The vision for the Native Led Climate Summit includes formulating a Collaborative Climate Action Plan centered in Native perspectives, as well as Indigenous foods and interactive workshops.
Event Details
The Alliance was thrilled to partner with Trickster Cultural Center to launch the first regional Native-Led Climate Summit on Saturday, January 25, which centered and celebrated Indigenous
knowledge in conservation.
Together, Native American and non-Native stewards, growers, academics, and changemakers of the Chicagoland/Great Lakes region and beyond spent the day learning about the climate issues impacting urban Indigenous
communities and how to work collaboratively to mitigate and adapt to these changes.
Guided by Indigenous speakers, presenters, and the Trickster Intertribal Youth Council, this summit marks a pivotal moment in collaborative efforts
to enact sustainable, community-driven climate resiliency projects.
A special thank you to the planning committee, including the McHenry County Conservation District, Forest Preserves of Cook County, Field Museum, Northwestern University, Morton Arboretum, Trickster Cultural Center,
The Nature Conservancy, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the many individuals who participated for your hard work and dedication.
If you'd like to continue the Native Led Climate Summit conversations, please fill out this inquiry form to stay up-to-date with future opportunities and collaborations.
Please complete the Event Evaluation!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NLCSummit2025
Native Led Climate Summit Schedule
Native Led Climate Summit Program
Download the event program (pdf) to view the full details of the Native Led Climate Summit.
Sponsor the Native Led Climate Summit
The cost to bring this important event to our community is $25,000–and every dollar of your support matters! As a sponsor, your logo or name will be included in social media, on the Native Led Climate Summit webpage, and at the summit. Simply
click the links below to learn about each level of support and to donate online:
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Thank You to Our Generous Sponsors
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Other Info
Biographies
- Gina Roxas is a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and serves as the Executive Director of Trickster Cultural Center. She brings a holistic approach to her work, drawing from traditional teachings passed down by her grandmother and family, as well as her academic background in the humanities and science. Gina leads programs that focus on traditional plant knowledge, emphasizing its connections to healing, environmental justice, and self-determination.
- IronBear Singers are a drum group comprised of the Southern Plains singing style and Ponca influence. The members of IronBear represent many tribes from the Midwest. The drum is from Chicago and surrounding areas. The lead singer is Sterling Big Bear III, Ponca and Ihanktowan. The group’s name comes from Sterling’s great-grandfather’s brother, IronBear. They continue using the name IronBear to honor family and ancestors.
- Megan Bang (Ojibwe and Italian descent) is the James E. Johnson Professor of the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University and the Director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research. Dr. Bang studies knowledge
organization, reasoning, and decision-making about complex socio-ecological systems and their intersections with identity, culture, history, power, and ultimately wellbeing. In her work these issues are central to the challenges of the 21st
century, such as climate change, adaptation, and sustainability, as well as the kinds of political, social and civic relations. She utilizes this foundational work towards improving education prek-16 in formal and informal learning environments,
educational leadership and policy. The center of her work is focused on regenerating Indigenous systems of education and community wellbeing. Dr. Bang is a member of the National Academies of Education, American Academy of Arts & Science,
the Board of Science Education at the National Academy of Sciences, and the Board of Environmental Research and Education at the National Science Foundation.
- Felicia Peters, Menominee and Santo Domingo Pueblo, has worked for Chicago Public Schools as a middle-school Math and Science teacher before joining the ISTEAM research project at Northwestern University as project coordinator.
She has worked for the Chicago Native American community as an educator and mentor for over a decade. Land-based education and learning with plant and animal relatives is a part of her pedagogical practice.
- Forrest Bruce, Ojibwe, is a PhD student in the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University. He is broadly interested in land-based education and the design of community-based learning environments that support Indigenous
ways of knowing and being. He received a BS in Social Policy from Northwestern University and worked in Chicago Public Schools’ American Indian Education Program (Title 6) for a year before joining the ISTEAM research project, first as a research
coordinator then later as a graduate student.
- Cece Hoffman, Umatilla, Niimiipuu, Ojibwe, is a second year PhD student in the Learning Sciences program at Northwestern. They are broadly interested in land based and decolonial learning. She got involved with ISTEAM in Seattle
during her undergraduate experience at University of Washington. They are passionate about healing and wellbeing and building, and sustaining relationships with the natural world in learning environments. Outside of school you can find her
hanging out with her cats, eating good food, and watching movies.
- Miguel Angel Ovies-Bocanegra, Zacateco, Irritila, and Spanish Descent, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Learning Sciences and a graduate student in the Master’s in Statistics and Data Science Program at Northwestern University.
He explores the development of intergenerational, transdisciplinary forms of complex learning systems that bridge human and more-than-human knowledge production aligned with the natural world. His research investigates the cultural, social
and cognitive elements of learning environments and the affective landscapes that shape climate change education through Indigenous and non-Indigenous epistemic frameworks.
- Gerald “Kunu” Savage, White Winnebago, Ho-Chunk Nation Elder, whose formal native name is White Winnebago. (Ho-Chunk Ska Ga). He is an elder member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. He stays busy as an apiculturist managing 11 hives, an
Illinois Humanities Road Scholar Speaker of History, an Illinois High School Association Umpire, and a member of the State of Illinois America 250 Commission. Gerald was born in the Illinois Valley and raised in the Ho-Chunk traditional
ways. Gerald’s grandparents, Chief Walks with the Wind and Stands on a Cloud, were very influential in the teaching of Gerald in the native tradition of the Ho-Chunk culture. Gerald took up beekeeping to overcome a fear of bees (Apiphobia)
and to help pollinators thrive in nature nourishing the local area plants. He has branded his Honey, “Hazik Honey”. Hazik meaning bees in the Hoocak language. He has taken apiary classes at the McHenry County College, and the Illinois State
Beekeeping, and is a member of The Northern Illinois Beekeepers and the Illinois State Beekeepers Association.
