Indigenous Democracy Reporter

Adrianna Adame

<html><head></head><body>Backstage, nearly a dozen designers prepped models to strut their colorful designs, intricate applique and silkscreen prints during the Culture’d Couture Fashion Show and Silent Auction on Nov. 30 at the Bismarck Civic Center.
Bonnie Good Bird and Rochelle Wells, the mother-daughter founders of Culture’d Couture, had long dreamed of hosting a runway fashion show in their community. Good Bird and Wells discussed the idea with Sacred Pipe Resource Center staff. Eventually, they organized the event following the 8th Annual Native Art, Craft and Entrepreneur Fair.
In addition to the two Culture’d Couture founders, the showcase included the work of designers Crystal Two Hearts and ShoShana Saddler.
Good Bird and Wells, both citizens of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, founded Culture’d Couture in September. Good Bird, a retired Bureau of Indian Affairs Land Development worker, is known for her ribbon skirts and pants. She started sewing six years ago to create beautiful and colorful designs. Her daughter, Rochelle Wells, specializes in T-shirts and silkscreen printing, a technique that uses stencils to transfer ink onto fabric.
The purpose of hosting the Culture’d Couture Fashion Show was to display the work of local Indigenous designers. All the clothing featured throughout the event tied back to Native art and culture.
<blockquote>“We have a beautiful culture,” she said. “So embrace our culture because it was not many years ago that we could not speak our language. We couldn’t wear our attire and sing our songs or be in ceremony.”</blockquote>
ShoShana Saddler, a citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, first learned crafts from her aunt when she was 8 years old, with her first project being a bracelet. In junior high, she began sewing and eventually created more complex outfits. She primarily makes ribbon skirts and shirts but also experiments with beading. In recent years, Saddler has received growing requests and commissions from Rocky Boy’s Reservation community members.
The now 38-year-old learned about the fashion show from Good Bird, a member of her extended family. She chose to participate because she believes Indigenous representation is crucial in art and design, and she emphasizes that the heart and intention behind each piece are what truly matter.
“It’s a form of art because when you make those, you’re putting a part of you into that work,” she said. “I always tell my kids or the people I’m teaching that when you’re beading or sewing, you have to go into it in a good way because you’re putting that energy into whatever you’re doing.”
Prior to the event, Good Bird held an Indigenous designer and model search for the Culture’d Couture Showcase at the Sacred Pipe Resource Center on Nov. 22. Altogether, four designers and 20 models registered for the show.
Professional model Fatima Finley taught aspiring models what to expect on and off the runway, helped them develop their style of walk and gain confidence while onstage. In addition to building their portfolios, applicants had the opportunity to spotlight and sell wearable art. Models walked three times throughout the show on Saturday.
Good Bird and Wells had the models practice on the runway stage the morning before the fashion show. Many of the models were young adults and teenagers.
“I accepted the models all the way up to Friday the 29th,” Good Bird said. “That’s why we got so many –– but they needed the confidence to be able to walk down and practice on that stage. They did extremely well.”
Good Bird sells her clothing at a few events yearly, including the annual SPRC Native Art, Craft and Entrepreneur Fair. She suggests anyone interested in custom pieces reach out to her on Facebook or in-person back home in New Town.
Looking ahead to 2025, Good Bird plans to expand her presence at additional venues. Her next scheduled event will be at the Indigenous Association in Fargo on Feb. 14, followed by another on May 21 at the Fort Berthold Reservation.
Beyond expanding her venues, Good Bird plans to continue honing her craft. She aims to learn appliqué and enhance her ribbon stitching skills while incorporating more inspiration from the MHA Nation into her designs. “The Mandans have a lot of geometric designs,” she said.
Nevayleigh Hill, an eighth-grader from New Town, learned about the fashion show from “Aunt Bonnie.” 
Encouraged by Good Bird, who believed she had what it takes to model, the 13-year-old participated in the event. Throughout the show, Hill primarily wore ribbon skirts. The MHA Nation citizen said she had a positive experience working as a model during the showcase.
“It was really fun practicing, doing the classes and learning about modeling,” Hill said. “Whenever we had to walk in front of everyone, I was really nervous at first, but then you just got used to it. You just have to have the right mindset to do it.”
</body></html>

Culture’d Couture fashion show brings Bismarck-Mandan community together for Native art and style

<html><head></head><body>As evening fell in Bismarck, members of the Indigenous Parent Advisory Committee recently gathered to spark a quiet revolution in school governance. They deliberated on a return to their roots – replacing rigid parliamentary procedures with Indigenous peacemaking, a shift that could reshape how Native voices are heard in their children’s education.
This move towards traditional governance began at a Sept. 12 meeting, where committee members proposed adopting an Indigenous model. To guide the transition, they enlisted Cheryl Kary, executive director of the Sacred Pipe Resource Center, and Natasha Gourd, a peacemaking facilitator from the Native American Rights Fund.
Gourd, a Spirit Lake Nation citizen, presented on Indigenous peacemaking—a community-driven conflict resolution process. At one time, we were called ‘The Orators of the Plains.’ This is one way to reclaim that ability to talk to each other and bring issues out into the open.” The approach engages all parties, relying on collective wisdom to seek understanding, promote healing, and prevent future conflicts.
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="791" height="1024" class="wp-image-102840" src="https://d2g6e42mls53l2.cloudfront.net/bf/2024/10/Indigenous-vs-European-values-791x1024.jpg" alt=""></figure>
“I would just say that in adopting this, I think it’s sending a message to administration that there are other ways of doing this,” Gourd said. “It’s an Indigenous practice. It’s something we’re used to.”
Some examples of ground rules include: peacemaking is voluntary; listen with respect; it’s okay to disagree; and be tough on the problem – not the person. In this process everyone gets a chance to speak without interruption, and people only speak for themselves, not the whole group.
This new model would shift from a Euro-Anglo-American value system to one rooted in Indigenous values. These Indigenous values emphasize respect, responsibility and community. They encourage group problem-solving, involve an “expert” to facilitate discussions, and seek to achieve a shared understanding.
Parents expressed their support for the idea, prompting the IPAC members to ask Kary and Gourd to revise a draft of the bylaws accordingly. Sections of the Johnson O’Malley Indian Education Committee and Title VI American Indian Parent Committee bylaws were revised to include an Indigenous governance structure. Both women reviewed all the changes with attendees at the last meeting on Sept. 24.
The most significant suggestions from the JOM bylaws pertain to meetings, parliamentary authority and the grievance procedure.
Article VI – Meetings: This article states, “In recognition of traditional Indigenous practices of governance, consensus-based decision-making will be used for most Indian Education Committee meeting decisions. An annual training will be provided on the principles of consensus-based decision-making. In situations where an official vote is required to comply with district, state, or federal regulations, Robert’s Rules of Order will be used.” The same is written in Article VII – Parliamentary Authority.
Article IX – Grievance Procedure: “Indigenous peacemaking/restorative justice practice will be used at the request of any Indian Education Committee officer or parent that believes a conflict has occurred or by consensus of the IEC. Requests will be made to any IEC officer and any such requests will be forwarded to the district. Within two weeks of such a request, the officer and/or district shall consult with an individual or organization proficient in Indigenous peacemaking/restorative justice practices and make arrangements to utilize such services.”
If Indigenous peacemaking isn’t feasible, members will follow the original process: submitting a written grievance to the IEC for investigation and action.
These revisions can serve as a guide. “You can formalize the practice however you want,” Kary said.
Other sections of both bylaws remain unchanged. “We just added another feature to the bylaws that allows you the flexibility to use consensus as well as Robert’s Rules of Order,” Kary said. “So, we didn’t take it away. We’re going to use this, but there’s still mechanisms in here that you could fall back on if you needed to.”
The committee will still use Robert’s Rules of Order, a formal parliamentary procedure, as needed for district matters. “If you’re requesting to change a policy, you’ll still need an official vote that shows the majority of parents,” Kary said. Other topics such as event planning and discussing ideas don’t require Robert’s Rules of Order.
<figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-medium-font-size">
<blockquote>“I would just say that in adopting this, I think it’s sending a message to administration that there are other ways of doing this. It’s an Indigenous practice. It’s something we’re used to.”
<cite>Natasha Gourd, peacemaking faciltator</cite></blockquote>
</figure>
Gourd, the former IPAC vice chairperson, talked about how the current governance structure they’ve been using has been confusing to learn and less welcoming. “It was a very trying process because we were new members and we were barely getting used to Robert’s Rules of Order – it was really stressful,” she said. “And then, years down the road, I attended the National JOM Conference and found out that we don’t need all of those regulations to operate as a parent committee. We could fully operate on our own rules.”
Tomi Cimarosti, the Indigenous Education Director at Bismarck Public Schools, supported the committee’s decision to proceed with adopting this new governance structure. “There’s a time right now where we can start fresh,” she said. “ However IPAC wants to run IPAC, Dr. Fastnacht stands right behind it.”
The next meeting on Oct. 29 will continue discussions on transitioning to an Indigenous governance structure and amending the bylaws. In the meantime, final edits will be made and shared with parents and community members for their review and feedback.
Gourd said she is looking forward to seeing things change for the better. “I just think that it’s important to recognize that this is going to create less obstacles for families to participate,” she said. “It will create a more welcoming environment for families to be heard. We’re trying to make it a little less stressful and more supportive of working together for our kids.”
</body></html>

Indigenous parents reclaim traditional governance in Bismarck schools

External

<html><head></head><body>Environmental group Greenpeace has asked a judge for permission to collect evidence related to a conservative-leaning, pro-fossil fuel mailer it believes could taint the jury pool in its legal battle with Energy Transfer, the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
In October, some residents of Morton County received a 12-page direct mailer titled “Central ND News” that contains positive coverage of Energy Transfer while also drawing attention to criminal behavior by anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protesters.
“I would say the purpose of that publication is, quite clearly, to remind people about what was happening eight years ago,” Everett Jack, an attorney representing Greenpeace, said during a Monday afternoon hearing. “We should be entitled to find out who made that decision.”
Greenpeace is one of many activist groups that supported the protests, which took place in rural south-central North Dakota near the Standing Rock Reservation in 2016 and 2017. The demonstrations were in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which opposes the pipeline out of pollution and sovereignty concerns.
In the aftermath of the protests, Energy Transfer filed suit against Greenpeace in Morton County District Court, accusing the environmental group of engaging in criminal behavior during the demonstrations and of waging a misinformation campaign against the company.
Energy Transfer alleges tens of millions of dollars in damages. Greenpeace, meanwhile, argues there is no evidence it ever took part in or endorsed criminal activity during the protests, or that it sought to defame Energy Transfer. The case is scheduled to go to trial in February.
Greenpeace seeks permission from Southwest Judicial District Court Judge James Gion to conduct discovery into the Texas-based company that printed and distributed the Central ND News. It wants to find out who hired the company to send the mailers, what their motivation was and whether the Central ND News was targeted explicitly at Morton County residents, according to court records.
“We should have the right to figure out who sent it when they did and why,” Jack said during the hearing.
Trey Cox, representing Energy Transfer, said the Central ND news is simply a local news publication and it existed long before the mailer was sent out. He pointed out that Greenpeace is not mentioned anywhere in the 12-page mailer.
“I do not believe that this motion has any basis in law or in fact,” Cox said during the hearing. He called Greenpeace’s request a “thinly veiled attempt” to push back the trial date and to transfer the case to a different court.
The direct mailer resembles a print newspaper. It’s unclear how many people received a copy. So far, Greenpeace has not found any evidence that the mailers were sent to anyone outside Morton County.
Its distribution to Morton County residents in October was first reported in a joint article <a href="https://www.newscoopnd.org/weird-newspaper-calls-out-dapl-pipeline-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">by the North Dakota News Cooperative and climate news publication Floodlight.</a> Central ND News does not appear to be based in North Dakota, the publications reported. Their article identifies the owner of the publication as Metric Media, which in recent years has propped up <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/metric-media-lobbyists-funding.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hundreds of conservative local news outlets</a> with little original content.
Much of the material in the October mailer is old news. One article describes a $5 million donation Energy Transfer made to the University of Mary in 2018. Two others focus on events from the DAPL protests that took place in 2016.
Even if Central ND News is not a new publication, to Greenpeace’s knowledge, this fall was the first time it ever published anything about the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, Jack said. He added that as far as he could tell, the October mailer was also the only time the Central ND News had ever sent a physical paper to Morton County residents.
Several pages of the mailer aren’t related to the protests or to Energy Transfer. Some include content that is favorable toward President-elect Donald Trump, Gov. Doug Burgum and North Dakota’s congressional delegation, as well as information about gas prices around the state and local events.
The Central ND News also has a website, centralndnews.com. The outlet has published roughly a dozen stories critical of anti-DAPL protesters since early August, each of them relying heavily on reporting from other news outlets, a review by the North Dakota Monitor found. Most of the stories end with several paragraphs about Energy Transfer’s lawsuit against Greenpeace.
Jack raised questions about possible ties between Metric Media and Energy Transfer founder and board chair Kelcy Warren. In early September, Warren made a contribution to a political action committee that days later paid Metric Media for “media services,” he said. He said the mailer started appearing in Morton County mailboxes a few weeks later.
Cox said there’s no proof that Warren’s donation had anything to do with Metric Media.
Greenpeace has published content highly critical of Energy Transfer, he added, so it has no right to worry about the Central ND News prejudicing the jury.
Moreover, Greenpeace’s request for discovery is unnecessary because the jury selection process will filter out biased jurors, Cox said.&nbsp;
“Let’s assume that everyone in Morton County got this newspaper,” he said. “So what?”
Jack said Greenpeace is not asking for the trial to be rescheduled. However, he said if its request for discovery is granted, Greenpeace could request the case to be moved to a different court depending on what information it uncovers.
Gion said he will take the matter under advisement.
</body></html>

