Reconnecting Community With Land And Provide Healing Through Action

creating space for people to find purpose in place through restoration of the natural environment and healing by encouraging this relationship through physical care of our watersheds and education.

Support Our Work

Who We Are

Renascence is a Kumeyaay-led grassroots nonprofit organization founded in 2019 to find pathways to heal both the community and the environment through collaborative methods. 

We work to restore and protect ancestral lands, with a focus on vital wetland and waterway habitats, as well as transform how cultural resources are cared for in San Diego County.

Our organization was created to fill a critical void in cultural resource management. Current practices often reduce the care of cultural resources to a technical process, overlooking the living relationships between people, culture, and the land.

This approach, stemming from colonization and Western land management, has contributed to environmental degradation, including the decline of our local waterways and wetlands. It has also led to a loss of the cultural practices and land stewardship practices that sustained these lands for thousands of years.

Renascence works to fill this gap through holistic care for the land, honoring the spiritual, cultural, and ecological dimensions of each place.

We partner with environmental organizations, conservation groups, and cultural institutions to build long-term relationships grounded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and mutual respect. By bringing the cultural element back into conservation, we help others recognize that humans and nature are not separate but deeply interconnected.

Our Mission

Our Programs

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Our Cultural Competency Trainings:

  • Provide Custom Training & Technical Guidance by reintroducing Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and empowering the Kumeyaay community to lead cultural and conservation initiatives.
  • Embed our guidance into institutional systems, like staff onboarding and ongoing education, to create lasting systemic change.
  • Connect partners with trained cultural monitors to guide on-site conservation efforts, such as invasive species removal, and ensure cultural resources on ancestral lands are protected.
  • Equip partner organizations with the tools to build lasting and reciprocal relationships with the Kumeyaay community.
1. Cultural Competency Trainings
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We work with conservation groups to bring a cultural perspective to all land stewardship and habitat restoration projects by:

  • Co-creating sustainable habitat restoration projects in partnership with land conservancy and environmental organizations.

  • Developing open spaces that foster community healing and cultural connection.

  • Designing equitable mitigation solutions with development entities that benefit communities and ecosystems alike.

  • Reintroducing Traditional Practices, such as Tule harvesting, to support wetland health and preserve cultural knowledge.

  • Empowering individuals to reconnect with their heritage through employment on native landscape restoration projects.

2. Ethnoecology and Conservation
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We work with museums, cultural institutions, and environmental organizations to center Kumeyaay leadership and perspectives across public programming and land-based initiatives by:

  • Supporting meaningful Indigenous youth engagement through inclusive program design and by facilitating authentic, lasting connections between youth and institutions.

  • Collaborating with cultural and environmental organizations to facilitate traditional practices, such as community harvesting, that strengthen cultural continuity, community health, and access to resources.

  • Designing sustainable, values-aligned programming that embeds Kumeyaay leadership into organizational culture, ensuring Indigenous voices remain centered for long-term, generational impact.

3. Education and Community Collaboration

Our Work in Action

Join Us in Our Mission

Your contribution helps Renascence continue our work to restore cultural connections and rebuild vital habitats. With your support, we can further our impact and bring Kumeyaay Community stewardship practices to the conservation of our local watersheds and their envornments.

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Renascence Project