Respect
Indigenous Strategies upholds Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty.
Blending Traditional Native Knowledges with Contemporary Indigenous Scholarship
Centering Indigenous community voice, strengths and values by being good professional relatives. Practicing Respect, Relationship, Responsibility and Reciprocity.
Introduction
Melodie began Indigenous Strategies over a decade ago, which has focused on strategic planning initiatives from program development through evaluation services to assist leaders in tribal programs and Indigenous nonprofits to meet the unique needs of professionals who serve Native American youth, families and communities.
Strategic Planning Services
Four ways we work with community
Choose a basket to see the work and a project from that practice.
Indigenous Program Design
Indigenous Strategies listens to the needs of your organization and engages community to design workshops, conferences or sharing circles in a respectful manner where tribal traditions, rights, values and Land are celebrated.
Project Highlight
In 2015, two Native men asked Melodie of Indigenous Strategies “where are our Native boys?” referring to educational pursuits. Thus began nearly a decade of facilitated conversations, gatherings and programs including Engaging Native Boys in Education, Tribal Lifeways & Environmental Stewardship. In 2022, ENB released our community report “(Re)Establishing Kinship with Native Boys: A Story of (Re)Learning & Listening to Native Male Voices.”
Community report · June 2022
Our Guiding Principles
Seven R's carried through every project
The framework
Seven R's in every project
The values that guide how we show up as good professional relatives.
Relationship
Indigenous Strategies recognizes that Indigenous knowledges are relational.
Reciprocity
Indigenous Strategies empowers and gives back to communities.
Responsibility
Indigenous Strategies is accountable and respectful of the knowledge shared in our work, which is not shared without permission. Indigenous Strategies does not conduct research nor publish.
Representation
Indigenous Strategies centers community voice and uses methods that allow for all participants to engage in programming.
Relatedness
Indigenous Strategies honors interdependence of Place, Story and People.
Relevance
All programming created by Indigenous Strategies will be in service to the People and Land of the People.
About
About Indigenous Strategies
Melodie Lopez (Hopi/Navajo/Pueblo/Mexican) received her BA in Psychology & American Indian Studies from CSU Long Beach and her Master's in Social Welfare, with an emphasis on Indian Child Welfare, from UC Berkeley. Serving Indian Country for over 30 years, Melodie blends traditional Native Knowledge and contemporary Indigenous Scholarship to provide Indigenous-centered praxis in strategic planning, youth leadership and environmental education.
Melodie began Indigenous Strategies over a decade ago, which has focused on strategic planning initiatives from program development through evaluation services to assist leaders in tribal programs and Indigenous nonprofits to meet the unique needs of professionals who serve Native American youth, families and communities.
Melodie has been involved in many local, statewide and national conferences addressing the issues of Native youth, focusing on community-based solutions. She has co-founded several local organizations including the H.O.N.O.R. (Honoring Our Nations, Offering Resiliency) Collective, a group of Indigenous women, Two Spirit and non-binary individuals who are grounded in feminine energy to support individuals, families and communities who have experienced trauma. HONOR provides education, outreach and support on the many threads touching Murdered, Missing Indigenous Relatives. Melodie also co-created the Engaging Native Boys Exploratory Project and STEM RISE AZ, where she led the Traditional Ecological Knowledge curriculum group. Upon the end of the Engaging Native Boys grant, Indigenous Strategies assisted in the development of Indigenous Intellectual Warriors, for Native men in college (UA, ASU, TOCC) and oversaw its development into a nonprofit.
Enjoying the strengths of Native youth who learn best in cooperative interactive settings, she has co-developed Native teen and community leadership programs such as the Huchoosedah College Mentoring Project, the Retain American Indians Now! Program, and the Native Leadership & Wellness Program at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Melodie has also served three terms on the board of the Arizona Indian Education Association where she developed and coordinated the AIEA Protecting Our Land Summer Camp.
In her spare time, Melodie serves on the University of Arizona's Native American Advisory Council to the President, Arizona State University's Office of American Indian Programs Advisory Council, Field Instructor to the ASU Social Work Department, Advisory to the Climate Science Alliance and serves as the Secretary of Board of Directors of the Loft Cinema, which includes co-chair of the Racial Justice Committee and facilitator of the Indigenous Film Committee.
Resume at a Glance
Melodie A. Lopez, MSW
President, Indigenous Strategies LLC · Tucson, AZ
Education
- Master's in Social Welfare, emphasis on Indian Child Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, 1997
- B.A. in Psychology, minor in American Indian Studies, California State University, Long Beach, 1995
Selected focus
- President, Indigenous Strategies LLC (2012–present)
- MSW, UC Berkeley — emphasis on Indian Child Welfare
- UA Native American Advisory Council to the President
- Founding Matriarch, HONOR Collective
34 yrs
Youth engagement programs
31 yrs
Large-group facilitation
22
Arizona tribes engaged
30+
Years serving Indian Country
Community Reciprocity
Giving back is central to our work
These are initiatives Melodie helps lead and sustain.
H.O.N.O.R. Collective
Since 2019, the HONOR Collective has been providing healing spaces to individuals, families and communities experiencing the outcomes of the many threads of Murdered & Missing Indigenous Relatives.
HONOR is comprised of Indigenous women, Two Spirit, nonbinary and trans individuals who identify in the feminine. HONOR responds to both our local tribal communities as well as the Tucson urban Indian community while also reaching across to Canadian First Nations organizations and Mexico and Central American Indigenous peoples. Melodie of Indigenous Strategies is one of three Founding Matriarchs.
NEA & GOE
NEA, Tucson is a grassroots effort of urban and tribal schools including Head Start, K-12, community college and university educators who create unique events for all of our families.
These events have included Back to School events, LandSpeaks, Native STEM and the Native Youth WARRIOR Showcase. We have taken a step back since pandemic concerns have not allowed our large gatherings. Melodie of Indigenous Strategies is a co-founder of NEA.
Indigenous Intellectual Warriors
IIW is the outcome of the Engaging Native Boys project, which began in 2015 when two Native men asked Melodie of Indigenous Strategies “where are our Native boys?” It grew into facilitated conversations and programs centered on cultural connection and environmental stewardship, culminating in the 2022 community report “(Re)Establishing Kinship with Native Boys: A Story of (Re)Learning & Listening to Native Male Voices.”
Contact
Contact Indigenous Strategies
Tell us about your organization and what you're hoping to accomplish. We'll be in touch.