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.”
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.
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
At Friendship House, we serve Native and non-Native relatives from across North America. Our program staff and board of directors reflect a diversity of life experiences and bring their cultural identities from Indigenous Nations across Turtle Island. We know that Indigenous culture doesn’t exist within modern state or national boundaries. At the center of our community are our shared Indigenous values that every life has value, and everyone deserves to heal through connection to spirit, and each other.
