Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota
Cinnamon is a member of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, granddaughter of Chairman Saros, daughter of Vice Chairman Ronneng and a proud mother of two sons and five grandchildren. Assisting survivors through direct services while navigating the judicial system, she knows first-hand the challenges of working across multiple jurisdictions when working with Indigenous survivors of DV/SA. She has provided leadership and collaboration working with tribes and tribal SA programs nationally for over 22 years. Cinnamon coordinated the first National Tribal Conference on Sex Trafficking in Indian Country; co-authored the tribal section of the Office on Victims of Crime Toolkit; and provided training and technical Assistance (TTA) to OVW Tribal program grantees for 15 years. Cinnamon has assisted in curriculum development for the Tribal SA Forensic Examiner Training & Tribal SA Forensic Examiner Clinical Skills Lab, the Tribal SA Advocacy Curricula, and the American Indian Women’s Educational Support Group curriculum. She has led one of the first eight Tribal SART pilot project trainings in rural and reservation areas. Cinnamon coordinated SA multidisciplinary response team protocols and created the Native Women’s Crisis Line Training Protocol & Resource Manuscript. She has developed sexual violence advocacy programs in rural reservation and urban Tribal communities and worked as a program director in an urban program serving Indigenous victims/survivors. Cinnamon twice assisted drafting VAWA resolutions for the National Congress of American Indians. Cinnamon is one of the founders of the MN Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) and served as a Circle Keeper (board member) for 9 years.

Jennifer (Jen) joined Mending the Sacred Hoop as the Operations Coordinator in August of 2022. She has worked as an advocate for a sexual violence resource center and most recently as the supervisor of a tribal police department’s victim services program. Jen has spent significant time as a sexual assault multi-disciplinary team coordinator and has a passion for systems change. She assisted a case file review for Beltrami County’s system response to cases of sexual violence and is a former member of the Beltrami County Domestic Violence Advisory Council. She has served as a board member of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Recently her primary goal was to empower advocates who are working within the realm of sexual violence, domestic violence, and sex trafficking. Jen lives in Bemidji with her two dogs.

Lisa Marie Iyotte (Cochran) grew up on the Sicangu Makoce, the Rosebud Reservation, in South Dakota where her mother, Roseanne Cochran (Packard), is an enrolled tribal member. Lisa is an enrolled tribal member as A’aninin of the Fort Belknap Gros Ventre tribe in Montana where her father, Ruben Cochran, is from. Lisa has two daughters and a son and is an Unci (grandmother) to 6 Takoja (grandchildren) Lisa Marie Iyotte has advocated for ending violence against Indigenous Women for over 19 years. She applies her personal experience and knowledge of healing through spirituality to provide culturally responsive services to individuals, tribes, and non-profits. She has volunteered and worked for a number of non-profits serving Indigenous cultures across the Upper Midwest. She has received several awards and spoken nationally, including at the White House, to advance the rights of Indigenous Women and their children.

Rebecca has a deep-rooted identity as a survivor advocate. She brings over 22 years of healthy relationships and anti-violence work through local shelter services, hotline management, national and grassroots activism, and youth engagement. Firmly committed to raising  cultural awareness, Rebecca believes cross-cultural bridges and unified voices across communities are the foundation for social change and ending violence. Rebecca has been a facilitator of TA/training in various capacities: domestic violence, sexual assault, racial justice, sex trafficking, homelessness intervention, reproductive justice, economic equity/justice, intergenerational trauma, disabilities, leadership building, mentor projects, anti- oppression, and works in specialized capacities with Indigenous youth and youth-led community programming. Rebecca invests in the restoration of sovereignty for Native people to ensure safety for future generations by working with youth as leaders of the next generation. She also focuses on the premium importance of allyship to collectively challenge both visible and invisible privilege that impedes upon safety and security of all people of color and marginalized identities. Through the teachings of her mentor, Rebecca firmly believes “Healed People Heal People and Hurt People Hurt People” and that is a philosophy that can heal intergenerational trauma and end lateral oppression. Rebecca was born and raised in the mountains of Pennsylvania and is the mother of three boys. She is Oglala Lakota, Mohawk, and Hungarian-Slovac Romani/Gypsy descent. She lives in the Mid-Atlantic region and offers DV/SA advocacy to Natives and non-Natives as a professional and community volunteer.