What's New In the Community: July 2014

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TIWAHE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES GRANT

RECIPIENTS

The Tiwahe Foundation is honored to

announce that at its June 10 board meeting, 15 grants were awarded to

Native American individuals in the Twin Cities seven county metro

area through its American Indian Family Empowerment Program Fund.

This program awards $70,000-$80,000 annually to American Indian

individuals and families seeking financial resources to achieve their

goals, shape their future and make positive contributions to their

community through three priority areas: Economic Self-sufficiency;

Education and Cultural Connections.

Grants range from $500 to $2,500,

enough to make a significant impact on grantees and the community and

contributing to the self-determination of individuals. Individuals

received awards in the following focus areas:

Goal 1: Preserving and Renewing Native

Cultural Connections (Learning Native languages, developing kinship

ties, traditional and cultural practices). The grantees include:

Nancy Cain-Kouri, Melissa Davis and Cleone Thompson.

Goal 2: Educational Achievement

(Expenses related to college degrees, certificates, vocational

training, GED, and college entrance exams). Grantees for this goal

were: Travis Earth-Werner, Savanna Elmquist, John Fairbanks, Miigis

Gonzalez, Kevin Head, Mia Mikel, Cynthia Pawlitschek, James Smith,

Shantelle Stately, Kelly Suzick and Aaron Thomson.

Linda Lucero was the grantee for Goal

3, which includes economic self-sufficiency through employment,

business, entrepreneurial opportunities and expenses related to

home-ownership.

AIFEP strives to reverse the social,

educational, and economic challenges facing American Indians by

investing in human capital, skills, resources and cultural strengths

that people possess that allow them to live healthy and productive

lives, build strong relationships, and make meaningful contributions

to their communities. To learn more, visit www.tiwahefoundation.org.

LAC DU FLAMBEAU ARTS CENTER RECEIVES

$88,000 AWARD

LAC DU FLAMBEAU, Wis. Lac du Flambeau’s new Living Arts and

Culture Center received a major boost when the USDA announced that

the project will receive $88,000 in funds to promote economic growth,

support rural business development and create jobs.

The center

was one of 48 projects selected for the award, which provides

training and technical assistance to program managers for artistic

program planning and development. Project planners will use the funds

for a unique "train-the-trainers" initiative. Patricia

O’Neil, Executive Director of Northwoods Niijii Enterprise Community,

said the money will be used to conduct eight planning workshops to

build capacity for artistic programming, business planning and other

needed training. An estimated 100 individuals are expected to

participate.

"This funding provides the community with a

unique opportunity to build the capacity needed to create an artistic

center of excellence, that both preserves an endangered culture and

provides a regional tourism draw," O’Neil said. "Nothing

like this has been developed in this Tribal community in the past, so

operational staff and the new Board of Directors for the Tribal

corporation will be seeking training."

"We see this as

another endorsement of the community’s vision for the future,"

said Georgine Brown, President of the WaasWaaGaning Indian Bowl Board

of Directors. "This is going to build momentum for the project,"

she added.

In his June 12 announcement, Agriculture Secretary Tom

Vilsack stated that the grants "will bring increased economic

opportunities to rural residents and communities by strengthening the

capacity of regional organizations to help small and emerging

businesses." He added, "They also will help organizations

experienced in economic development create more job opportunities for

rural residents across the country."

"On behalf of the

Indian Bowl Board of Directors, we are happy to participate in this

opportunity to rebuild the Indian Bowl," Brown stated. "We

think it can enhance not only our local community but also the

surrounding areas and enable us all to draw more visitors to the

Northwoods."

The Lac du Flambeau Living Arts and Culture

Center will be attached to and expand the George W. Brown Ojibwe

Museum. The ambitious $3.1 million project includes space for

performing arts, theater and dance, artist business incubation, and

education and preservation of endangered arts and practices. More

than $778,000 has been raised to date.

WELLNESS COURT HOLDS GRADUATION

WALKER, Minn. – Cass County/Leech Lake Band

of Ojibwe Wellness Court held a graduation ceremony on June 12.

The graduation celebrated the

successful completion of the program by two of its participants, Troy

Forrest and Allen Dahlberg.

Wellness Court is a joint

jurisdictional DWI court program designed to increase public safety

and reduce long-term costs to the criminal justice system and the

community through intense supervision utilizing a multi-disciplinary

team effort and is jointly funded by the National Highway Traffic

Safety Association, Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety, Cass County

and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, according to Shirley Smith,

Wellness Court coordinator.

The goal of Wellness Court is to break

the cycle of addiction and reduce repeat DWI offenses with treatment

and rehabilitation of participants through a process of

accountability, frequent drug testing, education, substance abuse

treatment, sanctions, and incentives designed to promote long-term

sobriety, accountability, and productive lifestyles, she explained.

The program is overseen by Leech Lake

Tribal Court Judge Megan Treuer and Judge Jana Austad from Cass

County District Court. There have been 38 graduates from the program

since it began in June 2006.