About Friendship House
“I am trying to change things for my people. This program and our families have to be strong! Stand together, for our children and for all children.”
Connection is Everything
Friendship House was founded on the belief that a healthy Native community begins with spiritual and cultural connection. Helen Waukazoo, our founder, was a boarding school survivor who worked to create a strong community for San Francisco’s urban Indians. Helen was dropped off in San Francisco with $35 in her hand and a cleaning job as part of the federal policy that relocated many Native people in the 1950’s with false promises of housing and work.
Helen saw that many Native peoples who had been displaced to the city struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. She founded Friendship House as a place for people to reconnect with their culture and join a community of other Natives looking for a place to heal and call home.
“At the Friendship House, we’re all one nation over there—‘cause it’s us against that disease.”
Our Mission
Cultural and spiritual connection guides everything we do.
We provide a sacred space to strengthen the spirit of Indigenous peoples. Using the teachings and ceremonies of our ancestors, we focus on recovery, healing, and building a healthy Native community.
Our Vision
Living the village way of life
We believe that all Native peoples deserve a place to connect with their spirit, and each other. Inspired by the dreams of our late founder, Helen Waukazoo, we envision a future where our urban Indian community thrives. We are committed to reclaiming our cultural ways that centuries of U.S. policy tried to destroy through forced relocation and assimilation. Essential to our vision, is a dedicated place for Native relatives to gather, find services, secure affordable housing, and participate in cultural events and ceremonies.
Recovering from Centuries of U.S. Policy
Centuries of U.S. policy have created deep inequities for Native peoples. Native communities have faced systemic and structural racism and oppression, including the criminalization of Indian ceremonies and languages, family separation, forced relocation, and mass incarceration.
According to the U.S. Census, over 1 in 4 American Indians live in poverty. This brings disproportionate rates of incarceration, teen suicide, unemployment, high school dropouts, diabetes, domestic violence, and substance abuse.
Our clients often join our community as they deal with multiple issues, both personally and within their family or community. At Friendship House, we are reclaiming our traditions and building a healthy community. OR: At Friendship House, we are …and building a community that moves beyond simply surviving to one that thrives.
92% of American Indians/Alaska Natives living in California, live in cities…but we remain largely invisible and underserved.
San Francisco’s Native peoples:
Are 17x more likely to be unhoused
Have the highest unemployment rate
Have the lowest home ownership rate
“They were trying to educate us to be in the mainstream of society. Well, there was nothing wrong with our Native way of life.”
Our Inter-tribal Community
Our program participants, staff, and board members come from all over Turtle Island.
Click map to enlarge
Aleut Corporation
Apache Tribe, OK
Arapaho Tribe Wind River Res, WY
Asa Carsamiut
Assiniboine/Sioux Tribes, Ft Peck, MT
Assiniboine/Sioux Tribes, FT Peck, MT
Berry Creek Rancheria Maidu Ind, CA
Big Pine Band Paiute Shoshone, CA
Big Sandy Rancheria Mono Ind, CA
Big Valley Rancheria Pomo & Pit River CA
Blackfeet Tribe, MT
Cahto Indian Tribe Laytonville Rancheria, CA
California Valley Miwok
Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians, CA
Cher-Ae Heights Com Trinidad Ranch, CA
Cherokee Nation, OK
Cherokee-Shawnee Dual Enrollment
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, SD
Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes, OK
Chickasaw Nation, OK
Chippewa- Cree Indians, Rocky Boy Res, MT
Chistochina, Native Village
Choctaw Nation, OK
Citizen Potawatomi Nation, OK
Cloverdale Rancheria Pomo Indians, CA
Coast Indian Community Yurok Ind, CA
Cold Springs Rancheria, Mono Ind, CA
Confederated Tribes Grand Ronde Comm, OR
Confederated Tribes, Colville Res, WA
Confederated Tribes, Siletz Res, OR
