During 2024, Division 45 participated in several projects that advanced issues related to presidential initiatives based in Honoring Basic Human Rights. Amongst the most basic of human rights, all people have a right to safety and security and all persons have a right to nutritious food and nourishment. Thus, the initiatives focused on food insecurity and awareness of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) epidemic in the United States.
In 2023, Division 35, as one of Kathryn Anderson’s presidential initiatives, inaugurated the MMIR Task Force which was chaired by Iva GreyWolf, PhD. In 2024, Division 35 partnered with Division 45 and members of the Division 35/45 MMIR Task Force made various presentations throughout the year, including in Seattle at APA and in Ottawa, Canada. Various aspects of MMIR were covered including the correlation between the MMIR crisis and the Indian Child Welfare Act wherein the removal of Native children from tribal homes and communities, via state and federal child welfare systems, has had a catastrophic impact on our children not only physically, but emotionally and culturally. In addition, the correlation with the boarding school era, beginning in the 1800s, where many Native children were unlawfully and involuntarily taken from tribal communities under the guise of education, resulted in the loss of Native children and resulted in death as recorded in boarding school ledgers across the country. Today, some ancestors remain unidentified in unmarked graves on boarding school properties. The New York Times published a story on December 23, 2024, entitled, “More than 3,100 students died at schools built to crush Native American cultures.” The cross-divisional collaboration brought much needed awareness to a larger audience and introduced the immeasurable range of psychological implications to extended family structures, Native communities, and Indian Country as a whole.
Through the collaboration of diverse experts on food insecurity, much needed attention was generated regarding this issue. Those individuals experiencing food insecurity are often invisible and this topic is often overlooked in professional psychology circles. However, many US communities and college students are impacted daily and the biopsychosocial implications are enormous. Division 45 hosted a webinar that featured a panel of experts that discussed various aspects of food insecurity. Luz Garcini, PhD, advocated for the migrant population, Yu-Wei Wang, PhD, discussed the impacts of food insecurity in the college student population, Stephen Gillaspy, PhD, introduced reimbursement aspects in assessing for social determinants of health including food insecurity, and Mr. Perry Martinez and Ms. Monika Lacka discussed USDA and a food distribution program component that provided much needed food resources for those in need.