- Billie Kerner is an environmental consultant and educator dedicated to enhancing perspectives on environmental sustainability through Indigenous knowledge. She holds a BA in Biology from Indiana University Northwest and is
pursuing an MA in Public and Environmental Affairs. Certified as a Monarch Butterfly expert and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leader, Billie actively engages in BIPOC panels as a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. In 2023, she
was nominated by AISES for her contributions to bridging Western Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Michigan schools. She was also recognized as a Hoosier Resilience Hero in 2024 by Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience
Institute. Billie’s work includes consulting, curriculum design, and project management, with a focus on Indigenous food sovereignty and plant medicine. In June 2019, she founded Jibek Mbwakawen, Inc., promoting sustainable relationships with
ecosystems through educational programs rooted in Indigenous perspectives. Billie's passion lies in safeguarding the environment through diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Ahshoni Daniels, Forest County Potawatomi
Bozho thayak,
Ahshoni ndezhnëkaz
Gdedé ndodém
Bodwéwadmi ndaw
Senkagmak ndotth bya
Giwséwnenikwé miné pwagenenikwè
Ngi gkenomagé
zhi skonowgëmgok
Miktthéwiyan ėthë odaymen
Nmeswéndan ėwi gkéndëman nodë neshnabè zhitthkwéwnen ėwi yowat gi gnosémnanêk
Ktthė migwėttch,
Hello everyone, My name is Ahshoni. Otter is my clan. I come from
Stone Lake (Wi Potawatomi reservation). I am a woman harvester hunter and a woman pipe carrier. I used to teach at the school. I work at my business Odaymen. I desire to understand Neshnabé ways so our grandchildren can use them. Big thank
you, Ahshoni Daniels
- Madalene BigBear, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi Indians nation, is a highly engaged Géknomaget of Indian Country. For over fifteen years, she has dedicated herself to the preservation and advancement of Bodwéwadmi
customs and traditions. In particular, Madalene anchors her work to the key obiective of creating safe spaces within her nation's homelands where Native people can thrive as distinct and autonomous shepherds of this land. Indeed, she is a
staunch advocate for the return to community living within each distinct nation's cultural boundaries. Madalene cultivates pivotal relationships through her community service. It is Madalene's relationship building that often results
in the dissemination of culture, both to reinvigorate the broader tribal communities' sacred identity and to circumspectly expose the non-native community to nurture respect and allyship.
- Peter Cusi Gibbons-Ballew has for the better part of the last 25 years fought in social and environmental movements with the goal of making this world a better more equitable and livable place for both human and other than
human inhabitants of this earth. He has engaged in direct action against pipelines, frack pads, injection wells, clearcutting, old growth logging, mountaintop removal, coal mines, prisons, ice detention facilities, police brutality,
global trade organizations, and wars. In 25 years he can count on one hand the clear victories he has been a part of. He still believes that direct action is part of the way forward toward a more just world, and finds himself working
within his activist community doing the work of engaging and attempting to resolve internal and interpersonal conflict in a good way. He believes that climate change and worsening climate catastrophes are imminent, but that climate
resiliency is still within our grasp if we are willing to examine ourselves and build a culture around respect, reciprocity, responsibility, and relationship. He is Pokagon band Potawatomi and works for his tribe as the cultural sustainability
lead.
- Jessica Walks First (Pamonicutt) is the Executive Chef and owner of Ketapanen Kitchen, Chicago's first Native American Pop-Up Kitchen and catering Company. Chef Jessica is a classically trained Chef, trained at Le Cordon Bleu
School of Culinary Arts. She is an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. She was born on the reservation and raised in Chicago, where she still resides. Raised in a communal setting, she learned to command a kitchen at
a young age. Her love of cooking came from her Mother, who took such joy in feeding others. She was taught that food is the centerpiece of life: whether you are gathered around the supper table at night, when you gather as a family or as a
community, from celebrations to ceremonies, even in times of loss, there is food. Feeding people is one way we care for our loved ones and communities. Food brings people together. Her Mother taught her that food not only feeds our bodies,
but it nourishes our souls. So when she cooks, Chef Jessica puts prayers, good thoughts, and good feelings into every dish she prepares. Chef Jessica’s passion for food goes beyond the kitchen. She is an Educator. An Activist. An Advocate.
She’s partnered with organizations across the Great Lakes Region to address issues such as Food Access, Food Sovereignty, Food Justice, and Healthy Eating. She is a Chef Partner of The Trotter Project, an educational partner of Pilot Light,
and a board member of The American Indian Center of Chicago. Her love for sharing her culture through food has led to collaborations and partnerships with organizations such as The Field Museum, The Goodman Theatre, Center for Native Futures,
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Public Libraries, UIC, University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. This year she was selected as one of The Chicago Bears Small Business All-Pro Winners. Between sharing food and educating the
masses, Ketapanen Kitchen is reaching their ultimate goal of bringing Indigenous Foods to the forefront of Chicago’s culinary scene.
- Trickster Intertribal Youth Group, Welcomes you and your families to learn more about building healthy communities and embracing your Indigenous identity. Participate in fun activities to help build Leadership and life skills,
while engaging with the community. Trickster Cultural Center invites all Indigenous youth ages 10 and up to join our Intertribal Youth Council!
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