Announcement: 2026 Libin Egal Spirit Award Winners
March 27, 2026 6:27 pm
2026 Libin Egal Spirit Awardees Shelley Means (Ojibwe & Lakota) (left) and Leah R. Tanner (NiMiiPu) (right) standing with NAWDIM colleague Tanya Marceau (Blackfeet & Red Lake)
Every year, at our annual celebration Labor of Love, Open Arms celebrates community leadership with the Libin Egal Spirit Award. This award honors the legacy of one of Open Arms’ first outreach doulas, Libin Egal. Previously, we have recognized Camie Goldhammer (Sisíthuŋwaŋ-Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ Oyáte), Devon Love, Faisa Farole, Alissa Wehrman, Frankie T. Manning, Mercedes Cordova-Hakim, Hawa Egal and Margarita Celis, Dr. Benjamin Danielson, Andrea Balina, Caellyn Everson, and Damarria Davis. Watch this video to learn more about Libin and her story.
This year, we are honored to recognize two long time leaders in the reproductive justice movement. We are proud to present the 2026 Libin Egal Spirit Award to Shelley Means (Ojibwe & Lakota) and Leah R. Tanner (NiMiiPu). Both women are celebrated organizers, facilitators, mothers, and aunties who work tirelessly for Indigenous birthing people and their children. Together, with Lead Organizer Tanya Marceau (Blackfeet & Red Lake), Shelley and Leah co-coordinate with the Native American Women Dialogue on Infant Mortality (NAWDIM) for over 20 years.
Co-coordinator Shelley Means is Ojibwe and Lakota and has lived in Oregon and Washington all her life. She is an organizer, facilitator and surviving twin. Shelley has been working for social justice for more than 30 years on issues of tribal sovereignty, sacred lands, climate justice, health equity and Native philanthropy. In 2003, she became a mother and joined Leah as NAWDIM Co-Coordinator.
Shelley currently serves on the Board of Directors at Seattle Indian Health Board and the Cultural Advisory Council for Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services. She lives in the ancestral lands of the Puyallup people, on Vashon Island, Washington.
“We grateful for those who came before us in this movement work,” shared Leah, “across the continent, through individual and collective work.”
Leah R. Tanner is a citizen of the NiMiiPu (Nez Perce Tribe – Joseph Band) and a Co-Coordinator of the Native American Women’s Dialogue on Infant Mortality (NAWDIM) collective. Leah is a longtime activist on the issues of tribal sovereignty; treaty, civil, and human rights; maternal & child health issues in Indian Country; reproductive justice; organizing opposition to white supremacists; and challenging the anti-democratic far right. Leah also serves as a Tribal representative on the Washington State Health Equity Zones Community Advisory Board, serves on the Executive Committee of the Equal Start Community Coalition, is a board member of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, and serves on the Community Advisory Boards of Native Voices Rising and The Share Fund. Leah’s most rewarding role is mom to five sons, mother-in-law, and grandmother of two amazing little humans.
We invite you to join us in honoring Shelley and Leah and celebrating community-led reproductive justice at Labor of Love on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at SoDo Park in Seattle. Register today!