Confederated Tribes, Warm Springs Res, OR
Cortina Rancheria Wintun Ind, CA
Covelo Indian Comm Round Valley Reservation, CA
Coyote Valley Band Pomo Ind, CA
Creek Nation, OK
Crow Tribe MT
Death Valley Timbi-sha Shoshone Band, CA
Dry Creek Rancheria Pomo Ind, CA
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe,NV
Eastern Band of Cherokee, NC
Elem Indian Colony Pomo Ind, CA
Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Ind, CA
Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, CA
Fort Bidwell Indian Comm Paiute Ind, CA
Gila River Pima Maricopa Indian Comm, AZ
Grindstone Indian Ranch Wintun-Waitaki, CA
Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians, CA
Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, CA
Hannahville Indian Comm, MI
Ho-Chunk Nation, WI
Hoopa Valley Tribe, CA
Hopi Tribe, AZ
Hopland Band Pomo Manchester PT, CA
Hualapai Tribe, AZ
Ione Band of Miwok Indians
Karuk Tribe, CA
Kashia Band Pono Ind Stewarts Pt, CA
Ketchikan Indian Corporation
Kiowa Indian Tribe, OK
Klamath Indian Tribe, OR
La Jolla Band of Mission Ind, CA
Lac Du Flambeau, Chippewa, WI
Little River Band, Ottawa Indians
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, SD
Lower Lake Tribe, CA
Lummi Tribe, WA
Lytton Indian Community, CA
Makah Indian Tribe, WA
Mandan, Three Affiliated Tribes, FT Berthold Rancherias, ND
Mechoopda Indian Tribe Chico Rancheria, CA
Mendas Chaaq Native Corporation, Healy Lake
Menominee Indian tribe, WI
Mescalero Apache Tribe, NM
Middletown Rancheria Pomo Indians, CA
Minnesota Chippewa, White Earth Band, MN
Modoc Tribe, OK
Montmery Creek Rancheria Pit River, CA
Mooretown Rancheria Mono Ind, CA
Nana Regional Corporation, Alaska
Narragansett Indian Tribe, RI
Navajo Tribe AZ NM and UT
North Fork Rancheria Mono Ind, CA
Northern Cheyenne Tribe, MT
Nulato Village
Oglala Sioux Tribe, SD
Omaha Tribe, NE
Oneida Tribe of Indians, WI
Otoe-Missouria Tribe, OK
Ottawa Tribe, OK
Paimiut
Paiute-Shoshone Ind Lone Pine Comm, CA
Paiute-Shoshone Indian Bishop Comm, CA
Paiute-Shoshone Indian Duck Valley, NV
Paiute-Shoshone Indian Fallon Res, NV
Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, CA
Pascua Yaqui Tribe, AZ
Paskenta Band Nomlaki Indians, CA
Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, CA
Picayune Rancheria Chukchansi Ind, CA
Pinoleville Rancheria Pomo Ind, CA
Pit River Indian Tribe, X-l Ranch, CA
Prairie Band of Potawatomi, KS
Pueblo of Acoma, NM
Pueblo of Cochiti, NM
Pueblo of Isleta, NM
Pueblo of Jemez, NM
Pueblo of San Felipe, NM
Pueblo of San Juan, NM
Pueblo of Santo Domin, NM
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, NV
Quartz Valley Rancheria, CA
Quechan Tribe, CA
Rancheria Asset Distribution List, CA
Redding Rancheria Pomo Ind, CA
Redwood Valley Rancheria Pomo Ind, CA
Reno Sparks Indian Colony, Paiute NV
Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, CA
Robinson Rancheria Pomo, CA
Rohnerville Ranch Bear River Mattole Ind, CA
Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi, IA
Sac and Fox Tribe, OK
San Carlos Apache Tribe, AZ
Santa Rosa Comm, Santa Rosa Rancheria, CA
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians, CA
Santa Ysabel Band Diegueno Mission Indians, CA
Scotts Valley Band Pomo Indians, CA
Seminole Nation, OK
Sherwood Valley Rancheria Pomo Ind, CA
Shingle Springs Band Miwok Ind, CA
Shoshone Tribe Wind River
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Fort Hall Res, ID
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, SD
Smith River Rancheria, CA
Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, NV
Standing ROck Sioux Tribe, ND and SD
Susanville Ind. Rancheria, CA
Table Bluff Rancheria, Wiyot Indians, CA
Table Mountain Rancheria, CA
Te-Moak Bands, Western Shoshone, NV
Thirteenth Regional Cooperation
Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska
Tohono O’odham Nation, AZ
Tule River Tribe, CA
Tuolumne Band of Me-wuk Indians, CA
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, ND
Ute Indian Tribe, Uintah and Ouray Res, UT
Ute Mountain Tribe, CO NM and UT
Utu Utu Gwati Paiute Tribe, CA
Wainwright Village
Walker River Paiute Tribe, VC
Washoe Tribe of Nevada, CA
White Mountain Apache Tribe, AZ
Wilton Rancheria
Yavapai, Prescott Tribe, AZ
Yerington Paiute Tribe, NV
Yurok Tribe Hoopa Valley Reservation, CA
Zuni Tribe, NM