About Us

7 Directions of Service (7DS) was founded by Indigenous activists Crystal Cavalier-Keck and Jason Crazy Bear Keck on Crystal's ancestral Occaneechi-Saponi lands, the rural Piedmont region of North Carolina. 7DS began as a culture class and youth program, and has grown into a regional grassroots mobilization platform. Everything changed when Crystal and Jason learned that the MVP Southgate pipeline was slated to go through Crystal's hometown and tribal grounds. They began dedicating their lives to resisting, building coalitions and creating campaigns to support the working-class and farming families located along the proposed route. Today, the pipeline is on its last breath.

The approach of 7 Directions is intersectional and life-honoring. 7DS recognizes that the harms faced under the settler state are not new, and consider their work as part of a legacy of grassroots leaders who have risen up to end state violence against their communities. Every campaign, community project and education program is guided by the 7 Directions teaching, which proclaims the sanctity and vitality of each direction: children, women, men, elders, the earth, the sky (which is also symbolic of culture and the mind) and finally, the direction within.

"The destructive force of racial capitalist economies continues to harm all life and sacred kinship systems, beginning with our beloved earth, and extending all the way into our intimate family relationships. We are living in uncertain times, and yet the moment is ripe with opportunity to make a radical change. Now is the time to look to the leadership, wisdom, and experience of those who ARE the frontlines."

-Crystal and Jason

Check out 7DS initiatives

The 7 Directions Teachings

The 7 Directions teachings are at the core of every campaign, community project, education program and partnership we choose to nurture. These teachings have a multitude of interpretations across Indigenous cultures. For us, they proclaim the sanctity and vitality of each direction: children, women, men, elders, the earth, the sky (which is also symbolic of culture and the mind) and finally, the direction within. While we refer to the binary of “women” and “men”, we recognize the spectrum of gender (a fact of life well-known to our ancestors), and honor the sacredness of our nonbinary and 2-spirit kin.

Well before we became a nonprofit, the 7 Directions teachings were guiding our leadership and volunteer work. We started out with culture classes and lacrosse for kids, and expanded our efforts to MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) after a life-altering incident, where Crystal witnessed an Indigenous woman escape from being trafficked. Jason has been a life-long mentor to men and boys, and leads martial arts workshops to encourage their healthy expression and mental wellness. We show up for our elders with sincerity and willingness, and support them through hands-on work and deep listening. We save seeds, protest, pray, educate and organize to Defend the Sacred, and defeat destructive fossil fuel projects.

CORE INITIATIVES

Protect Sacred Places, Phase Out Fossil Fuels

Despite the urgent necessity to phase out fossil fuels, the Southeast is facing an onslaught of methane gas expansion projects, including the Transco SSEP, Duke & Dominion's T-15, MVP Southgate, and Buc-ee’s 120-pump gas station.

7DS is helping to build an educated, leader-full grassroots movement of impacted community members across race and class differences to stop these disastrous projects from moving forward.

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Advance Rights of Nature Laws and Policies

We are leading a long-haul effort to bring the Indigenous-led Rights of Nature Movement to NC.. We will start by advancing Rights of Nature legislation for the Haw River in the NC General Assembly, as well as at the municipal level. By fostering cultural shift towards the Indigenous and Earth-honoring values at the heart of the movement through advocacy, outreach, media campaigns and education, we know we will build the base necessary to achieve our goals.

Visit our Rights of Nature page to learn more and get involved.

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Nurture Yesah Culture

Throughout the year, 7DS offers youth programs, rites of passage and Yesah culture classes to our community members. Most programs take place at the 7DS Yesah Farm, which serves as a space for re-establishing Indigenous agricultural and cultural practices and teachings, and hosting opportunities for youth and leadership development.

Our relational, cultural and land work are intwined with environmental justice and slowing the climate crisis, as it's well understood that the solutions we seek already exist within the foundation of Indigenous cultures. For these practices to take root again, we need to put LandBack into Indigenous hands.

Contribute to our LandBack Fund