Mary Steurer

Greenpeace seeks court permission to research mailer critical of DAPL protests

<html><head></head><body>Native American children remain overrepresented in the South Dakota foster care system, accounting for 72.5% of the foster care population at the end of fiscal year 2024, according to new data.
That’s down slightly from 74% at the end of the 2023 fiscal year. The state’s fiscal years run from July to June. 
The percentage is still about seven times greater than Indigenous children’s <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/children-by-raceethnicity/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">representation</a> in the state’s general population.&nbsp;
The state Department of Social Services recently released its <a href="https://dss.sd.gov/docs/statistics/Child_Protection_Data/2024_Annual_Data.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">annual Child Protection Services report</a>, detailing the number of children in foster care, how they’re cared for and where they’re discharged.
Of the state’s 1,710 foster care children at the end of fiscal year 2024, 1,239 were Native American, the report says.
<div class="newsroomSidebarContainer ">
<div class="newsroomSidebar">
<h4>The Lost Children</h4>
South Dakota Searchlight, in collaboration with the Argus Leader, investigated the overrepresentation of Native American children in the state’s foster care system — its causes, effects and potential solutions — in the 2023 series <a href="https://southdakotasearchlight.com/tag/the-lost-children/page/2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Lost Children.</a>
</div>
</div>
Nearly 30% of children, regardless of their race, were placed in kinship care with relatives or close family friends, while 85% were placed in a “family setting” with a foster family.
The department added the “kinship care placement” detail in the latest report as it works to increase the number of family members or relatives caring for a child instead of placing a child in a foster home. Of the state’s 824 foster homes, 89 — or 11% — are Native American.
The department plans to start a Kinship Licensing Program next year to increase <a href="https://stateline.org/2024/05/24/states-shift-toward-kin-first-foster-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">kinship caregiver</a> numbers. Currently, kinship caregivers <a href="https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2023/11/12/foster-families-get-paid-but-not-kinship-relatives-caring-for-native-children/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">don’t receive the same amount of resources and financial support</a> as foster parents, unless they become licensed foster parents themselves. That training is intensive, time consuming and potentially unrelated to the kin’s situation since they’re already familiar with the child.
When children have to be removed from their homes, <a href="https://www.childtrends.org/publications/kinship-care-supports-the-academic-performance-of-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prioritizing kinship care</a> can improve academic, behavioral and mental health outcomes, and allow the child to stay within their culture and community, according to Child Trends, a research organization focused on child welfare.
The next step in creating the Kinship Licensing Program is to get approval from the Legislative Rules Review Committee.
The representation of Native American children in the South Dakota foster care system has increased in recent years to over 70% of all children in the system. As of June 30, 2024, 1,710 children were in the child welfare system, and 1,239 were Native American.
Native American children remain overrepresented in the South Dakota foster care system, accounting for 72.5% of the foster care population at the end of fiscal year 2024, according to new data.
That’s down slightly from 74% at the end of the 2023 fiscal year. The state’s fiscal years run from July to June. 
The percentage is still about seven times greater than Indigenous children’s <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/children-by-raceethnicity/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">representation</a> in the state’s general population.&nbsp;
The state Department of Social Services recently released its <a href="https://dss.sd.gov/docs/statistics/Child_Protection_Data/2024_Annual_Data.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">annual Child Protection Services report</a>, detailing the number of children in foster care, how they’re cared for and where they’re discharged.
Of the state’s 1,710 foster care children at the end of fiscal year 2024, 1,239 were Native American, the report says.
<div class="newsroomSidebarContainer ">
<div class="newsroomSidebar">
<h4>The Lost Children</h4>
South Dakota Searchlight, in collaboration with the Argus Leader, investigated the overrepresentation of Native American children in the state’s foster care system — its causes, effects and potential solutions — in the 2023 series <a href="https://southdakotasearchlight.com/tag/the-lost-children/page/2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Lost Children.</a>
</div>
</div>
Nearly 30% of children, regardless of their race, were placed in kinship care with relatives or close family friends, while 85% were placed in a “family setting” with a foster family.
The department added the “kinship care placement” detail in the latest report as it works to increase the number of family members or relatives caring for a child instead of placing a child in a foster home. Of the state’s 824 foster homes, 89 — or 11% — are Native American.
The department plans to start a Kinship Licensing Program next year to increase <a href="https://stateline.org/2024/05/24/states-shift-toward-kin-first-foster-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">kinship caregiver</a> numbers. Currently, kinship caregivers <a href="https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2023/11/12/foster-families-get-paid-but-not-kinship-relatives-caring-for-native-children/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">don’t receive the same amount of resources and financial support</a> as foster parents, unless they become licensed foster parents themselves. That training is intensive, time consuming and potentially unrelated to the kin’s situation since they’re already familiar with the child.
When children have to be removed from their homes, <a href="https://www.childtrends.org/publications/kinship-care-supports-the-academic-performance-of-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prioritizing kinship care</a> can improve academic, behavioral and mental health outcomes, and allow the child to stay within their culture and community, according to Child Trends, a research organization focused on child welfare.
The next step in creating the Kinship Licensing Program is to get approval from the Legislative Rules Review Committee.
According to the 2024 fiscal year report, Child Protection Services worked with over 700 children without removing them from their home. That can be through a “safety plan,” which is a strategy created by a social worker to address safety concerns of at-risk families while a case is being investigated.
“What we know is when parents and children can be together and both go through those changes and processes and see that behavior change at the same time, we tend to see better outcomes,” said Pamela Bennett, the division director of South Dakota Child Protection Services, during an Indian Child Welfare Advisory Council meeting earlier this year.
South Dakota is developing its federally mandated, three-year <a href="https://dss.sd.gov/childprotection/prevention/familyfirst.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Family First Prevention Plan</a>, which would use federal funds to pay for prevention services without removing children from at-risk homes. South Dakota is one of the last four states in the nation to create its plan.
Of the 1,006 children who left the child welfare system during the 2024 fiscal year, 493 were reunited with their families, 233 were adopted (58% by a foster parent and 37% by a relative), 63 children were transferred to a tribal program, 65 children aged out of the system, 88 were placed into a formal guardianship agreement, 50 were placed with a relative without guardianship, four were transferred to the Department of Corrections, and six were transferred to another agency. 
Two children ran away and two children died in state care. The report did not include further information about the deaths or runaways. A request for more information from South Dakota Searchlight is pending with the Department of Social Services.
The department also reported the placement of 241 children in adoptive homes.
&nbsp;
</body></html>

