Dear NPA community,
As 2022 comes to a close, the NPA steering committee has taken time to reflect on this year. Join us for a trip down memory lane as we recap the year. You’ll also find an opportunity to make a donation to support our ongoing work.
Our 2022 Highlights
- We kicked off the year with our annual NPA Steering Committee hybrid retreat. We rented a cabin in the woods where we planned for the year, made dumplings together, and continued to build our relationships with one another. (Jan 22)
- NPA signed our organization’s name to a letter by Adoptees For Justice in support of the Adoptee Citizenship Act (Mar 21)
- We organized our signature community course, “Histories & Cultures of Transnational Adoption,” designed & led by Dr. Kim Park Nelson. This was our third cohort of this class, but it was the first time we did it virtually and included films along with readings. This gave us the benefit of building connections with 20 folks from across the country (from San Diego, Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Lansing, Berkeley, Everett and the Twin Cities). We met weekly for class and had optional post-class social space for 8 weeks. The class got to engage directly with some of the directors of the films we watched - Glenn Morey and Deann Borshay Liem. (Apr 11-Jun 6)
- NPA hosted a community conversation around Miscarriage & Infant Loss for BIPOC adoptees. This was co-hosted with long-time adoptee activist and author, Shannon Gibney, who we love. It was an important, affirming space that demonstrated collective care. (May 29)
- Many of you saw us again at KAAN in Denver. We led a workshop on “Intersectionality within the Adoptee Community.” (Jun 24)
- We had the honor of being a part of AdopteeBridge’s fall retreat. We facilitated a workshop for transracial adoptees in rural MN. (Sept 24)
- NPA steering committee members put a lot of effort into organizing an amazing event in support of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) this fall. We worked closely with national ICWA organizers to host a virtual rally to raise awareness about the Nov 9 Supreme Court hearing that threatens to overturn ICWA and the protections it provides Native and Indigenous children. We appreciated the 8 orgs that co-sponsored our rally and the wonderful speakers & performers who donated their time and expertise to make this rally such a success. Our fight for ICWA continues on in the new year. To learn more, you can watch the recording on NPA’s YouTube channel. (Oct 19)
- Throughout the year, we made sure to have socials for folks to come together to build relationships. Our socials included going to a local spoken word event, hosting a class reunion, and hosting our first summer social open to the public. (Apr, Jul, Aug)
NPA in the News
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NPA was featured in an AJ+ video! As the social media arm of Al Jazeera Media Network, this video gave us the largest reach to date for people to learn about our organization. It also gave us a massive platform to complicate the dominant narrative around adoption which is core to NPA’s mission and vision. (May 29)
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NPA was featured on the MN Asian Stories Podcast. It was a fun conversation between friends and highlights NPA’s origins and evolution in the past 11 years. Note that the full transcript is available online. (June 27)
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Thank you Elly!
We lastly want to celebrate and acknowledge one of our long-time NPA steering committee members, Elly Fireside, who is terming off at the end of this year. Her humor, graphic art skills, social justice analysis, and who they are as a person has made a huge and lasting impact on NPA. Please join us in appreciating all that Elly has contributed over the years! |
Support our work!
Can you believe we did all of that as a scrappy, completely grassroots organization?! We can hardly believe it ourselves, but we’re immensely proud of the impact we’ve had and offered to the broader adoptee community. Please consider supporting our work in the new year by donating to NPA. You can donate directly to NPA through our Venmo account. Please reach out to us if you would like to donate but need an alternative method to do so. As an organization that is not a nonprofit or fiscally sponsored and made up of all volunteers, we rely solely on individual donations. Another way to give is to buy one of a limited number of NPA t-shirts.
We hope that you find rest and laughter this holiday and Winter Solstice season. As we look to the next year, let us know how you’d like to be more involved with our work.
Thank you for being in community with us!
NPA Steering Committee
(Margie/Eun Joo, Kurt, Elly, Katherine, Julia, Mari & Lindsay)
Email: npa.mn@gmail.com
Website: https://www.npa-mn.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/npamn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/npa.mn
Can you believe we did all of that as a scrappy, completely grassroots organization?! We can hardly believe it ourselves, but we’re immensely proud of the impact we’ve had and offered to the broader adoptee community. Please consider supporting our work in the new year by donating to NPA. You can donate directly to NPA through our Venmo account. Please reach out to us if you would like to donate but need an alternative method to do so. As an organization that is not a nonprofit or fiscally sponsored and made up of all volunteers, we rely solely on individual donations. Another way to give is to buy one of a limited number of NPA t-shirts.
We hope that you find rest and laughter this holiday and Winter Solstice season. As we look to the next year, let us know how you’d like to be more involved with our work.
Thank you for being in community with us!
NPA Steering Committee
(Margie/Eun Joo, Kurt, Elly, Katherine, Julia, Mari & Lindsay)
Email: npa.mn@gmail.com
Website: https://www.npa-mn.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/npamn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/npa.mn
