Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania

The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania (LNPA) is one of more than a dozen cultural heritage organizations of individuals who identify as descendants of the Lenape people, also known as Lenni-Lenape or Delaware people. They are based in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Status
The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania is an unrecognized tribe. Despite having the word nation in its name, the organization is neither a federally recognized tribe nor a state-recognized tribe. Pennsylvania has no federally recognized or state-recognized tribes.

Bill "Whippoorwill" Thompson founded the group in 1998 as the Eastern Lenape Nation.

LNPA Chief of Education and Tribal Storykeeper Adam "Waterbear" DePaul said, "We were quite successful in that endeavor of hiding, and identifying and passing ourselves off as white." He says the tribe is trying to achieve state recognition, but it does not qualify for federal recognition.

Canadian-American linguist K. David Harrison, who partnered with the LNPA on language classes, writes: “some Lenape stayed behind, hid, blended in, intermarried, or assimilated. Remaining in the traditional homeland of the Delaware Valley, their descendants also claim Lenape bloodlines.”

Journalist Samantha Spengler wrote: "Whether or not Lenape people continued to live covertly in Pennsylvania, it’s undisputed that there was no continuous tribal entity in the region." There are three federally recognized Lenape tribes in the United States and two in Canada.

The organization is actively lobbying the Pennsylvania legislature for state recognition.

Nonprofit
In 1996 and again in 2001, the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania formed The Lenape Nation, Inc., aka The Lenape Nation of Pa., Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, based in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Its current administration is:
 * President: Ann Dapice
 * Vice President: Richard Welker
 * Treasurer: Maurice DeMund (2022)
 * Assistant Treasurer: Perry Power (2022)
 * Secretary: Barbara Michalski

Maurice C. DeMund served as president until April 2022. The group has also been based in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

In 2021, the Claneil Foundation gave them $10,000; PayPal Giving Fund donated $7,646; and the AmazonSmile Foundation gave them $481.

Activities
The Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania operates a cultural center in Easton, Pennsylvania. They host an annual powwow at Mauch Chunk Lake Park in present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Once every four years, they host Rising Nation River Journey along the Delaware River. They also created the Lenape Nation Scholarship Fund.

LNPA member Shelley DePaul and Theodore Fernald launched a Lenape language class at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, beginning in 2009.

The Unitarian Congregation, a church in West Chester, Pennsylvania, decided to pay reparations to the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania.