Board of directors
  Susan Balbas, Executive Director (Cherokee/Yaqui)
Susan Balbas, Cherokee and Yaqui Nations descendant, currently resides on her family farm in southwestern Idaho and in Seattle, and is a consultant to tribes, artists and non profit organizations in the Northwest. One of her many colorful hats is a technical assistance specialist for Northwest tribal youth programs through EDC, a non profit organization based out of Boston. Susan has been the Chief Development Officer at United Indians of All Tribes Foundation in Seattle; Development and Donor Education Coordinator at Changemakers Foundation in San Francisco; Executive Director at the NAYA Youth and Family Center in Portland, OR; Outreach Director at the Western Water Alliance in Seattle, where she was the primary researcher on water and related environmental issues in the Western U.S.  Although her early employment was in management positions for several corporations, and her formal education was in business administration and economics, education and history, she always managed to include any classes offered in those fields centering on environmental and global issues, including Indigenous Ecology. Mother of three and grandmother of two, Susan has studied with herbalists, is an avid gardener, cook, and a voracious reader of all books on traditional Native foods - gathering and cultivation, organic gardening, current social and environmental issues such as climate change and globalization, and historical novels. As a young woman, Susan’s first activism was around environmental issues, and she has continued that early commitment by doing her part to educate others about protecting our Mother Earth and her ability to sustain future generations. She helped to establish BASE (building action for sustainable environments) for the Peace Development Fund when she was on the board. Susan has remained active in the green, sustainable futures movement by attending and organizing numerous Bioneers conferences, Slow Food Nation, the River Rally, Indigenous Environmental Network’s Protecting Mother Earth conferences, the World Social Forum, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and numerous lectures and discussions. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Sightline Institute, a sustainability think tank in Seattle.
  Bernadette Zambrano, Director (Latina)
Bernadette Zambrano is an urban gardener, seed collector and saver. She strongly believes that everyone needs to know how to grow some local food and medicine. Bernadette has attended and presented at a myriad of plant and gardening workshops and worked at the native plant nursery in the Presidio of San Francisco. With the Cultural Conservancy, she created an urban healing garden for Native American women with children in recovery that was located in the SF Bay area. She recently curated the Native Food Pavilion for Slow Food Nation, a gathering that took place in San Francisco in fall of 2008. She presently is doing research on urban food security, and gardens at various sites throughout the Bay area. She is co-founder of the Terra Madre Fund for Indigenous Women and has served as a board member of the American Indian Contemporary Arts of San Francisco.
  Roger Fernandes, Director, (Lower Elwha S'Klallam)
As an educator, Coast Salish artist and storyteller from the Lower Elwha Band of S’Klallam Indians of Western Washington state, Roger has lent his expertise to variety of community projects and organizations for over two decades and has reached audiences all over the state. His art has a variety of styles including traditional Coast Salish, modern expressionistic, and photography. All these approaches to sharing his visions are used in the expressions of the new Native realities—the struggle to maintain a connection with tradition and ancestors and the demands of a modern life. He has several of his pieces in private and public collections across the region including major commissions by the Seattle Arts Commission and the King County Arts Commission. He also works in graphic design and illustration and has created artwork and designs for the Lower Elwha Tribe, the Seattle Indian Health Board, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Indian Health Service, and the Duwamish tribe. Roger was born and raised in the city of Seattle, and his artwork reflects his return to the teachings of his people and a questioning of the changes the modern world has demanded be made by Native people in the Northwest region and around the world. He has a degree in Native American Studies from the Evergreen State College, and has worked in the area of Indian education for over 25 years. He has worked as a home-school liaison, program director, curriculum developer, and trainer in areas concerning teaching to Native students. He has conducted workshops in areas as diverse as parenting skills, drug and alcohol-use prevention, learning styles, and creativity. He currently works with students, using Native American stories to convey the importance and meaning of story in everyone's lives.
  Tawna Sanchez, Director (Western Shoshone/Ute)
Tawna is the Director of Family Services at the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland, Oregon. Tawna attended the University of California at Berkeley and achieved her certificate in Drug and Alcohol Studies at Marylhurst University, where she received a BA in Psychology and Communications. Tawna has worked for Bradley Angle House, the first domestic violence shelter on the west coast and founded the Healing Circle in 2000, a Native American specific domestic violence program in Portland. She has facilitated and led workshops and trainings in culturally appropriate services, domestic violence, drug and alcohol prevention, diversity and internalized racism issues. She has served on various committees and boards locally and nationally for over thirty years.
   
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