Circle Legacy Center

Our Mission

Our mission is to represent Native America to our local businesses, organizations, and educational institutions; both the enduring traditions of the past as well as their thriving and challenging contemporary culture.

About Us

Circle Legacy Center (CLC) is a 501(c)3 Native nonprofit founded in 2007 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to support and empower Native Americans through a variety of educational and cultural events, community projects, and business assistance. It has given birth to a separate organization, The Carlisle Indian School Project, advocated for the continuing awareness of Susquehannock/Conestoga people and related Susquehanna Native histories. It has stewarded Honor and Healing initiatives with settler faith communities including educational curricula on the Doctrine of Discovery.

In 2018, Circle Legacy Center, Inc. (CLC) undertook dedicated strategic planning activities seeking to strengthen board member engagement and renew its commitment to Native American cultural awareness, advocacy, and preservation in and beyond Pennsylvania. Since that time, CLC, has seen wonderful successes and important growth in its partnerships with the United States Army, Blue Rock Heritage Center, the Conservation Society of York County, Mennonite Life/1719 Museum, Community Mennonite Church, Gettysburg College, Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College and more. It has committed itself to the continual deepening of its relationships with allies and advocates in the surrounding community, continuing to execute unique accessible educational programming and lend knowledge, support and perspective to partner initiatives. 

In 2024 & 2025, the Circle Legacy Center, undertook a major commitment to partnership with Franklin & Marshall College made possible by funding through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, wherein two of its members served as community fellows advising faculty research, curricular interventions and scholarly research; developing and teaching two courses on Indigenous histories and futures in Lancaster; and facilitating numerous special events, lectures & performances by Indigenous knowledge keepers and culture bearers from across Turtle Island. Along with this Reckoning with Lancaster initiative at F&M, CLC renewed its memorandum of understanding with Mennonite Life as a partner in administering the Lancaster Longhouse (a part of the 1719 Museum). CLC continued to present impactful Second Friday community programming including events like the interactive Loss of Turtle Island event in partnership with the United Methodist Church Council of Native American Ministries, presentations by its youth ambassador and First Nations '60s Scoop survivors, and of course engaging the community in celebratory woodlands social dancing. 

Finally, demonstrating its nimble resourcefulness, Circle Legacy Center was able to call on relationships with the United Methodist Church and the Dickinson College Center for the Futures of Native Peoples in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to fill in support and celebration gaps in observation of Jim Thorpe Sports Days (JTSD) opening ceremony. Constraints placed on the US Army War College by 2025's rapidly shifting restrictive political policies threatened to derail the long-standing relationship built between CLC and Carlisle Barracks leadership and upend celebrations of Jim Thorpe's legacy, the legacy of Native Veterans, and a separate event, CLC's annual memorial cleaning of the graves ceremony for the children buried by the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. While the JTSD visiting speaker ceremony and accompanying honors could not occur, an off-campus welcome luncheon and post opening ceremony dinner gathering bookended the Army's JTSD opening, creating healing sense of community and belonging for Indigenous veterans, boarding school survivors, descendants and community members hoping to participate in the annual commemoration.

The work that Circle Legacy Center continues to commit itself to has lasting impact in and beyond its community. 

Investing in Our Future

As CLC takes its first steps into the 2025-2028 strategic plan, it has begun the process of fundraising for an investment in next stage growth, building a foundation for a full time executive director and sustainable impact. We hope you'll join us.