Makenzie Huber 

Native kids remain overrepresented in South Dakota foster system

<html><head></head><body>Eugene “Ray” Taken Alive has spent the better part of four years in an ongoing back-and-forth legal battle against the Lakota Language Consortium, a language conservation program that his late grandmother Delores Taken Alive supported.
Taken Alive, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, isn’t alone in his battle – the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is now preparing to launch its own lawsuit against the consortium, which it banned from its lands in 2022.
On Oct. 10, the tribal council approved a resolution to sue the company in order to gain any recordings or derivative works of tribal citizens obtained by the Lakota Language Consortium.
Janet Alkire, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairwoman, declined to comment on the matter.
The Lakota Language Consortium was founded by two non-Native people, Jan Ullrich and Wilhelm Meya. The company originally focused on the Lakota language, Lakȟótiyapi, but has now expanded to include Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language), Apsáalooke (Crow Language), the Northern Cheyenne dialect/language, the Apache language, Dinju Zhuh Kʼyuu (Gwich’in language) and Quechua.
The consortium produces a variety of language learning materials, including a dictionary app, a Lakota keyboard for smartphones, a physical dictionary, flashcards, picture books and children’s books. All of these materials are designed to be taught in classrooms, and the company even supplies a teaching guide of its own.
While it was founded by non-Native people, the consortium’s board of directors includes several Oceti Sakowin people, and until recently was led by Executive Director Alex Fire Thunder, Oglala Lakota, who produces a Lakota language podcast.
The consortium did not respond to requests for comment.
Founder and linguistic director Jan Ullrich worked with Taken Alive’s grandmother, Delores, and other Hunkpapa Lakota elders to develop the initial Lakota Language Dictionary. Ullrich began working with Delores in 2005.
Initially, the tribe viewed the consortium’s work as a means of revitalizing the Lakota language, Taken Alive said. But in time, the partnership deteriorated.
The tribe voted to ban the company, as well as Meya and Ullrich, from its lands in North Dakota and South Dakota in May 2022. The decision to ban the consortium was, in part, triggered by its treatment of Taken Alive.
A majority of the company’s Lakota language materials came from the tribe and were recorded on tribal land, Taken Alive said, particularly from his grandmother Delores Taken Alive.
Taken Alive said the consortium has exploited the tribe and its elders.
In the past three years, Taken Alive said, the consortium has threatened him with a million-dollar lawsuit and cease and desist letters and published press releases about him, as well as attempted to strip him and his wife of their South Dakota teaching licenses.
<h3>A brewing conflict</h3>
Delores Taken Alive, born in 1933, was a fluent Lakota speaker and Standing Rock elder who was passionate about preserving the Lakota language. She provided a wealth of information on the Lakota language to her people.
Ray Taken Alive and his grandmother spent countless hours discussing the Lakota language, looking at language books, attending conferences and more.
In August 2020, after Delores died, Taken Alive sought out recordings of his grandmother speaking the Lakota language.
“I wanted to hear all of the recordings I could,” he said. “Maybe I’d missed something, or maybe she gave me a message and I missed it.”
He received recordings from the local tribal radio station, but hit a roadblock when attempting to work with the consortium.
Taken Alive reached out to Ullrich, who told Taken Alive he couldn’t share the recordings without a grant.
“That was a huge red flag for me,” Taken Alive said. “I’m sitting here grieving my grandmother and he’s telling me he’s keeping a piece of her from me. Why would you need (money) to give someone recordings of their grandmother speaking?”
After this incident, Taken Alive began to question who the consortium was serving, and he suspected it wasn’t the Lakota people.
A majority of the materials gathered by the consortium came from Standing Rock elders on the Standing Rock Reservation.
So he began making his own materials using elders in the community, not relying on anything produced by the consortium, he said. He’d post daily language lessons to his Facebook page sharing lessons his grandmother had taught him.
Not long after, he was hit with a copyright infringement notice.
A language itself cannot be copyrighted; however, the materials produced about a language can be copyrighted. The consortium is the sole owner of its language education materials, despite the involvement of Standing Rock tribal citizens’ involvement in producing those materials.
“I knew then that something really weird was going on here,” Taken Alive said. “To tell a Lakota person they can’t speak their language? That was traumatic. Why do I have to ask this corporation four or five states away in Indiana if I can use my ancestral Lakota language?”
In 2021, at the National Indian Education Association conference in Omaha, Taken Alive and Meya engaged in a verbal altercation, which was caught on video, and served as part of the consortium’s complaint against him to the South Dakota Board of Education.
<h3>The consortium fires back</h3>
In March 2023, the consortium filed a complaint against Taken Alive and his wife Lisa Bordeaux-Taken Alive, Sicangu Lakota, with the South Dakota Board of Education’s ethics board.
Taken Alive is a Lakota language teacher at McLaughlin High School in South Dakota and his wife is the principal of McLaughlin High School.
McLaughlin is a town on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Reservation, which straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.
Alex Fire Thunder (Oglala Lakota and the consortium’s former executive director), Wilhelm Meya and Jan Ullrich filed the complaint against the Taken Alive family on the basis that the two had “embarked on an unrelenting and malicious campaign to defame the Lakota Language Consortium, Alex Fire Thunder, Wilhelm Meya and Jan Ullrich.”
The consortium claimed it and its members are part of the McLaughlin School District community where the Taken Alives are employed.
The Taken Alives received letters of support from nine tribes – eight of the nine tribes in South Dakota and one tribe in North Dakota, including the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Yankton Sioux Tribe and Spirit Lake Oyate in North Dakota.
“Mr and Mrs. Taken Alive cannot be silenced by those who wish to monopolize and monetize the Lakota language,” the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe said in its letter of support.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe did not offer a letter in support of the two and has previously supported the consortium, which works with three schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
On June 28, 2023, the Taken Alives spoke in their own defense before the South Dakota Board of Education, which ruled in their favor and allowed them to keep their teaching licenses.
<h3>A shared vision</h3>
Taken Alive, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Lakota Language Consortium all agree preserving the Lakota language is of the utmost importance. The issue is the tribe doesn’t agree with the approach the consortium has taken.
According to the consortium website, the organization “envisions a day when the Lakota language is once again spoken in every Lakota household – where every Lakota parent has the resources and opportunity to speak Lakota daily – where Lakota people are developing and moving forward with Lakȟótiyapi and growing the language in new and profound ways.”
The website also notes that the consortium is working to transfer ownership of language data to community archives in Standing Rock and Pine Ridge and plans to work with both tribes to create the tools and software to store, catalog and search the collection.
“All data shall be permanently stored and owned by the Tribes,” the website says.
A majority of the consortium’s board of directors is made up of Native members, including Lakota members. Ullrich is the only member who is non-Native.
In both the May 2022 resolution to ban the consortium and the recent resolution to pursue legal action, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe cites a desire to reclaim resources produced on its land with the assistance of its elders.
The tribe also notes in the 2022 banishment resolution that all future external language efforts must fairly compensate those who supply language services.
Taken Alive said he isn’t sure if his grandmother Delores was compensated for her work or how much.
Sitting Bull College, a tribal college on the reservation, is working to create its own language materials and a new generation of fluent Lakota and Dakota speakers. The tribe wants Lakota/Dakota to be the<a href="https://www.standingrock.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Standing-Rock-Next-Generation-Plan-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> first language of tribal citizens by 2045.</a>
Both Lakota and Dakota are the ancestral languages of citizens of the Standing Rock Reservation.
&nbsp;
</body></html>

Amelia Schafer

Standing Rock to sue to gain Lakota language materials

<html><head></head><body>Indigenous educators gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the North Dakota Tribal College System at the North Dakota Heritage Center on Thursday.&nbsp;
“This event is very significant in that we were the first state coalition of Tribal colleges,” said Tracey Bauer, the Executive Director of the NDTCS. “And so that really speaks to our predecessors and their visionary thoughts, that they actually had the foresight to know that this was needed and that this was an association that was going to be able to stand the test of time.”
What began as Tribal-founded colleges operating on shoestring budgets has grown into a powerful educational and economic force. The five Tribal colleges in North Dakota now generate $169.5 million in annual economic impact and support more than 2,000 jobs statewide. Nearly three-quarters of graduates either work within their reservations or remain in-state, contributing $104.4 million in increased earnings to North Dakota’s economy.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #9061 and the Mandaree Singers opened the event with a song and the posting of the colors. Leander “Russ” McDonald, president of United Tribes Technical College, offered the invocation and a prayer, and Twyla Baker, president of Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, delivered the opening remarks. Prairie Rose Seminole, an advocate and citizen of the Three Affiliated Tribes, served as emcee throughout the event.&nbsp;
The celebration featured three main parts. The first, “Honoring Our Past,” featured Gerald “Carty” Monette, a founding board member of the NDTCS and president of Turtle Mountain College from 1975 to 2005. He shared the history of Tribal colleges in the state and nationwide.&nbsp;
Monette emphasized the importance of partnership and collaboration. He noted that the Tribal College Movement of the 1970s played a key role in shaping the positive impact these institutions continue to have on both reservation and off-reservation communities today.
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium was established in 1973 by the first six tribally chartered colleges in the United States, including: Navajo Community College, now known as Diné College; Ogalala Sioux Community College; Standing Rock Community College, now known as Sitting Bull College; Turtle Mountain Community College, now known as Turtle Mountain College; Fort Berthold Community College, now known as Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College; and Sinte Gleska College.&nbsp;
Today, the AIHEC represents 37 institutions nationwide. North Dakota has five Tribal colleges, the second-largest number in the country, following Montana, which has seven.
“I think it’s safe to say that the creation of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium is a result of participation and the influence of the North Dakota Tribal Colleges,” Monette said. “And that’s important to know.”
In 1973, Tribal colleges were not yet accredited. Monette and others pushed for their accreditation to enable these institutions to access previously ineligible funding. At the time, available funding was limited, and additional financial support was needed to better serve staff and students.
“The colleges were created by the tribal governments,” he said. “They had nothing, except for that money that was being controlled by the mainstream institutions to hire a few staff, mostly faculty people, to teach some classes on the reservation. No facilities. No money for staff. No money for resources. No money to buy books. No money to hire people. No money at all.”
The game changer for Tribal colleges was the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978, signed by President Jimmy Carter. The bill authorizes federal assistance to institutions of higher education that are formally controlled or have been formally sanctioned or chartered by the governing body of an Indian Tribe or Tribes.&nbsp;
“The money started to flow,” Monette said. “The one thing about becoming eligible for funding from the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act is that we had a financial base, and we were able to seek and get accreditation. When accreditation opened up, we received money for every enrolled Indian student at our institution.”
Since then, Tribal colleges have been able to thrive. As a part of their continuing growth, these institutions have been implementing more collaboration locally and nationally.
The second part, “Celebrating Our Present: The Importance of Meaningful Partnerships,” featured Colleen Fitzgerald, vice president of the Office of Research and Creative Activity at North Dakota State University. She discussed how building connections can open doors to new opportunities.
Fitzgerald previously ran a Documenting Endangered Languages program through the National Science Foundation. Through her work there, she met Tribal leaders and educators, such as Monette, McDonald and Baker. They came up with “an idea of bringing worlds together and seeing how we could cross-pollinate if we built those relationships,” she said.
As the program officer, Fitzgerald was also able to fund a language revitalization project at Sitting Bull College that focused on what the community wanted. She encourages local and national organizations to work together with Indigenous communities and listen to their needs.&nbsp;
The final part, “Envisioning the Future: Strategic Plan Overview,” featured Twyla Baker, who is also the current chair of the North Dakota Tribal College System Board of Directors. She discussed five strategic goals recently developed for the system: ensuring rigorous curricula and high-impact educational practices; fostering a culture of institutional effectiveness and accountability; improving enrollment, retention and completion rates; cultivating partnerships with Tribal communities; and integrating culture into college programming.
“We have several Tribal nations within our boundaries,” Baker said. “It’s crucially important that Tribal colleges are seated both on Tribal land and in our urban centers where many of our people are also residing to make sure that we’re making those higher education opportunities available to the people who might not necessarily even attend college if it weren’t for the Tribal colleges.”
In the 2022-2023 academic year, the system had 2,607 credit students, 314 non-credit students, and 657 employees.
“It’s an exercise in sovereignty,” Baker said. “It’s a really great way to build our social mobility and economic development and to provide a grounding in culture and place and identity for our young people prior to heading out into the workplace.”
Based on this study, Bauer said the NDTCS will launch an economic campaign in 2025. The report will help guide their efforts in achieving the system’s next economic goals, aligned with their five-part strategic plan.
“I just think that it’s really great that we’ve been able to sustain this partnership throughout the years,” Bauer said. “And so it’s just really a celebration of that and where we can go and where we plan to go.”
The NDTCS board of directors is looking forward to the next few years ahead. Before the celebration ended, they thanked educators and students for their dedication to higher education.
“It’s a good time to mark a milestone for us and come back together to remember where we were from, get regrounded and let everybody know where we’re headed for the future,” Baker said.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
</body></html>

‘Honoring Our Past’: North Dakota Tribal College System celebrates 30 years of empowering Indigenous education

