{"id":679232,"date":"2026-07-09T11:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=679232"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:27:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:27:32","slug":"indian-boarding-school-healing-efforts-face-challenges-at-national-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2026\/07\/09\/indian-boarding-school-healing-efforts-face-challenges-at-national-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian boarding school healing efforts face challenges at national level"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/a>
Michelle Free-LaMere (right) and a young Native woman visit with each other during an honoring ceremony held in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday for nine Rosebud Lakota children whose remains were taken back to their homelands in South Dakota. Photo by Kevin Abourezk \/ Indianz.Com <\/figcaption>\r\n
Indian boarding school healing efforts face challenges at national level<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, July 9, 2026<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe nation’s leading Indian boarding school organization is entering a new era amid ongoing challenges to its advocacy efforts.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nOn Wednesday, the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition<\/a> (NABS) announced Nikki Santos as its new Chief Executive Officer. Santos, who hails from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe<\/a>, fills a leadership position that went vacant<\/a> earlier this year.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“I am deeply honored to join the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition at such a pivotal moment,” Santos said in a statement<\/a>. “The work of truth-telling, justice, and healing belongs to all of us.”\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“I look forward to working alongside survivors, descendants, Tribal Nations, and partners to ensure that the stories of those impacted by the federal Indian boarding school system are honored, preserved, and transformed into meaningful action for future generations,” Santos added.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAs the organization’s highest ranking executive, Santos will help NABS advocate for the survivors of the Indian boarding school era, during which tens of thousands of tribal youth were taken from their homes in order to disconnect them from their cultures and communities. The efforts have included an expansive oral history project<\/a> that hosted 22 sessions across Indian Country to collect the stories of those impacted by genocidal policies throughout the United States.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“Nikki’s vision, integrity, and lifelong commitment to Native communities make her the ideal leader for this next chapter of NABS,” said Ben Barnes, the president of the organization’s board of directors.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“Her extensive experience building partnerships, shaping policy, and advancing Indigenous priorities will strengthen our work as we continue to advocate on behalf of Native peoples impacted by U.S. Indian boarding school policies,” said Barnes, who also serves as Chief of the Shawnee Tribe<\/a> in Oklahoma, where the final oral history session took place in Tulsa two weeks ago.\r\n

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