Nevada Littlewolf named new CEO of the Tiwahe Foundation

The Tiwahe Foundation Board of Directors has named Nevada Littlewolf as the new President and CEO effective March 1, 2018. Prior to joining the Tiwahe Foundation, Nevada served as the Executive Director of Rural American Indigenous Leadership (RAIL), an organization she founded in 2012 to sup-port and grow women’s leadership in rural Minnesota. She has been an elected leader on the Virginia, Minnesota City Council since 2008. Nevada has developed culturally-specific leadership training with several national training organizations including The White House Project and Wellstone Action. Her leadership is evident across multiple platforms in the state. She has an Associate of Arts Degree from Mesabi College, a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a 2016 Bush Fellow.

Littlewolf currently serves as the Vice-Chair of The Northland Foundation, Board Secretary of ClearWay Minnesota and as a Board member of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.  Governor Dayton appointed Nevada as a non-attorney member of the Sixth Judicial District Judicial Selection Commission in 2009. She continues to provide valuable input around the selection and appointment of new Judges who reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. She also serves on Governor Dayton’s Minnesota Tribal Youth Gathering Planning Team.

Benefit Concert for First Nation Youth going to the Vatican

A trip is being organized by The Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society of St. Paul to accompany Native youth and adults to Italy. The group hopes to ask Pope Francis to rescind the centuries-old “Doctrine of Discovery” or “Papal Bulls.”

The centuries’-old doctrines codified the brutal treatment of First Nations peoples, creating historical and intra-generational trauma among tribal inhabitants in West. The 1493 Papal Bull – written after Columbus’ first voyage –has already been abolished. But doctrines from Papal Bulls of 1452 and 1455 remain.

The benefit proceeds will help fund a trip for 12 First-Nation youth and elders to visit the Vatican to discuss the historical and inter-generational trauma. Featured artists at the benefit concert will include:  Dorene Day Waubanewquay, Max Gail, Prudence Johnson, Thomas LaBlanc, Larry Long, Joe Savage, Keith Secola, Mitch Walking Elk, and First Nation Youth Story-Telling. Food and a silent auction will be included.

The event is co-sponsored by Veterans for Peace, The Environmental Justice and Racial Teams of First Universalist Church, and American Roots Revue.

The benefit will take place on March 18, 1pm to 4pm at First Universalist Church, 3400 Dupont Ave S, Minneapolis. Tickets are $20 at the door. For info, call Larry at 612-237-7746.

MNHS Native American Initiatives announces new exhibit 

The Minnesota Historical Society’s department of Native American Initiatives announced a new permanent exhibit that will focus on Native Americans in Minnesota, slated to open in fall 2019 at the Minnesota History Center. The exhibit will feature the history of the Ojibwe and Dakota, from ancient to contemporary works, and recognize the Ho-Chunk legacy in Minnesota. Using Western research methodologies and Native cultural stories, the depth and breadth of the MNHS collection and archives, this new gallery will guide visitors through the stories of Minnesota’s first inhabitants, their history, cultural traditions and what it means to live here.

The exhibit is just one of many projects being under-taken by the new Native American Initiatives department. Created in December 2016, the department is charged with developing and implementing a strategy for Native American programs and services in collaboration with Native American communities throughout the state and beyond. MNHS hopes this collaboration will result in programs that better represent and honor Native American peoples, stories and experiences at MNHS historic sites and museums.

Slaughter joins St. Catherine University’s Board of Trustees 

St. Catherine University’s Board of Trustees has elected three new members including Angela Hall Slaughter, who is Native American and grew up on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota.

Slaughter is an in-house counsel for Aetna, Inc. where she focuses on healthcare regulatory issues with an emphasis on pharmacy benefits. Prior to working at Aetna, Slaughter was in-house counsel for UnitedHealthCare. She began her law career as an associate at Dorsey & Whitney LLP.

She serves on the Board of Directors for the Legal Rights Center, and recently stepped down as the chair of ANative, Aetna’s Native American employee resource group. Slaughter has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. Kate’s. She attended the University of Minnesota Law School where she earned a juris doctor in 2001.