The Red Lake Ojibwe Tribe has received a YouthBuild Grant of $1,008,000. The project will assist participants to attain their high school diploma or GED and gain construction and work readiness skills. The occupational training is provided through the Northwest Technical College Construction Program. Under this program, each course is a "stackable credential" that conveys a certificate of completion to the learner as well as college credits that apply toward academic certificates, diplomas and degrees. The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) will be one of the certifications completed during this training. Participants will build two new low-income housing units through the Red Lake Housing Authority in addition to rehabilitating two substandard dwellings owned by low-income households
State grant helps preserve Native American cosmology
The Minnesota Planetarium Society (Society) will partner with Jim Rock (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) and Roxanne Gould (Odawa/Ojibwe) to create an interactive program that will cover all state education standards of astronomy and Native American cosmology; the program (funded through the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grants, Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund) will consist of culturally relevant Native American star knowledge and cosmology and will be made for flexible use in respect to tribal traditions. It will be designed for planetarium and flat screen use and will include traditional music, instruments, and other artifacts.
Rock, an astronomer at Wayzata High School and Gould, a consultant for Indian Education Programs for Minneapolis Public Schools, will work with the Society to provide the Dakota oral cosmological knowledge and Ojibwe Native American lore. Once completed in summer 2011 the program will be available to schools and audiences through some of Minnesota' s nine planetarium facilities and the ExploraDome.
