The Mission

Nearly half of our budget goes into grants to state environmental programs, non-profits, educational institutions, and others. They use the money for a wide variety of projects, from scientific studies that help us make decisions to community cleanups. Overall, grants help us achieve our overall mission: protect human health and the environment.

The Mission

The mission of the North Carolina Community College System is to open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to post-secondary education, maximize student success, develop a globally and multi-culturally competent workforce, and improve the lives and well-being of individuals by providing...

Narratives weave together across time and cultures at the Mission House. Built by missionary John Sergeant, the house watched over Stockbridge for nearly 200 years before it was moved to its current site for preservation.

The Mission House was built c.1742 by Rev. John Sergeant, who had established a mission for Mohican people in the southern Berkshires. Originally located on Prospect Hill, this National Historic Landmark was carefully disassembled, moved, and restored by Mabel Choate at its present location on Main Street between 1926 and 1930.

After 1769, the life of the California natives who came in contact with the Spanish was reshaped by the mission fathers, not the townspeople of the pueblos or the soldiers of the presidios. The Franciscans came to California not merely to convert the tribes to Christianity but to train them for life in a European colonial society. Conversion was seldom an entirely voluntary process, and converts (neophytes) were not left to return to their old ways but were required to live in the walled mission enclosure or on rancherías, separate settlements sponsored by missions located some distance from the mission proper. There they were taught Spanish as well as the tenets of their new religion and trained in skills that would equip them for their new lives: brickmaking and construction, raising cattle and horses, blacksmithing, weaving, tanning hides, etc.

In theory, the neophytes were to live at the missions only until this process of education was complete, and then they would establish homes in the nearby pueblos. As the native people of one region were Christianized and educated, the missionaries were to move on, leaving the old missions behind to become parish churches as they built new missions in more distant locations peopled by non-converted tribes or "gentiles." In fact, neither the Spanish government nor the Franciscans ever judged any of the neophytes ready for "secularization" or life outside the mission system, and Christian natives or "Mission Indians" and their descendants remained at the missions until the system was abolished in 1834.

By that time, sixty-five years of exposure to Europeans had reduced the number of California's native peoples by half to about 150,000. Although outright warfare cost few lives, Spaniards had introduced not only Christianity but also new diseases to which the neophytes had no resistance, and thousands died in epidemics. Crowded, harsh living conditions at the missions contributed to the Indians' health problems, and infant mortality and death rates among young children soared. It was the tribes of the coast, the "Mission Indians," who were most drastically affected. Tribes like the Modocs in the northern mountains had little or no contact with the Spanish and suffered little.

Before integrating a mission into the curriculum, we strongly encourage parents and educators to preview the entirety of that mission themselves, and make certain it is appropriate for their children/students and community. In the TEACH section of this website, we have provided a vast array of background information, activities, discussion starters, primary source documents, suggestions for further reading and research, and other resources to assist in contextualizing missions for students and helping them to understand the difficult choices and circumstances faced by Americans of different backgrounds.

To learn more about Mission US and our development process, visit the ABOUT section of this website and, as always, please feel free to reach out to the Mission US team at missionus@thirteen.org. 041b061a72