Moderators

Lisjan Ohlone Tribal Spokesperson, Corrina Gould is the spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone, one of the original peoples and stewards of Huichin, or the land that is now known as Oakland, California. Gould is a nationally and internationally acclaimed leader, activist and speaker and her work centers Ohlone sacred sites protection and preservation, as well as cultural revitalization projects for Ohlone peoples. She works within the intersections of multiple and diverse communities here in the Bay Area, California to create partnerships for building sustainable futures.

Corrina is the Co-Founder and a Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a Native-run grassroots organization that works on issues of Indigenous self-determination. Some of her work include, the Shellmound Peace Walk (2005-2009) and the Shellmound gathering at Emeryville Mall now in its 20th year. In 2011, along with other Indigenous leaders, Corrina organized a 109-day prayerful vigil and occupation of Sogorea Te, a 15-acre Ohlone sacred site along the Carquinez Straits. The occupation led to cultural easements between the City of Vallejo, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District, and two federally recognized tribes, and also set a precedent for Indigenous peoples working on the preservation of sacred sites here in California. This landmark led to the founding of the Sogorea Te Landtrust, a Native women-led urban land trust founded by Corrina and Johnella LaRose. Corrina Gould’s work with The Sogorea Te Landtrust has been featured in national and international media including the San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Times, Yes Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, PBS stations, ABC’s “Nightline” and Michelle Steinberg’s (2015) prizewinning documentary, “Beyond Recognition.” Corrina stands at the forefront of the Save the West Berkeley Shellmound campaign, which aims to protect one of the oldest Ohlone Sacred sites in the Bay Area against wealthy land developers, and in so doing works to reverse a violent legacy of destruction, loss, and erasure of Indigenous lands, peoples, and cultures. In addition, The West Berkeley Shellmound was recently designated as the 11th most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu is a Tongan/Pacific Islander scholar, poet and community organizer. She received her doctorate from the Comparative Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She is on the founding committee of the Moana Nui Pacific Islander Climate Justice Project and Oceania Coalition of Northern California (OCNC), community organizations working for Indigenous Pacific Islander self-determination through organizing land and climate justice projects, facilitating groups and Ceremony with Pacific Islander prisoners in Northern California as well as creating solidarities with California American Indian tribes to protect Indigenous Sacred spaces in California and in the Pacific. Fui hosts a radio segment titled “From Moana Nui to California; Indigenous Stories of Land” on 94.1 KPFA radio. In addition,she is also part of Sogorea Te Land Trust, an Urban Indigenous women’s land trust located in Oakland, California and she hosts the Sogorea Te Land Trust “Seeding Hope” speaker series, a bi-monthly program that features distinguished Indigenous leaders, artists, scholars and cultural bearers from California and around the globe in conversation about issues of land rematriation, land and climate justice and centering Indigenous cultural practices as pathways for decolonization. She is a Lecturer in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and is part of the Pacific Islander Studies Initiative petitioning the state of California to include Pacific Islander Studies and Arab American Studies in the Ethnic Studies curriculum.

Stuart Loebl is the founder of Project Inquire. He is proud to have been born in the Bay Area and to reside in Oakland near Jack London Square. He has long been passionate about creating a more involved and impactful citizenry which is why he started this organization. 

Stuart is also a science specialist teacher at Lorin A. Eden elementary school in Hayward. He is in the middle of coordinating another substantial project to provide Science and Engineering take-home kits to all students at his school as well as all students in Hayward Unified School District, Oakland Unified, and beyond. During distance learning an equity crisis has arisen wherein students are unable to take part in hands-on learning (science, art and more) due to lack of access to materials at home. This project has arisen to address that problem, if you want to learn more and contribute, he invites you to visit his personal Facebook page.