<html><head></head><body>Oil. Then settlers. Then violence. Then protests, tensions and more violence, in a cycle of conquest and dispossession. “Those are structural issues that are baked into the psyche of Farmington,” said Melanie K. Yazzie (Diné), assistant professor of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota. Yazzie co-authored Red Nation Rising: From Bordertown Violence to Native Liberation, which examines anti-Indigenous violence in towns abutting reservations— places like Gallup, Albuquerque and Farmington, where Natives buy groceries and building supplies, work, go dancing, or just hang out. “Border towns are places that really help us to see how settler order operates,” she said.
Farmington, New Mexico, a town of 46,000 about 30 miles from the Shiprock community on the Navajo Nation’s eastern border, is an oil and gas town with a reputation for male settler violence. For decades, non-Indigenous teens and young men in the Navajo Nation’s border towns have beaten and harassed Diné people — usually those living on the streets or intoxicated — in a cruel coming-of-age game known as “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-violence-persists-in-new-mexicos-indigenous-border-towns-v26n3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indian rolling</a>.” Some non-Natives claim that it’s a thing of the past, but Native residents say it remains a serious problem.
In 1974, one such “game” unraveled into triple homicide, when three white Farmington teens tortured three Diné men in a canyon outside a wealthy neighborhood. They took Benjamin Benally, John Harvey and David Ignacio into Chokecherry Canyon, up a four-wheel trail behind churches and expensive houses overlooking the city. They put firecrackers in the men’s orifices and beat their heads with rocks in what became known as the Chokecherry murders. Afterward, the grieving Diné community protested in Farmington for seven successive Saturdays, with support from leaders of the American Indian Movement. Eventually, Farmington settlers had enough. The police attacked protesters, teargassing them and arresting 30 people.
Some non-Natives, including the current mayor, say Farmington is not a violent place. But longtime Diné community members and human rights activists say improvements have been modest, and underlying issues remain unaddressed.
<img decoding="async" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/anatomy-town-56-12_2-2000x1321.jpg" alt="Diné community members march through Farmington, New Mexico, following the murders of three men in 1974." class="wp-image-329812"> Diné community members march through Farmington, New Mexico, following the murders of three men in 1974.
FIFTY YEARS AFTER the Chokecherry murders, in September 2024, about 200 people marched through Farmington again. Representatives of the Diné community, the American Indian Movement and non-Native supporters made their way up Broadway and down Main Street, downtown’s two arteries, as the pavement radiated desert heat through the soles of their sneakers and moccasins. “Farmington needs to be reminded of its history,” said Chili Yazzie (Diné), former Shiprock Chapter leader and longtime community activist. But he said the demonstration’s primary goal was to bolster healing, especially for the victims’ families.
Chili Yazzie, who is not directly related to Melanie Yazzie, also marched in 2006, after a non-Native Farmington cop killed Clint John, a Diné man, in a Walmart parking lot, shooting him three times in the chest, then once in the head. “As far as we’re concerned, the white police officer murdered this young man,” Yazzie said. After a reportedly all non-Native jury <a href="https://navajotimes.com/news/2009/0609/061109clintjohn.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acquitted the officer</a>, the <a href="https://nnhrc.navajo-nsn.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission</a> was formed. Yazzie, who was chairman for four years, visited 13 border towns around the reservation. “Farmington is the poster child of racial violence,” he told HCN. “This is the hotbed.”
That same summer, three young white men in a truck picked up a Diné man, William Blackie. They asked him to buy them beer but took him outside of town instead and brutalized him alongside the road, yelling racial slurs before fleeing. Blackie, bleeding from the head, called 911 and <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2007/violence-against-american-indians-pervasive-problem" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">begged the cops not to shoot him</a>. He survived.
In July 2014, a few hours south of Farmington, <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/53-6/ideas-books-the-everyday-violence-of-indian-countrys-bordertowns/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“Indian rolling” in Albuquerque left two dead</a>. “Anti-Indianism in New Mexico has a particular flavor,” said Melanie Yazzie. In 1880, an intoxicated Farmington settler shot a Diné man in the street for target practice.
And in 1978, Chili Yazzie picked up a hitchhiker between Shiprock and Farmington, a white boy wearing a Clint Eastwood-style slouchy hat and poncho. When Yazzie pulled over so the hitchhiker could relieve himself, the boy shot him in the right arm, then in the side. He was later sentenced to jail time. Yazzie fled, hitchhiking to the hospital, where his arm was later amputated.
<blockquote>“Farmington needs to be reminded of its history.”</blockquote>
THIS SEPTEMBER’S MARCH was different from the 1974 protests: The city sponsored it, providing bottled water for participants. The police blocked off the streets with patrol cars, but kept their presence discreet. Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett said he gave them no special instructions to do so. The demonstration culminated at the Totah Theater in downtown Farmington — Tóta’, the Diné name for the Farmington area, means “in between water” — where community leaders discussed the racial climate, past and present. The mayor declined an invitation to speak. “I had already had prior engagements that weekend and was out of town, so I was not able to attend,” Duckett told HCN in a phone interview. When asked what those prior engagements were, he said, “I don’t think what I do out of town is any of your business, sir.” He wouldn’t say whether his trip was official or personal: “It was whatever it was. But I already had things that were planned out of town, so I was not able to attend. What were you doing this weekend?”
Instead, he sent a statement to be read, in which he stressed how far Farmington had come since the ’70s. “As much as we remember that painful past,” it read, “we must also recognize the journey this community has made since then. Together, we work to heal, to grow and to overcome.”
John Redhouse, a longtime Diné activist who grew up in Farmington and participated in the 1974 marches, spoke after the mayor’s statement. “White people say that there’s no more racism, there’s no more genocide,” Redhouse said. “That’s not true. They’ve never been on the receiving end of racism and hate crimes. We’re the only ones that have standing and truth to make that statement.”
Melanie Yazzie agreed, calling the statement “total garbage.” She said economics and gender are among the factors contributing to anti-Indigenous border-town violence. Farmington is an “epicenter of resource extraction,” or, as Duckett put it in an <a href="https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/friday-april-19-2024-remembering-the-1974-navajo-border-town-murders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview with Native America Calling earlier this year</a>, a town “built on the backs of oil and gas.” Despite the extraction of Native wealth, Native people have historically held <a href="https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/docs/122705_FarmingtonReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mostly low-paying jobs</a>, and, <a href="https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/first-navajo-appointed-to-the-farmington-city-council/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">until recently</a>, had <a href="https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/docs/122705_FarmingtonReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">little or no presence in city government</a>. Nevertheless, Navajo Nation residents spend <a href="https://nnhrc.navajo-nsn.gov/docs/NewsRptResolution/071810_Assessing_Race_Relations_Between_Navajos_and_Non-Navajos.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">70 cents of each dollar</a> they have in border towns like Farmington, which is also a hub for other Indigenous communities, including the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Jicarilla Apache Nation. “There are such high populations of Native people, and we are seen as a threat. And then we are treated as such by police,” said Melanie Yazzie. When uniformed officers abuse Natives, she said, vigilantes, militias and gangs of settler teens follow — often as a rite of passage. She said it’s no coincidence that Chokecherry Canyon, site of the 1974 killings, is up a trail where male settlers express their masculinity through off-roading.
“If one of the primary expressions of settler masculinity is to uphold settler order, and if settler order is about eliminating Indigenous people so as to claim final jurisdiction to the land,” she explained, “then that helps to understand why these things happen.”
<img decoding="async" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/anatomy-town-56-12_1-2000x1333.jpg" alt="According to former Shiprock Chapter leader for the Navajo Nation Chili Yazzie, the march was a reminder of Farmington’s history while offering a sense of healing for Diné community members and families of the victims. " class="wp-image-329813"> According to former Shiprock Chapter leader for the Navajo Nation Chili Yazzie, the march was a reminder of Farmington’s history while offering a sense of healing for Diné community members and families of the victims.
Most non-Natives aren’t committing hate crimes. “Racism is perpetrated by a small pocket of the community,” said Chili Yazzie, “while the majority of the white community may just be immersed in white privilege, whether they realize it or not.” He noted the good-hearted white residents who are friends, like the First Presbyterian Church leaders who helped organize the September march.
James Klotz, pastor of First Presbyterian, said he’s long been haunted by the question of the church’s stance on racial issues. Klotz helped organize the march after talking with Diné congregational members and the victims’ descendants. In a church newsletter, quoting the Presbyterian Church’s <a href="https://www.presbyterianmission.org/what-we-believe/brief-statement-of-faith/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement of faith</a>, he wrote, “I was gratified and humbled to see that, as far as First Presbyterian Church goes, we make our stand on the side ‘to hear the voices of peoples long silenced and to work for justice, freedom, and peace.’”
Duckett said racism exists in every community. He believes the solution is for people to treat each other with civility. A <a href="https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/docs/122705_FarmingtonReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2005 report</a> about Farmington by the New Mexico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights declared that “the climate of tolerance and respect between the two cultures is a marked improvement from the conditions the Committee observed 30 years ago in 1974.”
<blockquote>“White people say that there’s no more racism, there’s no more genocide. That’s not true. They’ve never been on the receiving end of racism and hate crimes.”</blockquote>
But activists say it isn’t enough: They want a city monument commemorating the Chokecherry murder victims. Duckett told HCN that he’s open to considering a “positive”&nbsp; monument “that focuses on how we work together going forward.” He said he hasn’t seen the proposed plans yet. “There’s too much divisiveness in the world.”
Melanie Yazzie argues that the problem runs deeper than individual animosity: “It has to do with the very foundation of settler colonialism.”
Racism, Chili Yazzie added, is an offshoot of the global problem of white supremacy, which he never expects to see solved. But things can still improve. “White privilege is very prominent in Farmington,” he said. “For there to be healing, that needs to be addressed.”
</body></html>

B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster

Can reservation border town hide from its legacy of anti-Indigenous violence?

<html><head></head><body>J.T. Shining Oneside stood before an audience of 100 at the North Dakota State Capitol, a pile of stuffed animals on the podium in front of her. She displayed a picture of one of her ancestors before embarking on a series of stories from a life imbued in Ojibwe and Anishinaabe traditions.
The visual aids were part of her unique approach to presenting as one of the storytellers at the Native American Heritage Month Celebration Nov. 15-16&nbsp; in Bismarck. She learned about the event after seeing an advertisement back home on the Turtle Mountain reservation. Its call for dancers piqued her interest. Shining Oneside, a lifelong jingle dress dancer, said she enjoys reconnecting through dance.
The sponsoring North Dakota Native Tourism Alliance invited her to join as a storyteller. “Once I saw the flier and my name was on it for storytelling, I thought, great, I love to tell stories,” Shining Oneside said in an interview with Buffalo’s Fire.
The 62-year-old is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewas and belongs to the Moose Clan. Shining Oneside’s family raised her with cultural teachings she has clung to throughout her life, she said.
“The only reason why I come to know different stories about our people is because I sat with the elders growing up,” she said.“I dedicate what I know to my mom, dad and grandfather. Without our Turtle Mountain Chippewa and Ojibwe Anishinaabe roots, we wouldn’t be here.”
She talked about coming-of-age ceremonies, such as a young woman’s first moon time, and the sacred rites of birth.
“I started thinking about the child-rearing that our people did,” the elder recalled. “And I thought, I want to share that with our people because I don’t think that’s heard enough.”
During the event at the North Dakota Heritage Center, Shining Oneside acknowledged the hardships her ancestors endured. She explained that, like many other tribes, her people experienced forced assimilation and conversion to Christianity. This led to cultural erasure, and the resulting trauma has affected generations.
Turtle Mountain citizens “didn’t understand themselves because the missionaries did a really big number on our people,” Shining Oneside said. Outsiders “hurt our people by making fun of them and making them look like they were not important.”
Her love and appreciation for her culture inspired her to become an educator. She offered history and context to students eager to reconnect with their heritage, seeking to be a supportive guide throughout their journeys.
<blockquote>“[Turtle Mountain citizens] didn’t understand themselves because the missionaries did a really big number on our people.”
JT Shining Oneside, Turtle Mountain educator and storyteller</blockquote>
Shining Oneside has now been working as an educator at Dunseith Public Schools for 36 years. She previously developed a curriculum on Ojibwe and Anishinaabe culture. Currently, she serves as the Title VI project director and teaches cultural courses to students in grades 7 through 12. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act provides eligibility for federal funds where non-discrimination policies are in effect.
Throughout her career as an educator, she has taught her students many cultural lessons, including how to respectfully approach an elder and build trust.
“You don’t go up to them and say, ‘Hey, I got this gift, and I want to give it to you’,” she said. “You have to sit with that elder for a while. They’re not going to tell you all this stuff because you want to know it.”
While the elder holds a lot of traditional knowledge, Shining Oneside said, reconnecting is a lifelong process for her and others.
“There’s just so much to our way of life that’s beyond our scope,” Shining Oneside said. “The older I get, I always think, well, I really don’t know that much because there’s just so much out there to learn.”
Her advice to students who are willing to learn from elders is to keep an open heart and mind.
“You sit with them, you learn from them,” she said. “There are things that I didn’t know how to do, but I just got busy learning myself how to do it. There’s going to be trial and error, but don’t give up.”
</body></html>

JT Shining Oneside shares generational wisdom at Native American Heritage Month Celebration

