Aquinnah Headwaters
A SOURCE OF HEALING & RESTORATION
The design phase has begun. Journey with us to the build.
Violence against Native women is devastating to individuals, families, and communities.
YOU CAN HELP CHANGE THAT.
DONATE NOW TO HELP US BUILD AQUINNAH HEADWATERS.
Aquinnah Headwaters will change lives.
In addition to providing our existing services, we're building a place for women to shelter safely, receive therapy, take classes, get their GEDs, and heal. Wrap-around services will support restorative change in their lives so that they re-enter the community strong, healthy, and safe.
With generous donations like yours, we've already purchased the land in our ancestral homeland, Aquinnah. But that's just a start. We're now raising the funds to build our healing place.
Our priorities for Aquinnah Headwaters are clear.
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Aquinnah Headwaters will be built to care for and conserve water, reduce energy consumption and integrate renewable resources, and support healthy relationships between people and nature. Through a variety of practical actions, we'll bolster biodiversity, minimize pollution, and harmonize the built and natural environments of the place.
In this way, Aquinnah Headwaters will be an extension of the land, honoring the history of the ecosystem, and Wampanoag culture and values.
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Aquinnah Headwaters will be designed to create comfortable, healthy indoor and outdoor environments that prioritize physical and mental health. With a focus on inclusion, it will foster diversity and ensure equitable, dignified design that will be accessible to people of all ages and all abilities, while avoiding an "institutional" feel.
Built as a healthy, safe, and a welcoming environment, Aquinnah Headwaters will serve every individual who encounters it, from participants to staff to service providers.
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Indoor and out, Aquinnah Headwaters will inspire and uplift the spirit. Functional for all users, it will be infused with Wampanoag values and draw on the beauty, serenity, and wonder of the land. Respecting our traditions and culture, this place of healing will reflect our people and our land, past and present.
Designed for adaptability to future needs and uses, Aquinnah Headwaters will create meaningful and lasting value for the Wampanoag People, and the whole of Martha's Vineyard—now and for decades to come.
You'll fund real action and real results.
We have a comprehensive, practical, and actionable plan to create a safe space for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Your donation will fund:
Restorative housing for women and children survivors of violence
A space for supportive and empowering education and programming
A ceremonial gathering space to build cultural strength and resilience
A food garden/forest and food pantry to ensure food security
Walking paths and meditative paces
Together, we can make a real, lasting difference in the lives of women—helping them not only to survive violence but to thrive.
Stand with us.
Stand for change.
Fundraising Phase 1:
Land purchase: $1.67M
Goal achieved
Fundraising Phase 2:
Design and permitting: $1.07M
Goal achieved
Fundraising Phase 3:
Aquinnah Headwaters build: $14.93M
(see donation progress bar)
In progress
Donate now to help build Aquinnah Headwaters.
Your generosity will change the lives of survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
If you become a First Light Monthly Donor, as a show of appreciation for your commitment, we'll send you custom desktop wallpaper and a custom social post (on sign-up), give you a shout-out in our newsletter,* and mail you a special Wampanoag cultural gift (after one year).
*If you prefer not, no problem.