Episode 8: Building Hope and Healing; Akwesasne’s transitional tiny home project with Jonel Beauvais
My guest this episode is Jonel Beauvais, a Wolf Clan Mohawk who is the proud mother of three children and chosen auntie, sister and friend to many. She works diligently to empower and induce healing within all Native/Indigenous communities in order to prosper in the Haudenosaunee teachings of good medicine and good minds.
In this episode we talk about her activist endeavors including her latest tiny house project located in Mohawk Territory at Akwesasne that supports individuals coming home from prison/rehabilitation and reintegrating into community. She has been successfully fundraising for the construction of the first Tiny home and it has been delivered. Donations continue to be needed to complete the inside renovations and fulfill the goal of several more tiny homes.
Jonel is currently working for Kahwatsiraien:ton which is founded in supporting the families of Ohero:kon. She has dedicated six years as a council member and lead Auntie for all adolescent girls entering their first year of fasting in Ohero:kon “Under the Husk”, which is the Rights of Passage for youth in Akwesasne. Through ceremony these youth commit to four years of fasting in which they attend weekly gatherings throughout the winter months where traditional/modern teachings are presented to the young fasters and their families. All with the intentions of receiving a vision, insight or guidance on the purpose of their journey into adulthood.
She recently spent five years cultivating support and experience around violence with the Seven Dancers Coalition, as Community Outreach, located in Upstate New York on the U.S./Can political border of her home territory in Akwesasne. The Coalition seeks to educate Tribal communities and service providers through trainings and presentations on Sexual Assault, Domestic violence, Campus Safety, Teen Dating, Sex Trafficking and Stalking. She was a recipient of 2020 Visionary Voice Award, nominated by the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, granted by the National Sexual Assault Resource Center.
She is also a member of the Section 84 parole board of Akwesasne and the Neh Kanikonriio Council which is a restorative justice initiative that integrates indigenous ways of mediation to reduce incarceration and provide a more interpersonal means of healing for both parties.
In 2019 Jonel was picked as one of ten women nationally to represent a fellowship for formerly incarcerated or directly impacted woman of color, through the Community Change organization. With peer to peer mentorship, community organizing skill building, and cultivating change in the hearts of women directly impacted by the social violence, prison systems and immigration. In 2020 she was accepted to be on a national cohort of women through Columbia University’s Women Transcending fellowship that was organized to support formerly incarcerated women build power, gain resources and strengthen leadership development. In addition Jonel was extended an invitation to sit on the national #FREEHER board with the Circle for Justice Innovations which give out grant opportunities for women of color who are in their communities working to address mass incarceration.
NOTES AND LINKS:
Go Fund Me: Akwesasne’s transitional tiny home project
Jonel Beauvais on Instagram: @jonelb27
Welcome Home Circle Facebook page: a circle of formerly incarcerated community members of Akwesasne who want to support those coming back into our community from Incarceration. See photos of the first tiny home here!
Music by : Auld Lang Syne