Buffalo’s Fire

<html><head></head><body>The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Principal Chief Michell Hicks is urging the U.S. Senate to reject the Lumbee Fairness Act (H.R. 1101), which passed the House on Tuesday. The bill, if enacted, would grant federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina, extending federal services and benefits to its members.
Chief Hicks criticized the bill for bypassing debate and scrutiny, stating it undermines the rigorous standards required for tribal recognition. “This bill, if enacted, would establish a dangerous precedent for federal recognition, abandoning the requirement of historical, genealogical, and cultural evidence,” Hicks said.
The legislation, introduced by Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), passed the House with bipartisan support, 311-96. It marks the seventh attempt since 1988 to secure recognition for the Lumbee Tribe, but prior efforts have stalled in the Senate.
Hicks and organizations like the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, the Coalition of Large Tribes, and others argue the Lumbee should seek recognition through the Office of Federal Acknowledgment, which evaluates claims thoroughly. Hicks cited studies exposing inconsistencies in the Lumbee’s historical claims, warning of risks to tribal sovereignty.
The Lumbee Tribe, recognized by North Carolina in 1885 and Congress in 1956 without federal benefits, has long sought federal recognition. Chairman John L. Lowery countered criticism in a recent statement, accusing the Eastern Band of prioritizing casino profits over the welfare of the Lumbee people.
The Senate’s decision remains pending.
</body></html>

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Push Back Against  Lumbee Fairness Act

<html><head></head><body>The owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline last week became the latest party to join the defense in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s new lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The lawsuit, <a href="https://northdakotamonitor.com/2024/10/14/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-files-new-lawsuit-over-dapl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">filed in October</a>, accuses the Army Corps of illegally allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to operate without an easement, an environmental impact study or robust emergency spill response plans. The tribe wants a federal court to order that the pipeline be shut down.
Dakota Access LLC asked to join the lawsuit to protect its private business interests in the pipeline’s&nbsp; operation. Dakota Access spent billions developing the pipeline and has standing contracts requiring DAPL to continue transporting oil, the company wrote in a brief filed in court.
Since 2017, the more than 1,000-mile pipeline — also known as DAPL —&nbsp; has safely transported more than 1.4 billion barrels of oil, the company wrote.
“Dakota Access remains willing to consider other mitigation measures that the Corps or this Court believe would be appropriate,” the company said.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg approved Dakota Access’ request to join the suit.
In the brief, the company also accuses the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s legal challenge of “rehashing old ground.” The tribe previously sued the Army Corps over the pipeline in 2016, seeking to stop DAPL before it finished construction.
That case was also assigned to Boasberg. Boasberg in a 2020 concluded that the Army Corps had erred in granting the pipeline an easement to pass underneath Lake Oahe without a full environmental impact study, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. He revoked the easement and instructed the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct the study, which is still in the works.&nbsp;
Boasberg ordered the pipeline to be drained of oil until the environmental review was completed, though that demand was ultimately overturned by an appellate court.
The higher court found that shutting down the pipeline was not warranted because the tribe at the time did not have enough evidence that DAPL posed an immediate threat of irreparable harm.
In its latest suit, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe seeks to present new evidence raising questions about the pipeline’s construction under Lake Oahe.
Standing Rock has long opposed the pipeline, saying it violates the tribe’s sovereignty, has damaged sacred cultural sites and poses a pollution threat to the tribe’s water supply.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Army Corps of Engineers regulates a section of the pipeline that passes underneath Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River, less than a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation.&nbsp;
“The Corps has failed to act and failed to protect the tribe,” Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire said in an October press conference announcing the lawsuit.
The pipeline carries oil from northwest North Dakota to southwest Illinois. Its path includes unceded land recognized as belonging to the Sioux Nation under an 1851 treaty with the U.S. government.
North Dakota and 13 other states have also intervened in the case on the side of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The 13 states that joined the lawsuit are Iowa, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.
The states have argued shutting down DAPL would disrupt the regional economy, violate state sovereignty, and make road and rail transit more dangerous.
The pipeline has provided tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue to North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
</body></html>

medium

large

thumbnail

1536x1536

2048x2048

Pipeline owner joins lawsuit over Dakota Access Pipeline

<html><head></head><body>A federal judge this week allowed 13 more Republican-led states, including South Dakota, to intervene as co-defendants in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s new lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The lawsuit, <a href="https://northdakotamonitor.com/2024/10/14/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-files-new-lawsuit-over-dapl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">filed in October,</a> accuses the Army Corps of unlawfully allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to operate without an easement, a complete environmental assessment or sufficient emergency spill response plans. The tribe ultimately wants a federal judge to shut the pipeline down.
Standing Rock has opposed the pipeline for years, saying it infringes upon the tribe’s sovereignty, has damaged sacred cultural sites and jeopardizes the tribe’s water supply.
The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over a part of the pipeline that passes below the Missouri River less than a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation.
“The Corps has failed to act and failed to protect the tribe,” Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire said in an October press conference announcing the lawsuit.
The more than 1,000-mile pipeline, often referred to as DAPL, passes through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Its pathway includes unceded land recognized as belonging to the Sioux Nation under an 1851 treaty with the U.S. government.
North Dakota <a href="https://northdakotamonitor.com/2024/12/06/judge-oks-north-dakota-request-to-intervene-in-dakota-access-pipeline-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">joined the case</a> on the side of the Army Corps earlier this month, arguing that closing DAPL would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, put thousands of jobs at risk, hamper regional supply chains and harm the environment. State attorneys also argue that a federal court order shuttering DAPL would violate North Dakota’s right to regulate its own land and resources.
In a brief filed Monday, the 13 additional co-defendant states made similar arguments. The group, led by Iowa, said DAPL is integral to the health of regional energy and agriculture markets.
“DAPL plays a vital role in ensuring the nation’s crops can come to market — not because DAPL itself transports agricultural products, but because every barrel of oil that DAPL transports is a barrel that does not take space in a truck or a train,” the states wrote.
This also makes highways and railways safer and reduces pollution, they added.
The 13 states that joined the lawsuit this week are Iowa, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.
According to the states’ brief, the pipeline has paid over $100 million in property taxes to Iowa counties and over $33 million in property taxes to South Dakota counties since it began operating in 2017.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not yet filed an answer to the tribe’s lawsuit.
Energy Transfer, the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline, has not requested to intervene in the suit.
The case is before U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who oversaw the tribe’s 2016 lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers opposing the pipeline.
North Dakota in 2021 sought to join that lawsuit as well, but Boasberg denied the request as the case was in the process of wrapping up.
That case concluded with Boasberg instructing the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full <a href="https://northdakotamonitor.com/2023/12/14/north-dakota-defends-dapl-standing-rock-fears-for-its-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">environmental impact study</a> of the pipeline, which is still in the works. Boasberg also ordered the pipeline to stop operating pending the completion of the study, though that demand was ultimately overturned by an appellate court.
In a separate federal court case, North Dakota seeks $38 million from the United States government for costs the state says it incurred responding to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
</body></html>

 Mary Steurer

13 more GOP states sign on to oppose Standing Rock Sioux in new lawsuit over DAPL

<html><head></head><body>As the clock winds down to midnight, families from Bismarck’s Indigenous community will gather at the Radisson Inn to ring in the New Year. That’s how Sacred Pipe Resource Center envisions their 2025 kickoff. The local non-profit is promising games, prizes and a safe, celebratory space on Dec. 31. However, organizers say, this will be more than just a party: It’s a chance for community members to connect, share joy and step into the future together.
Plans are for tables to feature games and puzzles for all ages to enjoy. One of the activities scheduled is “Get to Know You Bingo,” in which participants can win prizes by connecting with others in the crowd. Additionally, a crafting contest and door prizes are on the agenda.
Planners expect the highlight of the New Year’s Eve celebration to be the “Lip-Sync Battle.” Several teams have already registered, but Sacred Pipe is still looking for more participants. In this friendly competition, teams choose names, select songs and take the stage to match lip movements with their chosen tunes’ vocals. The contest is inspired by the popular TV show Lip Sync Battle, where stars compete in such challenges.
Prizes include $500 for first place, $300 for second, and $200 for third. Teams must have at least two members and no more than five. To sign up, participants must register by noon on Dec. 20 by emailing <a href="mailto:native@sacredpipe.net">native@sacredpipe.net</a>.
The event offers a safe, sober space to celebrate the New Year. Launched in 2024, it established itself as an alcohol- and drug-free venue. Registration is not required to take part. Sacred Pipe staff encourages everybody to come by and join the fun.
Cheryl Kary, executive director of Sacred Pipe, a nonprofit serving the Bismarck-Mandan area, said Sacred Pipe organizes these events to foster connection within the local Indigenous community.
“During Covid, one of the things we learned is that the urban tribal population has a feeling of isolation,” she said. “And so we’ve kind of been cognizant of that since. We want to have events where people can socialize and see other Native people that live in this community.”
Sacred Pipe has hosted several holiday events throughout the year, including an Easter celebration in the spring, a Halloween costume contest in October, and a winter solstice event on Saturday. “It was kind of a no-brainer to add a New Year’s Eve celebration,” Kary said.&nbsp;
Last year, the center held its first New Year’s Eve celebration at the Radisson, featuring an Elvis impersonator who performed and interacted with a crowd of 80 people. “It was such a success, everybody just had such a good time,” Kary said.
This year was an election year, and as 2025 approaches, some community members are uncertain about what the future holds, especially with a new presidency. Kary explained that the community needs an opportunity to relax and have fun before the year ahead.
“Given the election and that this new year is going to bring in a president that has been detrimental to Indian Country, I think we want to celebrate the start of the year in a good way and let people know that we’re part of a community,” she said. “We’re not alone in any hardships that are coming –– we can get through it together.”
</body></html>

Sacred Pipe Resource Center invites community to kick off 2025 with family activities, prizes

