Updated August 7.
A proposed shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, called Aquinnah Headwaters, was unanimously approved by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) on Thursday night with minimal conditions.
According to data from Kinship Heals, the organization proposing the shelter, 85 percent of indigenous women have experienced violence; 56 percent have experienced sexual violence. But shelters to provide support and housing for those women are extremely slim.
Aquinnah Headwaters will be the 58th shelter for indigenous women in the entire country and the first-ever native-run shelter in the state, even though indigenous women face some of the highest rates of violence. According to the Indian Law Resource Center, indigenous women have reported rates of domestic violence at more than 10 times higher than the rest of the country.
“As a tribal, community, and town select board member, I have watched Kinship Heals grow with ideas for the safety of this tribal community,” Aquinnah Select Board member Juli Vanderhoop wrote in a letter of support to the MVC prior to Thursday’s meeting. “The Island is limited in every way for services, but often tribal people feel forgotten because our connection with where we are is different than the community which surrounds us.”
The Aquinnah Headwaters shelter is planned to be a safe place to land for survivors, according to the application, with healing practices grounded in indigenous traditions.
The discussion and deliberation by the MVC was short, and included a few conditions requested by the Land Use and Planning Committee; its members unanimously approved the shelter themselves on August 3.
Aquinnah Headwaters is proposed as a healing headquarters for indigenous women by the Northeast Native Network of Kinship and Healing, often referred to as Kinship Heals. In 2014, Jennifer Randolph, now-executive director of Kinship Heals, founded the Wampanoag Women’s Center as a government program for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). In 2020, Randolph and others opened a separate nonprofit that is now known as Kinship Heals. Their mission is to empower and support tribal members navigating abuse.
“It provides a resource for the community,” Tisbury commissioner Ben Robinson said on Thursday of the proposal when discussing conditions.
The campus is planned for 7.76 acres on 759, 761, and 765 State Road, in partnership with West Tisbury architect firm South Mountain Co. Plans are for a 4,160-square-foot healing center, a 1,780-square-foot food hub, four one-bedroom solar-powered dwellings that are each 750 square feet, and 25 parking spaces. Building would start in 2026 or 2027. There’s also a bus stop planned for the area, and the campus would include a free food pantry.
Kinship Heals purchased the land in 2023 for $1.67 million. An additional $1.07 million was raised for planning and permitting through their fundraising campaign, and Kinship Heals said there’s over $14 million left for construction, most of which they still need to raise.
On Thursday night, commissioners grappled with conditions for the proposed shelter, from traffic considerations to the potential of job creation. The applicant for Aquinnah Headwaters worked with abutters to amend aspects of the project so as not to disrupt the area unnecessarily.
There was little community pushback throughout the application process for Aquinnah Headwaters, with only one letter pointing to concerns about the commercial kitchen. Even that letter, however, offered their support for the campus.
Other letters were all-in for the shelter, with Wampanoag Tribe members advocating for the new space while citing the difficulty indigenous women have finding culturally-rooted healing spaces.
“Aquinnah Headwaters is unique in its design to provide a place of refuge, solace, healing, and personal growth. It’s rare that there’s a place that has been so thoughtfully designed to offer a holistic approach to healing from the trauma that domestic violence creates,” former Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal council chairperson Cheryl Andrews-Maltais wrote in a letter to the MVC.
Editor’s note: Updated to correct land purchase date and the distinction between the Wampanoag Women’s Center and Kinship Heals.
