SWOPblogger

Congratulations to all our friends over at SAGE. From NM Environmental Law Center's Website:

SAGE (Sacred Alliances for Grassroots Equality) Council is an Indigenous and people of color-led organization using community organizing to build power through action, education, leadership development and political participation. Our commitment to social change and self-determination is based in spirituality that honors Mother Earth and all peoples.

For ten years, the SAGE Council has fought to protect the sacred lands located near the Petroglyph National Monument on the west side of Albuquerque . Using education, advocacy, political activism and legal avenues, SAGE Council proved to be a formidable champion for the petroglyphs. Through its hard work, it transformed the fight from a local issue to a national symbol of Indigenous people's plights to protect places sacred to their cultures from sprawl.

Blossoming from its work to protect the petroglyphs, SAGE Council has grown into a strong advocate for environmental justice, social change, and political participation by people of color. The organization is now focusing its efforts to mobilize Native American voters, so as to bring about lasting change via the electoral system. SAGE Council is also working with other non-profit groups to prevent irresponsible growth in New Mexico , in order to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color have access to a high quality of life.

SAGE Council receives the Jeanne Gauna Award for Community Environmental Activism in 2006 in honor of its tenacious work to protect sacred sites and communities of color in New Mexico .

The Law Center gives the Jeanne Gauna Award to New Mexicans who have given significant time and effort towards grassroots advocacy for the welfare of our state's communities, especially through the linkage of environmental health and community well-being. Jeanne Gauna was a co-founder and Co-Director of the SouthWest Organizing Project. Once again, the award is sponsored by Doug Wolf, former Law Center attorney, and his wife Ann Strickland.

See the past winners of the Jeanne Gauna Award.