<html><head></head><body>Book Club might be a misnomer, because the NDN Girls Book Club involves more than talking about books. This upstart literary nonprofit — run by Native women under the age of 25 who are also juggling school and work and their own burgeoning literary careers — focuses on getting books to kids on reservations, highlighting Indigenous authors, and giving young Native storytellers the tools and pathways for getting their work out into the world.
High Country News talked to Book Club founder Kinsale Drake (Diné), a poet whose book The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket won the National Poetry Series, about the need for literary community, elevating Native writers, and what happens when you drive into a small town with a big pink truck full of free books.
High Country News: Where did the idea for NDN Girls Book Club come from?
Kinsale Drake: My college thesis was about retention rates of Native students in higher ed. We have the lowest retention rates, and there are systemic gaps that gave rise to those disparities — everything from lack of access to literature and mentors on reservation, to financial obstacles, to lack of Native representation in everything from curriculum to professors. I looked at what programs could be implemented to bridge the gaps and where Native students could become more prepared. There was a lack of community and a lack of canon. That was the start of the idea that became Book Club. I wanted to marry that with workshops and interacting with authors to build the connection and resources that I wish I’d had when I was a kid. The Indian girl we talk about in NDN Girl Book Club, it’s me: I’m the little Indian girl.
HCN: It’s called Book Club, but it seems like it’s about much more than getting together to talk about books.
KD: Overall, there’s an umbrella dedication to uplifting Native storytelling, because it feels like that addresses a lot of needs that are interconnected in our communities. We do youth mentorship, writing workshops and author talks. We offer free workshops every month where people can come in and connect with each other over literature or writing. There’s not a lot of programs that offer that specifically for Native community. We talk about the authors we love and the canon of works we desire, along with things like tokenization, what it felt like to be the only Native person in a room. That sense of community vital to our art: It nourishes us and allows us to keep creating. We work with publishers and presses to get books by Native authors donated to tribal libraries, schools and reading groups, because part of our work is showing publishers that there’s a need and desire for Native writers. We send out “book care packages” for free to any Native people who sign up. Just straight up sending out Native books to Native people feels like radical work.
HCN: Last summer you gave away 10,000 books at five book drops across the Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation. That seems radical.
KD: We wanted to get Native literature out to Navajo and Hopi communities with no strings attached, and we estimated that 10,000 books was one Native book per household. In a lot of ways, the idea came out of working in mutual aid during the pandemic. Our communities were some of the most heavily impacted, and the ways they mobilized during COVID laid the foundations to get other things out to the communities.
We’d show up in a big pink truck, which was decorated with work by Native artists, and we’d set up like a bookstore where people could come in and take whatever books they wanted. We brought in local artists and artisans, we fed people. There were diapers and shoes alongside the books. We had 1,500 people showing up at some of the stops, and at every stop every book was gone by the end of the day.
A lot of the reaction was shock; people would come in, get really excited. They were like, “Really? We can take as many as we want?”
We’d see people sitting down and starting to read. There’d be recognition with the stories and immediate reactions to what was in the books. We hoped people would have intergenerational conversations, and it felt like we were seeing the beginnings of a number of beautiful conversations.
HCN: What have been some of your favorite books to share?
KD: I love Mavasta Honyouti’s Coming Home. He’s a Hopi master woodcarver — it’s something that’s been passed through his family — and the book is about his grandfather’s experience in residential school, then coming home to learn working with wood, working on the land. It’s a story that a lot of us can really relate to our family history, and the illustrations are all wood carvings. We just gave out a couple hundred copies of Rez Ball by Byron Graves (Ojibwe), and there’s a lot about healthy masculinity in that, which I think can be healing, especially for Native boys.
<div class="wp-block-columns">
<div class="wp-block-column"></div>
<div class="wp-block-column">NDN Girls Book Club merchandise.</div>
</div>
HCN: Why do books feel so necessary?
KD: For one, I think storytelling in our communities has been important since the beginning of time.
Speaking as a Navajo, stories are what brought us into the world; they tell us where we come from; they have enabled our survival. Books are stories, but at the same time, the English language has been weaponized against us. A lot of elders have contentious relationships with books. Boarding schools forced them to speak and read English and made us ashamed of our languages. So much of the narrative has been written about us instead of by us. Sharing literature by and for Native people feels like an act to combat those wounds. Creating accurate representation has a beneficial impact on our communities’ mental health, and building new, sustainable relationships with literature feels like a first step in a lot of healing that needs to be done.
This <a href="https://www.hcn.org/articles/the-radical-act-of-sharing-native-literature/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">article</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.hcn.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">High Country News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
<img decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;quality=100&amp;ssl=1"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.hcn.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=330207&amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN"><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: "https://www.hcn.org/articles/the-radical-act-of-sharing-native-literature/", urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id="parsely-cfg" src="//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js"></script>
</body></html>

Heather Hansman

The radical act of sharing Native literature

<html><head></head><body>In the 1980s, Brett Williamson’s parents sat in United Tribes Technical College classrooms as students. This January, he’ll walk the same halls as the college’s new dean of instruction, marking a full-circle journey that began when he took his first steps on campus as a toddler.
As chair of the General Education Department and a psychology instructor, he’s now preparing for a new chapter. On Jan. 6, he’ll step into his role as dean of instruction and move to a new office on campus. The dean of instruction ensures courses meet United Tribes’ standards.&nbsp;
His first priority as dean is preparing for the Higher Learning Commission’s visit. They will want to see evidence that UTTC is meeting the required standards.&nbsp;
The 40-year-old, who has held various jobs, has long had a passion for teaching and mentoring others. As a child, the Turtle Mountain citizen spent much of his time with his grandmother, an elementary school teacher in Belcourt. Throughout his life, he often taught others, sometimes without realizing it.
When Williamson was in the Marine Corps, he taught people how to use weapon systems and the basics of being a young adult. “You’re kind of a mentor for those young kids when they first leave home,” he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<blockquote>A lot of complex things come with instruction manuals, like your car and your TV –– but humans don’t.”
– Brett Williamson, dean of instruction at UTTC</blockquote>
Later, when he joined the drilling company his father was managing, he worked with centrifuges, dewatering equipment and water reclamation for drilling rigs. His father taught him nearly everything he knew about drilling and machine operation. However, his favorite part of the job was interacting with others and teaching them how to operate the equipment.
“I’ve always thought, even when I was in college, the most exciting thing about learning something was telling somebody else about it,” Williamson said.
After leaving the drilling company, Williamson pursued higher education. He earned an associate of arts and an associate of science degree from Bismarck State College. He then graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and addiction studies, along with a minor in sociology at Minot State University. Finally, he earned a master of science in psychology from Arizona State University. While taking psychology classes at Bismarck State College, he learned more about himself, which he found beneficial.&nbsp;
“Psychology is probably one of the most interesting subjects because humans are complex,” he said. “A lot of complex things come with instruction manuals, like your car and your TV –– but humans don’t.”
Before becoming a research psychologist, Williamson was a journalist. He started writing for BSC’s student newspaper, The Mystician, and later worked as a features reporter for The Bismarck Tribune for two years. He eventually left journalism to pursue a career in psychology.
He saw parallels between psychology and journalism. “I like to observe, collect data and test,” he said. “So when you’re a journalist, you’re kind of doing that on your own.”
Katie Winbauer Paulson, an attorney in Bismarck, first met Williamson 10 years ago while they were students at BSC. Both worked as reporters at The Mystician. Williamson was studying psychology at the time, while Winbauer Paulson, a mass communications major, served as the editor-in-chief.&nbsp;
<blockquote>I think one of the things I appreciate about his leadership style and personality is he does not sit behind his desk. He’s very visible on campus. He’s always dropping in to check on different people and see what’s going on.”
– Lisa Cantlon, the chair of the general studies program at UTTC</blockquote>
She remembers Williamson had a particular passion for arts and entertainment. One of his regular contributions was a monthly video game review column called Master Sword Review.
“We started as reporters on a campus newspaper, and then I watched him get his bachelor’s degree, pursue higher education and get his first job teaching,” she said. “I watched him get an outstanding teacher’s award and get promoted to department chair, and now to get promoted to dean out at the college. It’s just been exciting to see the success that he’s had in a relatively short amount of time.”
In 2019, a psychology instructor position opened up at UTTC. Although Williamson had just graduated, he was eager to work in the Bismarck area. He was particularly drawn to United Tribes because his parents attended the school years prior, and he spent part of his childhood there.
Colleagues and educators supported him, helping him secure the role. Becoming an instructor at UTTC is “probably the best decision I ever made in my life.”
Since joining the faculty at UTTC, Williamson has taught approximately 150 students each year in courses like developmental psychology, child psychology, abnormal psychology and an introduction to addiction studies. He enjoys interacting with and supporting students on a daily basis.
“Brett’s got two sides to him, which I think is what makes him so successful,” she said. “He has standards for his students and for himself, but he’s also not so serious that someone wouldn’t like him. He’s a very likable, relatable and fun person to know.”
Lisa Cantlon, the chair of the general studies program at UTTC, has known Williamson for the last five and a half years. In addition to being colleagues, they have co-advised the psychology and human and social services club on campus and have been on the assessment of the student learning committee together. She describes his personality as very outgoing and people-oriented, with a good sense of humor.
“I think one of the things I appreciate about his leadership style and personality is he does not sit behind his desk,” Cantlon said. “He’s very visible on campus. He’s always dropping in to check on different people and see what’s going on.”
<blockquote>I’ve always thought, even when I was in college, the most exciting thing about learning something was telling somebody else about it.”
– Brett Williamson, dean of instruction at UTTC</blockquote>
When the dean of instruction position became available, Williamson decided to apply. He wanted to continue his work in higher education and leadership to support students better. Williamson said he felt overjoyed when he was selected.
His friends and colleagues are excited for this next stage in his career, but they’re not surprised he got the job, given his dedication to supporting students.
“I’m very proud of him because he started out as just a young instructor with not a lot of experience,” Cantlon said. “And he’s really grown as a leader on campus, taking on additional responsibilities, such as the assessment committee. He has a great relationship with students –– they have a lot of respect for him.”
“I think he’ll do well as dean and just continue to grow from there,” Winbauer Paulson said. “It’s been my observation that he’s really liked out at the United Tribes. If I’m out with Brett and we run into students, it’s always a positive experience.”
Williamson is excited to begin his new role as dean of instruction. He encourages students to reach out if they’d like to discuss anything or if he can assist them with their educational journey at UTTC.
“One of the big reasons I’m here is because I enjoy students,” he said. “I see where you’re going because I’ve done it before. So as a student, I would encourage you to make sure you do communicate with me and come visit from time to time because you’re the reason I’m here.”
</body></html>

From the classroom to campus leadership: Brett Williamson named UTTC dean of instruction

<html><head></head><body><div class="page" title="Page 1">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
Buffalo’s Fire has been selected as a host newsroom in Report for America’s 2025-2026 cohort, its third award from the program, which helps local newsrooms expand coverage of underreported topics. The award will help support a reporter dedicated to covering the issue of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People.
Report for America announced today several new partnership and program developments designed to bring immediate and long-term solutions to the challenges facing local news.
Over 100 newsrooms will make up the 2025-2026 cohort, with three-quarters partnering with Report for America as traditional host newsrooms for corps members, and a select group taking part in a pilot accelerator program to develop sustainable business models through local philanthropy.
“Today’s news marks an exciting expansion of our proven model,” said Kim Kleman, executive director of Report for America. “Not only are we recruiting and placing exceptional journalists in communities that need them most, but we’re significantly increasing our efforts to help newsrooms become more financially stable.”
<h2>New Local Newsroom Partners and Accelerator Program Participants</h2>
The 66 incoming host newsroom partners represent some of the highest need areas for local news. Highlights of this cohort include the following:
<ul>
<li>A majority (59%) are small newsrooms, with nine or fewer editorial staffers. The rest are largely midsize newsrooms of 10 to 49 editorial staffers.</li>
<li>Coverage of rural communities, the environment and local government are the most requested beats of this group.</li>
<li>65% are nonprofit newsrooms; 35% are for profit.</li>
<li>More than half (57%) are new newsroom partners with Report for America; the rest have had one or more corps members previously.</li>
</ul>
Find the list of incoming host newsroom partners and available journalist positions <a href="https://images.reportforamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2025-2026-Host-Newsrooms_.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
An additional 35 newsrooms were selected for a pilot accelerator program through which they will receive coaching, training and fiscal sponsorship, if needed, to help diversify revenue streams by tapping into local philanthropic support. This program is built upon Report for America’s support of more than 400 newsrooms that have collectively raised $30 million since 2017.
“Since our program started, we’ve seen first hand the impact of helping newsrooms tell their story to help their community better understand the roles and benefits of local news. People are stepping up to generate new ways to fund newsrooms across the country,” shared Morgan Baum, director of local news sustainability at Report for America. “We’ve also learned that our newsroom partners could greatly benefit from our support in order to prepare for journalists to join their teams. Our new accelerator program will work with newsroom leaders to generate new revenue to do just that—a springboard to financial stability with the goal of helping newsrooms not just survive but thrive and grow.”
<div class="page" title="Page 2">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
Find the list of incoming accelerator newsroom partners <a href="https://images.reportforamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2025-2026-Accelerator-Newsrooms.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here. </a>
<h2>Corps Member Applications Open</h2>
With host newsrooms selected, journalists are invited to <a href="https://reportforamerica.submittable.com/submit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">apply for open positions </a>by February 3, 2025. The Report for America model pairs the skills and passion of diverse, next generation reporters, photographers and videographers with local news organizations across the country.
Through their newsroom experience and Report for America training and mentorship, corps members create real impact in the communities they serve, from shedding light on Medicaid fraud targeting Indigenous communities to forcing resignations of accused clergy members to helping fill a long-vacant rural teaching position.
“Report for America invites journalists from diverse backgrounds to weave their unique narratives into the fabric of our host newsrooms. With a dedicated beat as their canvas, these storytellers ensure that every community’s voice is heard and critical issues are amplified,” said Earl Johnson, vice president of recruitment and alumni engagement at Report for America. “Through Report for America, journalists find not just a job but a calling—a perfect opportunity to make a profound difference where it matters most.”
New corps members will join an elite group of more than 600 Report for America journalists, more than 82 percent of whom continue to work in the field after program completion, demonstrating the power of the program and its local newsroom partners. With nearly half of Report for America journalists identifying as journalists of color, high rates of retention are essential to a transformed news landscape.
Corps members will be selected from a highly competitive national applicant pool. Last year, more than 1,000 applications were received. Those hired become employees of their respective newsrooms and will begin their employment July 7, 2025. Interested journalists are encouraged to attend an information session and explore the benefits of becoming a corps member: <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org/reporters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reportforamerica.org/apply</a>
Expanded Opportunities for Photojournalists, Education Reporters
In addition to these 66 open positions will be up to 20 beats dedicated to photojournalism as a continued <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org/2024/08/29/catchlight-and-report-for-america-grow-visual-journalism-initiative-with-expanded-partnership-2025-newsroom-applications-now-open/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expansion of our partnership with CatchLight</a>, which began in 2019 to bring critical visual storytelling to underserved communities. These specialty positions and selected newsrooms will be announced in January.
And through a partnership with the <a href="https://azmedia.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Arizona Media Association</a>, Report for America will be supporting several education beats in Arizona newsrooms, also to be announced in January.
<div class="page" title="Page 2">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
#
About Report for America: <a href="https://www.reportforamerica.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Report for America</a> is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities across the
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 3">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
United States and its territories. By creating a new, sustainable model for journalism, Report for America provides people with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable, and restore trust in the media. Report for America is an initiative of <a href="https://thegroundtruthproject.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The GroundTruth Project</a>, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body></html>

