healthy community is one that supports, celebrates and resources a diverse bounty of traditions and culturally specific ways of healing.
- Mental health
We are looking at a more holistic definition of mental health, one that acknowledges the impact of colonization, oppression, stigma, and the lack of structural support for healing as mental healthcare. Mental health includes efforts to address systemic racism, generational trauma, and centers cultural stewardship and restoration as healing modalities. - Cultural practices as community healing
This fund includes supporting the celebration of Native American and Hispanic/Latino traditional healing and cultural restoration as cornerstones of community wellness. This might look like offering GO Grants to support restoring and revitalizing indigenous languages, Native American gathering materials, Native American and Latino foods, dance, traditional medicines, and culturally honored ways of healing for mental health and substance use disorders, including ceremony and ritual, for example.
