On any given day, Fort Lewis College Reconciliation Director Rosalinda Linares-Gray can be found checking on the progress their staff is making across their different disciplines, walking by the recently installed Indigenous Garden, or presenting to college officials at The Old Fort in Hesperus.
“We’re trying to do our work in a way that honors the values of reconciliation, which means connecting our past to our present to have a positive impact for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities on campus and beyond,” said Linares-Gray, who, for the last year, has focused on their efforts in building the new department. And after a year of new hires and close collaboration with faculty, staff, and students, the Reconciliation Center at FLC is up and running… at full speed. 
Funded by grants totaling nearly $2 million, along with support from individual donors, the center is building lasting infrastructure and staffing, growing engagement through fellowship programs, and fostering a campus-wide culture shift toward reconciliation as a shared, collective responsibility. Support comes from The Denver Foundation and Belonging Colorado, Wake Forest University’s Educating Character Initiative, the Colorado Health Foundation, the Mellon Foundation and others.
“The breadth of support behind this effort, from national foundations to individual donors right here in our community, shows how deeply people believe in this work,” said Lori Cook, vice president of Advancement and CEO of the FLC Foundation. “People are inspired by the work Rosalinda and their team are doing, and I’m excited to see what’s next.”
Student-centered reconciliation work
This year, the center started the Indigenous Policy Institute, a spring cohort that paired 10 students with guest speakers, workshops and a trip to Denver to meet with Indigenous policy leaders and students from Adams State University and Colorado State University.
“What I’m most proud of is seeing our Indigenous Policy Institute come to life as a space where students could learn from Indigenous policy leaders, develop their own advocacy plans, and experience what meaningful engagement with policy looks like,” said Tribal Nations Coordinator Matthew Schaeffer (Hopi,/Acoma Pueblo/Taos Pueblo). “From our guest speaker series, cohort workshops to our trip to Denver, students moved beyond research and built real connections with policy leaders and advocates working to create change.”
In addition, an eight-student Reconciliation Policy Advisory Group spent the year learning how institutional policy is made and pitching their own proposal, now under review, that would compensate students for cultural contributions such as ceremonies and blessings. 
“The team that we have now, the five of us, our coordinators, is pretty amazing. And it’s pretty amazing to have three Indigenous FLC alums who are coordinators in this department,” Linares-Gray said, pointing to Schaeffer as an example of a student leader now teaching the faculty and staff who once taught him. “It’s a wonderful thing that I’m really proud of.”
Trish Hamilton, who is Diné and the center’s Language Reclamation Coordinator, said she’s excited about the work she’s been involved in to develop the First-Year Launch course focused on language reclamation.
“The course includes community building, storytelling, and discussions from current Indigenous students on what connects them to their cultures and what motivates them to learn and engage with their languages,” she said.
Educating the educators
Linares-Gray said more than 330 employees signed up for “Reconciliation at FLC,” a professional learning series to educate employees on what reconciliation means to FLC as a former Indian boarding school. That’s about 60% of permanent staff and more than half of permanent faculty. The center, in partnership with five FLC faculty fellows, also launched the Reconciliation Curriculum Institute, providing faculty with resources and support to integrate reconciliation into their coursework, and provided onboarding training to new employees on the college’s reconciliation work.
Linares-Gray noted that even faculty who have been involved in reconciliation work for years were eager to join development opportunities.
“It’s great to see that our employees are really interested in learning about FLC’s history and how to serve our students better,” Linares-Gray said.
This year, the center launched a three-year fellowship, including three faculty and staff leaders charged with advancing work in the center’s key strategic areas. The fellows spent the year building lasting resources and programs: an Open Education Resource on Indigenous approaches to teaching ethics in the classroom, a student-led restorative justice program grounded in Indigenous educational principles, and a pedagogical framework to support Indigenous language educators.
Efforts flourish
After years of planning, the center recently brought the Indigenous Garden to life.
In August, more than 40 volunteers gathered to plant more than 30 species in the garde
n —including Sagebrush, Mountain Mahogany, Rubber Rabbitbrush, Yarrow, Native Chokecherry and Banana Yucca, to name a few— in the garden, which includes a pollinator bed, a medicinal bed, and an edible bed, and an area where Indigenous community members can access and connect with plants and land. It also includes a desert bed featuring yucca, traditionally used in Diné culture for a multigenerational game. The space will also feature a large table for outdoor classes.
“I am proud of my work with the Indigenous Garden Steering Committee and contributing a part of myself to the design phase,” said coordinator Maggie Magierski, an enrolled citizen of the Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
“I am excited to see how this space will evolve with the help of many loving hands.”
Building relationships beyond campus
The center’s community-facing work has centered on relationship-building. Last year, the Indigenous Language Studio opened to empower cultural language reclamation and oral storytelling.
And over the last year, the center has served as a local host for c
ommunity listening sessions tied to Colorado’s House Bill 24-1444, which examines the state’s Indian boarding school history, and has hosted online Tribal consultations connected to that research led by History Colorado.
In January, the center helped open Constellations of Place, an exhibition at the Center of Southwest Studiesthat brings together art, history, and community dialogue to explore Southwest Colorado as a living landscape shaped by many peoples, cultures, and stories as the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary. The exhibit is open until December.
Looking ahead, the center will continue its work alongside college leadership. In July, Chris Nelson, Ph.D. (Diné /Laguna Pueblo), started her new role as vice president of Diversity Affairs and special advisor on Tribal Relations.
“I am truly excited to be part of this historic movement at FLC. FLC is actively showing how higher education can be reimagined through relational practices rooted in and with Indigenous community members and allies. This heart work ultimately aims to make FLC a better place for all students, staff, and faculty.”
Linares-Gray said the first year has affirmed something the center didn’t have to build from scratch: that people across campus already cared about this work.
“What this first year has shown is that people across campus have cared about this work for a long time,” Linares-Gray said. “When we create meaningful opportunities for engagement, people are eager to learn, contribute, and try new approaches.”