The People Behind the Mission

Board Members

Danny Bell is Lumbee and Coharie. He attended East Carolina Indian School and East Carolina College. Danny then served for 31 years combined in the US Army and the 440th Army Band, NCARNG. He worked for the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs for 14 years, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 27 years, where he maintained a focus on American Indian students, American Indian & Indigenous Studies, and engagement between UNC and N.C. Tribes and communities. Danny served 8 years as a member of the NC State Advisory Council on Indian Education and served on the NC Archaeological Society.

Gwen Locklear is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Pembroke and currently serves as the Coordinator of the Wake County Indian Education Program. She served as a member of the State Advisory Council on Indian Education. She is a storyteller and has demonstrated her craft at the American Indian Heritage Celebration at the N.C. Museum of History. Gwen lives in Garner.