Who we are
Living descendants.
Continuing responsibility.
Our identity is carried through family, documented lineage, cultural continuity, and responsibilities to future generations.
Who we are
Rooted in the greater Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz region.
The Mutsun-Awaswas Sovereignty Foundation (MASF) is rooted in the living descendants of the Indigenous peoples of the greater Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz region. Our families carry documented ancestral connections to the Awaswas people and the Native communities associated with Mission Santa Cruz.
Our lineage is supported by two independent genealogical reports prepared by separate professional genealogy firms, along with a written validation of our lineage from a historian specializing in Mission Santa Cruz history. Based on the historical and genealogical documentation currently known to us, we are the only known descendant lineage with this level of documented genealogical connection to the Awaswas people of Mission Santa Cruz.
Our family history is also preserved within the California Mission records themselves. These records document our ancestors traveling with related Native families and community leaders, including Chief Soquel and his wife, to Mission Santa Clara, where their children were baptized together. They provide important historical evidence of the kinship networks and continuing connections among our ancestors and neighboring Native communities during the Mission period.
MASF was established to honor this documented lineage and to ensure that the language, culture, history, traditions, ancestral lands, and sovereignty of our people are protected, restored, and carried forward for future generations.
Our foundation
Mission, vision, and values.
Everything we do begins with our relationships with Creator and our ancestors, Elders, families, community, neighboring Tribal Nations, lands and waters, plants and animals, sacred places, and future generations.
Our Mission
The Mutsun-Awaswas Sovereignty Foundation strengthens the sovereignty of the Mutsun-Awaswas Peoples by restoring Indigenous knowledge, protecting cultural resources, stewarding our traditional homeland, revitalizing language and ceremony, promoting food sovereignty, supporting community members, advancing research and education, and building sustainable opportunities for future generations.
Our Vision
A thriving Mutsun-Awaswas community where our people exercise our inherent sovereignty by protecting our culture, restoring our traditional knowledge, strengthening our families, stewarding our ancestral homeland, and honoring our responsibilities to Creator and all our human and non-human relatives.
Responsibility
We accept the obligations entrusted to us by Creator.
Respect
We honor our ancestors, Elders, relatives, and future generations.
Reciprocity
Healthy relationships are sustained through mutual care and shared responsibility.
Truth
We tell our own history with honesty, dignity, and integrity.
Stewardship
We care for the lands, waters, plants, animals, and sacred places entrusted to us.
Collaboration
We build partnerships that respect the sovereignty of all Tribal Nations.
Resilience
Each generation carries our responsibilities forward with courage and determination.
Leadership & accountability
A board shaped by community and shared responsibility.
MASF envisions an eleven-member Board of Directors: six Mutsun-Awaswas community representatives and five non-community directors who bring aligned expertise, relationships, and a commitment to accountability.
The initial Board of Directors and public biographies will be added once appointments are confirmed.
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