07 Sep Gouts Lakawoulh Hiwechk Fund

Gouts Lakawoulh Hiwechk Fund,
Wiyot Tribe Dishagamu Community Land Trust

Interview with Michelle Vassel, Tribal Administrator 

How was “Fund” Created? 

Michelle: Dishgamu Humboldt CLT and the Gouts Lakawoulh Hiwechk (money that makes us well) were both created by the Wiyot Tribal Council. The goal with the Gouts Lakawoulh Hiwechk Fund was to develop a source of funding to be used by the Dishgamu Humboldt CLT to support our LandBack projects. These projects include the return of lands to Wiyot Tribal ownership for the purposes of ecological and cultural restoration, and affordable housing development. Named after the Soulatluk word for ‘love,’ Dishgamu strives to put love back into the community by helping people (re)connect with the special places we have here in Wiyot ancestral territory.

www.wiyot.us/350/dishgamu-humboldt-community-land-trust 

Jen: How are your investment funds catalytic in a way that is different from other funds?
Michelle: To our knowledge, we are the first (and so far only) community land trust that operates as an arm of a federally recognized tribal government. As such, we are able to follow Wiyot Tribal leadership to direct the use of these funds. At Dishgamu, we do not engage in projects that fall outside our mission:

Dishgamu Humboldt is the Community Land Trust of the Wiyot Tribe, operating in what is known today as the Humboldt Bay Area of Northern California. We facilitate the return of Wiyot ancestral lands, putting land in trust for the purposes of affordable housing creation, workforce development, and environmental and cultural restoration.

Our mission directly aligns with the Tribe’s mission:

The mission of the Wiyot Tribe is to exercise our tribal rights and promote our common welfare, to establish the supreme law of the Tribe, to provide for and protect our sovereign right to exercise self-government pursuant to our own laws, to protect and develop our lands and resources, and to promote and safeguard our aboriginal rights as Wiyot people.

Therefore we really entrust Tribal leadership to guide not only the work we are doing, but how these funds will be spent to further these values.

Jen: How do you describe the kind of non-financial returns the fund offers?

Michelle: Dishgamu’s main purpose is to facilitate LandBack to the Wiyot Tribe. We then work with Tribal leadership to ensure the protection of culturally sensitive areas that would otherwise be lost. We also engage in a decolonial approach to environmental restoration, putting Native ways of knowing and traditional ecological knowledge at the forefront of our planning. Lastly, we treat access to housing as a human right. We know that without addressing the housing crisis here in Wiyot territory, we will continue to have a sick community. All people have a right to shelter, food, clean water, and love. We aim to bring that back to this community.

Jen: Can you describe how you use integrated capital to do your work?

Michelle: The work we do in and with our community is as valuable as the funds we receive to do the work. We engage the Tribal community as well as guests on Wiyot ancestral territory through a variety of public forums, including tabling at farmers markets and art and cultural events. We have developed a unique game to help people think differently about land, housing, and economic development.We also host a monthly program on KMUD community radio and are developing a monthly segment for KEET PBS television.

By connecting with and building our community, we are showing up for the people and places that rely on the Tribe – and vice versa. Our work is a community effort, something we realize cannot be done alone. Community capital is something that transverses time and politics – when one economic or political system begins to fail, community capital will forever remain.

Wiyot Tribal Council and Eureka City Council signing Tuluwat land return 2019 Eureka, CA. Photo by Wingspan Media

Jen: How do you address racial justice, income inequality, and/or gender justice through your products and services?

Michelle: Dishgamu comes from the Soulatluk word for ‘love.’ We replace the power-over, dominator, extractive model of development with a power-with, cooperative, regenerative model.

Jen: Can you share with us an example of an investment? 

Michelle: We have received a $14.1 million dollar award from the CA Department of Housing & Community Development as part of Project Homekey; a $300,000 planning grant from the State of CA Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities Program, and philanthropic awards from NDN Collective, The California Endowment, Humboldt Area Foundation.

We recently won a competitive bid to be gifted two downtown parking lots in Eureka to build a total of 93 units of affordable housing.

On one lot (5th and D Streets) there will be 41 units: 14 one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom, six three-bedroom and five four-bedroom units. Fifteen of those units will be reserved for very-low-income tenants, 10 units for low-income tenants and 16 units for moderate-income tenants. With a childcare center, playground, and park space on-site, we hope to provide safe spaces for families at this location.

On the second lot (6th and L Streets) there will be 52 units: 24 studios, 20 one-bedroom and eight two-bedroom units. Again, fifteen units will be set aside for very-low-income tenants, 11 units for low-income tenants and 26 for moderate-income tenants. This project is also designed to serve independent elders.

For more details, please visit: Wiyot Tribe Makes Its Case, Convinces Eureka Council to Reject Staff Pick and Award Affordable Housing Development Projects to Tribal Land Trust Agency

Jen: What do you tell people who think your fund is risky?

Michelle: There is risk no matter what we do. We believe that by building healthy relationships to our place, one another, and ourselves, we will eventually reduce the amount of risk in all of our operations. The future is unpredictable, and we know that to bring the world back to health, it takes a strong foundation of love. Dishgamu focuses on creating more of the love that we all so desperately need.

Investment Thesis/What is your rationale for your approach to investing? 

We work with community, capital, and government partners to return land to Wiyot Tribal stewardship. We focus on regenerative and non-extractive workforce development. We build affordable housing using deep green, sustainable practices.

Geography:  We work exclusively in Wiyot ancestral territory, which is in coastal Humboldt County, CA.

Year Founded: 2022

# of Investments: 0

# of Investors: 12 (donors, funders, supporters, investors)

Funds Raised: Over $17 million raised since inception

What’s on Michelle’s Mind?

Book: How to Survive and Thrive in the Third Digital Revolution

Song: The Digger’s Song aka The world turned upside down – Billy Bragg

Podcast: The Response