The Noyo Bida Truth Project
Change Our Name Fort Bragg has changed its name to The Noyo Bida Truth Project (TNBTP) to align with its vision in educating the Mendocino Coast of the resilient First Nations of the region. Our name reaffirms the 10,000 year old historical Northern Pomo name for the area, Noyo Bida, The Fishing Place.
Board members of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit voted to change its name in January and completed legal paperwork this month. Website, FaceBook page, YouTube channel titles and logo changes will take place in the coming months.
Rebranding our organization clearly demonstrates our end goal of returning Indigenous languages in identifying locations of cultural significance related to our natural environment. We acknowledge the ecological diversity of our California Coast and encourage our true history to be preserved and acknowledged. To date the city of Fort Bragg is named for a Fort associated with the Mendocino Reservation where acts of genocide were committed against California tribal communities. The Fort was named for a general who had no connection to the Mendocino Coast, we have chosen to cease the glorification of Confederate General Bragg and the erasure of the Tribal communities.
Our goals include holding healing ceremonies, supporting Land Back to Indigenous peoples, a memorial to the victims of the Mendocino Indian Reservation, a cultural center, truthful historical signage, and improvements to California history education in our local schools which are also named for this Confederate general.
In an ironic side note, the name change demonstrates how organizational name changes, even those of a city, can be accomplished easily and inexpensively when people come together to do the right thing.
Our Logo
Our new logo design is by Natyia Whipple, age 15, of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. She designed the cover of the Ancestral Waters Activity book as a contractual artist with the Tribal Marine Collaborative and the state's Marine Protection Area (MPA) Collaborative. She was also showcased on the cover of California Water Justice News ( Save California Salmon) after winning 1st place for her art inspired by the Eel River. While attending Cardinal Newman High School she was awarded an Arts Alive award and received acknowledgment for being the first student artist to create a mural on the school’s campus. She has taken part in community art murals and unveiling’s throughout Mendocino, Sonoma and Yolo Counties in partnership with the RVIHC Native Pathways Program, Native Dads Network and the Hope Through Art Foundation.