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A Native woman who grew up in the Interior is running for mayor of Seattle. Colleen Echohawk heads a Seattle nonprofit that helps and heals indigenous people in need by affirming their cultural identity while providing housing and job training. She says the holistic approach could be applied to uplift all the people of Seattle.
Colleen Echohawk began her journey 44 years ago in Fairbanks, where she was born, and then Delta Junction, where she was raised. She concedes it may seem unlikely that a passionate advocate for indigenous peoples’ rights would grow up in a small Army town with very few Alaska Native residents. But she says it’s where she first gained an appreciation for community.