Percilla Frizzell

Led by the pain and power of system-impacted families, Sacred Generations was founded by Percilla Frizzell (Diné) and her formerly incarcerated husband (Shoshone). Both founders grew up impacted by generations of mass incarceration and continue to combat the legacy of cultural genocide. Percilla graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in education. After being a student and teacher in Teach For America classrooms, Percilla studied community organizing at the Harvard Kennedy School and also learned trial advocacy at UC Davis School of Law in partnership with the Yurok Tribe. Percilla is a 2018 Echoing Green Fellow and most recently joined New Profit in the 2019 Unlocked Futures Accelerator backed by award-winning artist and activist John Legend.

Project Description 

Sacred Generations is an intergenerational movement of healing dedicated to restoring Native land and people by organizing system-impacted tribal communities to end educational inequity, mass incarceration, and climate injustice through data sovereignty, civic leadership, and policy advocacy. Fueled by an Indigenous worldview of healing to honor the sacred, we envision a world where Native land and people impacted by mass incarceration have full restoration of social, economic, political and spiritual wellbeing. Sacred Vote, a groundbreaking voter advocacy campaign designed to heal voters, was recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea in three categories: Social Justice, Experimental and General Excellence. Educational inequity, mass incarceration, and climate injustice are interconnected issues. Sacred Vote is building the power of sovereign solutions to drive transformative systems change.