widget-large

Report for America announces 100+ newsroom partners and the opening of new corps member applications

<html><head></head><body>As the longest night of the year approaches, Dakota Wind Goodhouse invites you to join him in exploring the cultural significance of the winter solstice through Lakota eyes.
The nonprofit Indigenous-led community organization <a href="https://www.ndnadc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Native Inc.</a> will feature him at its winter solstice event on Monday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Goodhouse is a historian and citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. He plans to share his expertise on Lakota heritage, through storytelling and a presentation about the holiday on the Northern Plains. This year the date of the official winter solstice is Dec. 21.
Goodhouse plans to recount the myth of Fallen Star, a hero who guided his people along the Spirit Road.&nbsp;
“When you see this constellation at night, this figure points to the North Star,” he said. “In the narrative, that’s his father, and so he’s reaching towards his father while at the same time sending rays of light and hope to his people below.”
Goodhouse explained the contemporary significance of the Fallen Star story for survivors of generational trauma and suicide.
“The Fallen Star narrative is important because it includes the relatives who have passed on because of a huge emotional burden, so they may take their own lives,” he said. “And in Christianity, those who take their own lives, there’s a place called Hell for them, and those who embrace this Fallen Star narrative –– there’s redemption even after.”
Goodhouse, an educator with 11 years of experience, is currently a professor at United Tribes Technical College. Outside of teaching and conducting research, he regularly presents to the community. In November, he participated in a series of talks for Native American Heritage Month at Native Inc., where he discussed topics such as the solar eclipse, Oceti Sakowin geography, moon counting and the winter count tradition.
Even if people can’t attend the presentation, Goodhouse emphasized, they can find other ways to participate in the holiday. He shared that an elder once advised him to create a medicine wheel, which he then built in his own backyard.
“I went out and measured and paced out an area to put down a stone circle, and then within the stone circle, I demarcated the summer solstice, the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox,” he said. “When it came time for winter solstice, I walked out and put a stone down in the circle. I could see for myself how traditional ancestors would have marked the occasion.”
Goodhouse also suggested cleansing oneself by smudging or going to sweat. “Just get yourself physically, emotionally clean and smudge things down that are sacred to you,” he said.
To attend the winter solstice event, participants must pre-register by emailing <a href="mailto:bisevents@ndnadc.org">bisevents@ndnadc.org</a>. For those unable to attend in person, the event will be available to view on YouTube, to those pre-registered. Transportation is also available. Native Inc. asks interested parties to call (701) 595-5181 by 4 p.m. on the day of the event to arrange a ride.
</body></html>

Native Inc. set to host evening of Lakota storytelling, winter solstice teachings

<html><head></head><body>The U.S. Department of the Interior announced this week that it has awarded a total of $849 million to repair and improve water infrastructure projects across 11 Western states.
The funding includes more than $32 million toward water projects for four North Dakota tribes:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Five awards totaling over $28 million for the replacement of water mains and other infrastructure on the Turtle Mountain Reservation</li>
<li aria-level="1">Two awards totaling $2.5 million for water metering systems on the Fort Berthold Reservation</li>
<li aria-level="1">Three awards totaling more than $1.1 million for additional pipe infrastructure and to replace equipment at a water treatment plant on the Spirit Lake Reservation</li>
<li aria-level="1">An award for $500,000 to replace water metering systems on the Standing Rock Reservation, which includes land in North Dakota and South Dakota</li>
</ul>
“North Dakota’s tribal nations need updated water infrastructure to meet the vital needs of their communities,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said in a statement. “These awards will modernize aging systems and protect the delivery of clean, reliable water across the state.”
The funding also includes $118.3 million for 14 projects located in the Colorado River Basin, where federal officials and state negotiators are weighing high-stakes decisions about the future management of the river ahead of the 2026 expiration of current operating guidelines.
The funding comes from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Aging Infrastructure Account, which received a $3 billion boost from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program funds repairs and upgrades to existing water storage infrastructure, hydropower generation and treatment plants.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda provides transformational resources to safeguard clean, reliable water for families, farmers and Tribes,” Laura Daniel-Davis, the Interior Department’s acting deputy secretary, said in a statement. “As we work to address record drought and changing climate conditions in the Colorado River Basin and throughout the West, these investments in our aging water infrastructure will conserve community water supplies and revitalize water delivery systems.”
The Colorado River provides water supplies to more than 40 million people across the Southwest, and irrigates about 15% of U.S. agricultural land. A climate change-fueled megadrought — the region’s worst dry spell in<a href="https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/climate-driven-colorado-river-megadrought-worst/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> at least 1,200 years</a> — has affected the basin since 2000, substantially decreasing flows below the historical averages on which the century-old Colorado River Compact’s state-by-state water allocations are based.
A series of<a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies/RecordofDecision.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> interim guidelines</a> for managing the basin’s water amid continuing shortages were enacted by the Bureau of Reclamation in 2007, but they will expire in 2026. Citing “ongoing conversations and collaborations with all Basin stakeholders,” the agency last month released a set five<a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024-11/narrative-updated.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> alternative proposals</a>that will be analyzed and could form the basis of a post-2026 plan — but finalizing new guidelines will now fall to the incoming Trump administration.
The funding announced by the Biden administration this week includes $34 million for several projects relating to the Blue Mesa Reservoir in Gunnison County, including a $32 million award for the replacement and refurbishing of equipment in the Blue Mesa Dam’s small hydropower plant.&nbsp;
Projects in other Western states awarded funding include:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">$204 million for correcting subsidence impacts caused by the Delta–Mendota Canal in California’s Central Valley</li>
<li aria-level="1">$143 million for reconfiguring water infrastructure in the San Acacia Reach, a 60-mile stretch of the Rio Grande downstream from the San Acacia Diversion Dam south of Albuquerque, New Mexico</li>
<li aria-level="1">Two awards totaling $28.3 million to replace and refurbish equipment in the hydropower station within the Glen Canyon Dam, which forms Lake Powell in northern Arizona</li>
<li aria-level="1">$37.2 million to replace the St. Mary and Halls Coulee siphons in northern Montana, critical canal infrastructure that suffered a catastrophic failure earlier this year</li>
</ul>
A full list of the 77 newly funded projects is available on the Bureau of Reclamation’s<a href="https://www.usbr.gov/bil/docs/infrastructure/FY-2025-Aging-Infrastucture-Projects.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> website</a>.
“Reclamation is committed to utilizing these historic investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to revitalize our infrastructure for continued reliability and sustainability for the next generation,” said Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Roque Sánchez. “These facilities are essential to the West as they provide water for families, farms and Tribal communities, while … also producing hydropower and recreation opportunities for communities throughout the Basin.”
The North Dakota Monitor contributed to this report.
</body></html>

Chase WoodRuff

$849 million for Western water projects announced by Biden administration

<html><head></head><body>Like many young rural people, broadcast journalist Cory Hepola left his small hometown of Perham, Minn., looking for bigger city success. He landed in Fargo and then bounced around the country with broadcasting gigs in Montana, New York and Texas.
An out-of-the-blue cold call in 2019 brought him back home to Otter Tail County to develop a series of tourism videos focused on local communities. Called “Rural By Choice,” it won an Emmy award for “Outstanding Lifestyle Series.”
By then, he was hooked and moved back for good.
“I think what really captured the audience’s attention was that so often our rural communities are portrayed as dead, dying, there’s nothing there for you,” Hepola said. “I didn’t think it was honestly reflecting the opportunity and the innovation and the beauty and the connectedness that’s happening there.”
The loss of a school, a post office, a grocery or a child care center often makes headlines because of how important these institutions are to maintaining a smaller community.
Beyond that, however, the slow burning success stories are often missed.
It’s harder to capture how rural communities are increasingly attracting younger people, Hepola said, and how many who choose to stay or relocate rural are searching for something those towns often have: a strong work-life balance.
Enter Hepola’s new project – “My Town.”
The first season of “My Town” is currently premiering on YouTube and features seven flourishing towns across four states in the Upper Midwest, including Rugby.
The episode on Rugby, “The Side of North Dakota You’ve Never Seen,” aired Dec. 2. It features the successful Heartland Bison Ranch, downtown fashion store Main Street Boutique, which also offers cooking and wine classes, and the Heart of America Medical Center’s new $62 million facility which held its grand opening at the end of August.
<h3>Positive people power&nbsp;</h3>
Rugby is the perfect example of small-town success, Hepola said. There, he found passionate, energetic leaders who were focused on everything the town does have, not what it doesn’t have.
Accentuating the positive instead of being mired in the negative is important for growth, according to those involved in development.
“Rural communities are bombarded with negative messaging, so it makes them feel like they are helpless, when, in fact, they hold all the power,” said Megan Langley, executive director of rural development nonprofit StrengthenND.
“Some are very much so thriving,” she said. “They just may not be meeting typical indicators of success that we see in larger communities, meaning, thriving looks differently depending on the context of your community.”
StrengthenND is currently in phase two of a research project on how hope can be a motivator for rural communities. Langley said the group’s findings indicate that overall most are hopeful about their communities and it is their friends and neighbors working to improve the quality of life for all who make them feel hopeful.
This fits with the second aspect Heploa noticed in the communities he’s visited: prioritizing getting things done together as a community.
“It cannot be siloed off,” Hepola said of individual efforts to strengthen smaller communities. “All of them need to be working together. Those are the successful communities.”
The second season of “My Town” will expand coverage to South Dakota and Nebraska, and will also include new episodes on two rural communities in North Dakota. Hepola expects those will be announced by mid-January.
Numerous studies in recent years show since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, younger adults are moving to rural areas at higher rates than have been seen since the 1970s, largely because of the work-life balance those communities can provide.
That work-life balance is something towns should be proud of and advertise, Hepola said.
“But you have to raise your hand,” he said. “You can’t sit back anymore and just wait for people to find you, because they won’t find you.”
Another important aspect is forward thinking and strategic planning, he said, looking out 10 years ahead instead of just patching things up as you go. That means focusing on housing and other local amenities to attract and keep people in a town.
Several of Hepola’s recent episodes have also focused on how some of these smaller towns are attracting newcomers from across the country and around the world.
More specifically, episodes on Willmar, Minn., and Iowa Lakes, Iowa, highlight how those communities are welcoming immigrants from abroad.
“We go to these small towns in Iowa and they’ve opened their arms, and it’s incredibly diverse, and the same thing with Willmar,” Hepola said.
This inclusion doesn’t come without challenges, Hepola said. It helps if people connect the dots by recalling their own immigrant heritages in these towns and how their ancestors were also once newcomers, he added.
“Trying to recognize that this town’s history is based on people coming to this country for a better life is a positive thing, and all these small towns are looking to grow, and these businesses are looking for people to come and work, and when people come in, we should be having those open arms,” he said.
<h3>The things they need</h3>
On the infrastructure side – schools, child care, health care, housing – others have been looking at what creates success as well.
North Dakota State University (NDSU) department of architecture student Sydney Seamands recently crafted her master’s degree thesis around understanding how to save declining communities in the state.
During that process, she identified five core areas crucial to success: the availability of child care services, the availability of community and cultural amenities, the development of vibrant downtowns, access to single and multi-family housing, and access to educational opportunities.
While Seamands looked at Richardton, Garrison, Velva, Mayville and Rugby, she eventually honed in on Velva as the most promising community for implementing a basic rural revitalization strategy.
Velva’s proximity to Minot means access to larger health care facilities, she said, and having a historic main street and other existing infrastructure are focal points for building on its positive aspects.
It’s not about completely reinventing a town, she said, but determining how the existing strengths can be supplemented to attract new residents to keep it viable in the long run.
“Younger families aren’t going to come if there isn’t a school, or a place where they can bring their kids,” Seamands said. “Young professionals aren’t going to come if they can’t approach a job. It’s just about how to attract more people.”
On a personal level, Seamands has small-town connections to Hettinger, and though now residing in Bismarck, she was trying to figure out whether a small town would be a fit for her after graduation.
Lack of professional advancement opportunities is possibly the biggest challenge for some communities in attracting a more youthful cohort, she said.
“The affordability aspect would really entice a lot of younger people. There just isn’t any opportunity for them to grow professionally,” she said of some communities.
Dr. Ganapathy Mahalingam, a professor at NDSU’s architecture school and Seamands’ thesis advisor, said the goal was not to select a particular town, but to come up with a strategy that could be applied to a variety of towns looking for development templates.
“Velva was just the case in point for how to illustrate the strategy,” Mahalingam said.
</body></html>

