Neerchokikoo is a revitalized Native American village near

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Neerchokikoo is culturally significant, is an ancient Native encampment in what is now

Northeast Portland Northeast Portland is one of the six major divisions of Portland, Oregon. Northeast Portland contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods. For example, while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge feature some of the oldest and most expensive homes i ...

, and is a gathering site close to the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the Columbia and

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

Grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

and

donors A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as rep ...

were helpful in giving money, to revitalize the site. It is in the

Cully Cully may refer to: Places * Cully, Calvados, a former commune in the Allier department, France *Cully, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Vaud * Cully, Portland, Oregon, United States, a neighborhood in northeast Portland People Given ...

neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The Native American Youth and Family Center, a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit, relocated to Neerchokikoo in 2006. The organization offers services to the Native community of Portland. The annual

powwow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...

is named for the village of Neerchokikoo.

History

Near the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

, the

Columbia Slough The Columbia Slough is a narrow waterway, about long, in the floodplain of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its source in the Portland suburb of Fairview, the Columbia Slough meanders west through Gresham and Portland to ...

watershed is the traditional homelands of peoples of the

Upper Chinook Upper Chinook, endonym Kiksht, also known as Columbia Chinook, and Wasco-Wishram after its last surviving dialect, is a recently extinct language of the US Pacific Northwest. It had 69 speakers in 1990, of whom 7 were monolingual: five Wasco and ...

. Of the Clackamas, Cascade, and Multnomah bands of Chinook and the Tualatin band of the Kalapuya, the area is on traditional village sites. They and many others are a vibrant part of the region and community today. Since before being mentioned in Lewis and Clark's journals, Native people gathered there for community building and trade, but the land was taken from them during

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

. As of summer 2023, was returned to the Natives. The Native American Youth and Family Center's community center, gardens, and offices are there, and the goal is to create a permanent home for the urban Native community. The plan is for this home to reflect the land's history. The "Return to Neerchokikoo" campaign cost $4.6 million. It raised funds for upgrades that were much needed, for property repairs, and addressed the mortgage debt.

References

External links and references

Neerchokikoo's homepage

Naya Family Center on their annual Powwow

Learn more about Portland's vital Native American community

A YouTube walk-through

A YouTube, Neerchokikoo Powwow 9/16/2023 Portland, Oregon
Native American history of Oregon Cully, Portland, Oregon Pow wows Native American populated places {{MultnomahCountyOR-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links and references