I recently wondered why being an environmentalist exists in a space we have to fight for, and why our individual and collective responsibility to uphold and respect relationships to place becomes the work of so few. Is it because we have partitioned our ways of thinking about relationships or is it because we are struggling to know that we are related?
The Indigenous Visionaries initiative builds upon the American Indian College Fund’s previous work for a number of years developing Native women leaders, through education, mentoring, and networking. Indigenous Visionaries focuses on connecting students at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) with faculty members in their area of study.
Since 2004, the American Indian College Fund has awarded the Mellon Career Enhancement Fellowship to deserving tribal college and university (TCU) faculty who are in the final stages of their doctoral programs to complete the writing process of their dissertations.
Thirty-four accredited tribal colleges and universities provide higher education opportunities to American Indian communities nationwide. Now, thanks to a $450,000 three-year grant from The Kresge Foundation, the American Indian College Fund will conduct a study on student success at three tribal colleges (TCUs). These best practices will then be scaled up and replicated at TCUs and other educational institutions working with Native students.
When WalletHub announced its rankings of the best community colleges across the nation, many Americans may have been unfamiliar with its first-place choice, Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC). Tucked away in northern Minnesota on the Leech Lake Ojibwe Indian reservation, LLTC’s recent ranking is part of a long history of success. The college was also voted as seventh in a list of the nation’s 50 best community colleges in 2010 by Washington Monthly.
As we do more, we have to train others to take on more. These were the opening words of Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Vice President of Program Initiatives and Director of Early Childhood Education Initiatives at the American Indian College Fund’s 2017 Restorative Teachings Early Childhood Education convene in Denver, Colorado.
Pōsōh, māwaw new weyak, Corryn Besaw newīhswan mesek Wāqnemōhsaeh eneg, āēkaeyan, mamāceqtaw newīhswan. Hello everyone, my name is Corryn Besaw. My Indian name is Wāqnemōhsaeh, meaning Firefly. I am from Keshena, Wisconsin and am an enrolled member of the Menominee tribe.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and President and CEO of Facebook, visited the Blackfeet Reservation last week. He posted his impressions about the social, economic, and health issues he encountered last week, including joblessness, substance abuse, diabetes, and more.
Groundwater contamination, erosion, lack of access to healthy foods, and poor air quality are just some of the environmental concerns facing American Indian communities across the United States. Yet indigenous people have long held specialized knowledge that can lead to unique solutions to these challenges.
Dr. Nader Vadiee, Ph.D., professor at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, (foreground) asks a question during the “Place Based Curriculum Development (Science and Mathematics) The Role of Mathematics in the Ojibwe Art of Beadwork and Weaving” presentation by Dennis R. White, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College at the Tribal Colleges and Universities Research Conference on June 19, 2017 in Denver, Colo
