Support the Biggest Night for Native Rights

NARF 7th Annual Visions for the Future Benefit Art Auction

Friday, August 22, 2008
La Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe, NM

SANTA FE--NARF's Visions for the Future Benefit Art Auction is held annually on the eve of the world-famous Santa Fe Indian Market. This year's event will be held Friday, August 22nd in the ballroom at La Fonda Hotel. NARF’s auction has become one of the premiere events during the Market. Last year’s Benefit Art Auction was the most successful in NARF’s history with more than 400 people attending from across the United States and more than $200,000 raised to support NARF’s non-profit legal and advocacy work to defend the rights and traditional cultural lifeways of Native Americans. Attendees include tribal and business leaders, artists, celebrities, media, art collectors, philanthropists and supporters of Native rights from all walks of life.

NARF's Visions for the Future Benefit Art Auction is our biggest and most important special event of the year and with out question the biggest night for Native rights. Our goal is to make NARF's 7th Annual Auction even more successful than last year's event. We are reliant on the generosity of individuals, businesses, foundations and tribes to be partners with NARF to help us reach that goal. All proceeds benefit the non-profit legal and advocacy work of NARF to defend the rights of Native peoples. Please take a moment to learn more about how you can support Native American rights by investing in the sponsorship opportunities we are offering for the auction and/or by donating items to be auctioned at the event.

• Interested in being a sponsor for NARF's auction? Download our Auction Sponsor Information Kit & learn about the numerous sponsor benefits NARF is offering this year
  

• Are you an artist interested in donating your original art to NARF's auction? See here for the benefits of donating!
  
  
• Interested in donating artwork, gift certificates, jewelry, merchandise or other items for NARF's silent, online and live auction in Santa Fe? See her for more details on how you can make a difference!
  


• See all the great event photos from NARF's 2007 Visions for the Future Auction-the most successful in NARF's history!
  

NARF AND ACLU Ask Federal Court To Stop Disenfranchisement of Alaska Natives Who Need Language Assistance

Government Continues To Violate Voting Rights Act, Groups Charge

ANCHORAGE — On behalf of four Alaska Natives and four tribal governments, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court today ordering state and local elections officials to provide effective oral language assistance and voting materials to citizens who speak Yup’ik, the primary language of a majority of voters in the Bethel region of Alaska. The motion comes in a lawsuit filed in 2007 charging state and local elections officials with ongoing violations of the federal Voting Rights Act.

“The state of Alaska and city of Bethel continue to violate the Voting Rights Act by blocking Alaska Natives from participating in the democratic process,” said NARF attorney Natalie Landreth, who is lead co-counsel in the case. “Election officials expect Yup’ik voters to understand translations which are incomprehensible, inaccurate, confusing, and cause them to vote the wrong way. Under federal law, state and local elections officials must provide oral language assistance in Yup’ik and ballots and other voting materials translated into Yup’ik an obligation with which they have never complied.”

Read the full story

See Additional Media Coverage:
Yup'ik voters want help at polls, Anchorage Daily News
Election officials roll out programs for Native speakers, NBC Affiliate KTUU
Bethel area residents ask for elections assistance in Yup'ik, Seattle Post Intelligencer

2008 National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places

Observances and ceremonies will be held across the country on June 20 to mark the 2008 National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places. The event at the Native American Rights Fund is open to the public. It will begin at 7:00 am on the front lawn. Our address is: 1506 Broadway, Boulder, Colo., 80302. For more information, contact 303-447-8760.

The first National Prayer Day was conducted on June 20, 2003, on the U.S. Capitol West Lawn and nationwide to emphasize the need for Congress to enact a cause of action to protect Native sacred places. That need still exists.