The purpose of The Circle's website is to create an online community where Minnesota's American Indian people can share their news, photos, events and thoughts about Indian Country and other American Indian related topics.

The Circle forums and blogs are owned by The Circle Corporation, a non-profit 501(c)3. The Circle retains the right to remove content or to ban any member for any reason, including, but not limited to, failure to abide by the followingrules. All forums, blogs and other contributed content are subject to the following rules.

By contributing to our website you grant The Circle perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive rights to publish your entry in our online and offline newspaper. You also grant us the right to remove, edit, move to a separate thread or board, modify, adapt, and translate that entry, and make it available to the public worldwide.

Discussion forums and blogs are public communications, and in signing up to our online community you acknowledge that your posts will be read by others.

As The Circle News website is a news and information portal for the Indian Community, we ask that you use your real, and full, name when creating your online user name. No one likes to get their news sources from DakotaDude, OjibweFox, or HandsomeHo-Chunk. 

What kind of content we are looking for:

Not sure what we're looking for in content submissions?

Here are some suggestions depending on who you are. Your content submissions should always include the following information:

1. Who (are the people involved)

2. What (was going on)

3. When (did it take place)

4. Where (did it happen)

5. Why (did it happen)

* to learn more about writing a press release see "Press Release Basics".

Non-profit agencies, government organizations, tribal governments or other agencies that serves the Native community:

• Agency Awards: what the award is for, history of the organization/agency, and brief description of organization that gave the award. 

• Upcoming events with indepth information on the event (and add a shorter version to the calendar of events listing).

• New executive directors and other lead positions: include their background (personal and professional) information, starting date, what they bring to the job, quotes from them about their goals for the job, and contact information. 

• Grant awards with information on what the money will be used for, how it will benefit the community, and how people can get involved.

• New programs or initiatives: program name, start dates, goals, funding sources, and other information that will introduce people to the new program.

• Survey results and other educational materials that your organization has collected/created that will help educate the Native community. (Your organization must own the copyright in order to publish them here.)

• Client profile: personal stories of success. Who your organization has helped and how. These stories are best when the focus is on one person (make sure you have their permission first). Give details about what problem they had and how your program, project or services helped them. Quotes from community members are always a wonderful addition to a story. How other people with the same problem can contact your agency, and guidelines/qualifications.

Tribal and urban indian schools:

• New teacher profiles

• Graduation lists,  deans lists, scholarship/fellowship winners

•  Student and teacher achievements and awards

• Student essays that deal with Native issues, history, or culture. (pick only the top 1 or 2 if you have a whole class full of essays. Make it a prize for them to strive for.)

• New testing requirements, entrance requirements,  and any other information that will help the community keep up to date with events.

Individuals:

• Cover events in your area. For example:  you go a local Indian art fair and see some great artwork and meet the artists. Write about who you met, what kind of artwork they do, who your favorite artist was, where the art fair took place, who organized it, and when the next one will be. 

• Report on the local powwow. Tell us what groups showed up, who the MC was. Whether there were lots of vendor and food stalls there. Who organized the event. Who you snagged with (just kidding). 

• Awards, scholarships, or achievements. Did you win a scholarship to college, take  first place at an art fair, or win in a powwow competition category?  Tell the community about it. We all need to see each other doing and achieving positive things in the community, and providing role models for our young people.

Remember to check your spelling for errors, make sure dates are correct, and that names are spelled correctly.  Thanks for being a part of The Circle's citizen journalism website.

FORUM RULES:

• Respect other people's opinions and viewpoints.
• Do not bully or threaten other participants.
• Do not post content that is false, lacks factual basis, is misleading, or attacks another person's character.
• Write in a professional manner. Thought-provoking commentary, helpful criticism and fact-filled debates are encouraged.
• Do not post comments or content that is vulgar, crude, sexist, racist, homophobic or otherwise discriminatory and/or offensive.
• Please refrain from swearing, dragging conversations off-topic, or holding personal conversations in general discussions.
• Post only events and stories that are about American Indians or related to American Indian culture, news, and issues.
• Do not impersonate another person or entity.
• Do not imbed affiliate links or ad programs in posts.
• Do not send spam: automated, unsolicited posting of irrelevant advertisements.
• Do not violate standard copyright law. Acceptable use and fair use rules include quoting and attribution of a public document for comment only.
• Posts must comply with US laws, including: laws against defamation, libel, and improper disclosure of confidential information.
• Do not post URLs or links of sites just to advertise your website or products. Do not use the discussion forums or blogs for commercial purposes.
• Do not complain about The Circle or its staff/board. If you have issues with The Circle or its staff, please email your complaints to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Posts will be removed immediately if they violate any of these rules. Members who violate any of the rules 3 times will be permanently banned from the site.

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