We are constantly reflecting on our work at AKA, what we co-create with our clients and what we learn from our time in and with communities. Our goal is to always be in a place and state of being that matters. Just consider the idea of doing work, writing reports, publications, research, classes, and Zoom calls… that do not matter. This would be called a life not fully lived. And life is too short to do work that does not matter.
Our efforts to share and highlight work that matters via our AKA website and blog have been slightly successful. Our dedicated webpage for annual reports and publications aims to disseminate our work, elevate the voices of communities, and highlight the successes and lessons learned along the way.
This matters.
To make life and AKA work matter even more, we’ve decided to highlight a handful of reports, publications, or insights that matter. The actual report or resource is not actually what matters—it is only the product of mattering work and mattering at work. Mattering is about feeling valued and adding value. Our work at AKA is all about this. What matters is seeing our clients succeed in their work, building relationships that last, training and sharing in capacity and skills, and investing in communities.
Here is a list of work that mattered to us from April to June 2024.
Doya Natsu Healing Center’s Annual Report, Walking on Sacred Ground, matters. Why? Because it walks the reader and funder through a process of what the Healing Center is doing, their strategic priorities, the use of culture to heal, and a framework for understanding recovery. In a world where you can be doing anything, why not work on healing and recovery—for yourself, your family, your community, and your nation?
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) does work that matters. They always have and they always will. Why does their work matter? Because it is reaching into communities, sharing capacity, and giving opportunities to young people to learn about public health, research, evaluation, and science. The NPAIHB Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) Public Health Research Academy Report is just one example of their mattering work. AKA supported them with the evaluation, trained youth in evaluation and research methods, and designed a report. NPAIHB is creating opportunities to decolonize public health, elevate Native role models and speakers, and grow capacity in Tribal communities.
We partnered with the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leader’s Council to explore maternal mortality in American Indian women. This partnership has led us down many paths that matter—to us and communities, Tribal leaders, and policymakers. In Phase 1 of this work, we created multiple reports and literature reviews on the topic of maternal mortality review committees (MMRCs) in greater detail. Our conceptual model based on a socioecological life course frame reminds us that maternal mortality disparities and inequities are complex and deeply rooted in multiple levels of systems at the individual, family, and community/Tribal level.
Publications are something that we help our clients with because they matter. Publications are value-based (egoic values and monetary values). Journal publishers today charge fees for open access to research and reports- these range from $1,500 to $4,000 per article. Fees are not good or bad, they are just not that equitable. AKA is now publishing some of our reports and original research with unique Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs).
The most recent published work is Lessons in Critical Race Theory.
DOIs will ensure that mattering documents and resources created by AKA and partners are accessible in the digital realm forever, or as long as we are still here. Using the AKA DOI process over academic publishers will ensure that we are equitable and valuing what matters. Think about $4,000 and what could be done in a community or family. That matters.
Maybe none of this matters to you. That is okay. It matters to us.
The goal is to find mattering in your work and your life. Find spaces where people share the same mattering values, and add value where and when you can. Why not?
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