A Mission and Vision for the NAGPRA Community of Practice

I am amazed by how the NAGPRA Community of Practice has grown from a nugget of an idea to a good-sized network of people connected around NAGPRA, with a dedicated steering committee leading the way. When the steering committee first met, we all agreed that crafting a mission statement and a vision statement were critical next steps in ensuring the sustainability of the NAGPRA Community of Practice.

Mission and vision statements are essential tools for organizations to make sure we are all on the same page and working toward the same goals. As we decide where to focus our efforts, it is helpful to have a clear mission and vision to guide us.

We spent some time brainstorming before drafting the mission, asking: what are we doing? For whom? And why? The NAGPRA Community of Practice provides space for the NAGPRA community to connect and share experiences. It also raises awareness about NAGPRA implementation. The NAGPRA community includes all those who are engaged in or interested in NAGPRA implementation. We come together as a community to increase capacity for NAGPRA implementation with the goal of increased repatriations, decreased misunderstanding and hesitancy around NAGPRA implementation, improved relations between institutions and Tribes, and fostering healing. In drafting the vision, we thought about what the future would look like when we succeed in our mission.

Below are the mission and vision statements the steering sommittee created. We’d love to hear your feedback. You can send comments to anne.amati@du.edu.

VISION: A community that is supported, connected and empowered to facilitate repatriation.

MISSION: The NAGPRA Community of Practice provides space to share experiences, concerns and successes to decrease misunderstanding and hesitancy and to foster relationships and healing.