Michael Standaert

Small-town success comes from positive people and things

<html><head></head><body>President Biden will address the White House Tribal Nations Summit on Monday, December 9, 2024. This will be his fourth consecutive year speaking at the summit and the last one of his current administration. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and other administration officials will also speak at the event, focusing on policy initiatives to support Tribal communities.
The summit, which was revived in 2021 after a pause during the Trump administration, brings together leaders from all 574 federally recognized tribal nations, national and regional Native American organization leaders, and members of Congress. Its primary goal is to discuss ways the federal government can invest in and strengthen Native communities, ensuring long-term progress for Tribal nations.
</body></html>

Biden to Host Final Tribal Nations Summit, Marking Four Years of Engagement

Todd Hall

<html><head></head><body>Much praise has been given recently to the Trump Administration’s pick of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, as the new Secretary of the Department of the Interior. He is expected to replace Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first American Indian to serve in the post. I commend and respect Haaland for being the first to crack the glass ceiling and obtain the position. I wish her well in her future endeavors.
Meanwhile, Chairman Mark Fox of the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, is a fan singing Burgum’s praises. He went so far as to call the appointment “a match made in heaven” for North Dakota tribes. Fox also expressed his hopefulness that the appointment will be beneficial on behalf of MHA and those tribes that are “oil-rich.”
Time will tell, but according to existing North Dakota policy, future federal policies may be a match made in heaven for sell-out, over-reaching tribal politicians who are willing to waive their tribal sovereignty and allow state taxation upon their reservations while simultaneously collecting tax benefits that don’t belong to the Indian Reorganization Act tribal councils but belong to individual Indian landowners, called “Allottees,” instead.
Unbeknownst to most, three separate MHA tribal administrations have done so on the federal Fort Berthold Indian Reservation through Oil and Gas Gross Production Tax Sharing Agreements they executed with the state of North Dakota. The Marcus Levings administration, the Tex Hall administration, and finally, the Mark Fox administration, who now guards the henhouse.
Under the former and current Oil and Gas Gross Production Tax Sharing Agreements, the MHA Nation does not exercise its taxing authority or inherent sovereignty, as tribal politicians like to tout. It is the exact opposite.
Instead, in accordance to North Dakota State law, the IRA councils have each waived tribal sovereign immunity from state taxation on federal “trust lands,” within the boundaries of the reservation. The tax agreements are nothing but a waiver and an agreement not to litigate over taxing authority.
While a great concept to promote economic development, the devil is in the details. Federal Allottee lands are illegally being taxed without any landowner’s consent. No public notice nor due process was ever afforded to the affected Allottees.
Tribal lands and Allottee lands are separate and distinct. The tribal council does not have the right or authority to speak and/or give consent on behalf of allotted landowners. Allottees own at least 70% of the land-base now being illegally taxed on the Fort Berthold Reservation.
Article 6, Section 2 of the Constitution of the Three Affiliated Tribes explicitly states:
<blockquote>“The exercise of powers granted by this Constitution is subject to any limitations imposed by the statutes of the United States or by this Constitution and Bylaws.”</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Noto Sans', sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';">Currently, the monies that the MHA Nation tribal officials have been so flush with and spending – like it is their own personal lottery winnings– have been essentially stolen from Allottee properties by the state of North Dakota and given back to the tribal government as a refund. According to federal, state, and tribal law, both the state of North Dakota and the Indian Reorganization Act governed MHA tribal council lack any legal jurisdiction or right to tax Allottee lands unless the landowners give their prior consent.
An exemption from taxation is an added value component of ownership, a property right, which belongs to the beneficial interest holder of an allotment and not the tribal council. Any income or benefit generated on Allottee lands belongs to the individual Indian owner or owners. It does not belong to the politicians who spend, spend, spend to build over-priced funhouses, greenhouses, bankroll casinos, or buy private residences for themselves, like one such mansion in a Summerlin/Las Vegas gated community complex.
Maybe Fox and other IRA officials are also hoping that Gov. Burgum, in his new role, will overlook that the MHA Nation has not completed audits of federal funds in several years and any audits of tribal funds appear to be nonexistent. Close to $1 billion is alleged to have disappeared into thin air, unaccounted for.
Hopefully, incoming Interior Secretary Burgum will fulfill the federal trust responsibility and fiduciary duty due to Individual Indians, Indian landowners, and federally recognized tribes by enforcing existing laws meant to protect individual and collective civil, trust, property and treaty rights which were paid for in blood by our ancestors and combat veterans.
We expect Burgum to work for the benefit of all tribes, all Indian people, especially the ones struggling to make ends meet, and not just the “oil-rich.”
Gowitz
</body></html>

Next secretary of the Interior should elevate allotted landowner rights

<html><head></head><body>Buffalo’s Fire readers will notice a few changes to our website as we roll out a redesigned version aimed at improving user experience and responsiveness. We expect this transition to be smooth, but we apologize in advance for any temporary glitches or adjustments you may encounter as we continue to fine-tune the site in the days ahead.
One notable change involves our weekly newsletter. Starting next week, it will be delivered via <a href="https://imfa.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Substack</a>, an updated service provider that will allow us to present the news in a more engaging and user-friendly format. This also means the newsletter will arrive from a new email address, and we want to warn users of the change.
With the website redesign, you’ll find news stories are better organized by topic, with a greater emphasis on content relevant to our community’s interests and a renewed commitment to transparency. We’ll be introducing additional features throughout the next week, including a new topic-based chat that will provide subscribers with a new opportunity to connect directly with the Buffalo’s Fire newsroom and participate in the discussion.
As always, we encourage readers to reach out and give us feedback and suggestions.
</body></html>

Buffalo’s Fire website and newsletter updated

<html><head></head><body>In North Dakota, some schools are seeing notable success in improving graduation rates for American Indian students, including St. John High School, which boasts near-perfect rates. Meanwhile, other schools are working to address dropout rates by offering flexible schedules and personalized support for students at risk of falling behind.
As the country focused on Native American Heritage Month in November, North Dakota educators continued their year-round efforts to improve graduation rates for American Indian students. The Department of Public Instruction unveiled its latest annual report in September, revealing the dropout and graduation rates for the 2023-2024 academic year. Buffalo’s Fire reviewed the North Dakota DPI dataset and conducted an analysis, finding that Native students experience greater disparities in graduation rates compared to white students, with considerable variation among schools.
The state’s K-12 system has a total enrollment of 118,878 students. American Indians constitute 10% of this population, making them the largest minority group, as reported by <a href="https://insights.nd.gov/Education/State/Summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Insights North Dakota</a>, the state’s official source for information about public education. Approximately 82% of students graduated within four years.
<h3>High Performing Schools Success Factors</h3>
St. John High School in St. John has the highest American Indian graduation rate for the 2023-2024 academic year, approaching 100%. The next highest rates are Legacy High School in Bismarck, with 95%, and Eight Mile High School in Trenton, at 91%.
St. John High School, with a dropout rate of just 2%, is also among the top three schools in North Dakota with the lowest dropout rates for the 2023-2024 academic year. The other schools sharing this rate are New Town Middle School, Turtle Mountain Community Middle School in Belcourt and Wachter Middle School in Bismarck.
Charles Anderson, principal of St. John High School, has been an educator for 18 years, including 12 years in his current role. Along with alternative education instructor Dawn Mohberg, they have prioritized a credit recovery program that allows students to make up credits for classes they didn’t pass.
“For example, let’s say they didn’t pass the fourth quarter, and that caused them to have an F,” Anderson said. “We’re going to have them redo the fourth quarter, if that’s what is the reason. We’re not going to have them do the whole semester.”
Anderson said educators at St. John High School focus on fostering relationships with students and meeting students halfway. “It’s really important to us to get to know our students, to try to understand our students, and to be there for our students,” he said. “That’s kind of the culture we’ve built in our building.”
With a 95-100% graduation rate over the past 10 years, <a href="https://www.buffalosfire.com/native-high-school-near-turtle-mountain-reservation-sustains-near-perfect-graduation-rate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">St. John High School</a> was recognized with the Distinguished School Award for the 2022-2023 academic year. This last spring, 24 students graduated; 23 were American Indian. Educators acknowledge that each school has unique needs.
“We’re constantly pushing, and thinking about how can we improve,” Anderson said. “What are some outside-the-box things that we could do? And opportunities for our students?”
<h3>American Indian Graduation Rates and Disparities</h3>
In North Dakota, Indigenous students are less likely to graduate high school than other students.&nbsp; The traditional American Indian <a href="https://insights.nd.gov/Education/State/GraduationRate#" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">graduation rate</a> for the 2022-2023 academic year sat at 77% compared to 93% for white students, according to DPI.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, the <a href="https://insights.nd.gov/Education/State/GraduationRate#" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">graduation rates</a> for American Indian students are 78% for “completer” students, 77% for the traditional graduation rate and 82% for the overall state graduation rate. DPI defines completer rates as all who graduate in a given year, whether with a traditional high school diploma or a General Educational Development certificate. The traditional graduation rate is based on seniors who graduate with a traditional diploma during that year.
<h3>The Complex Picture of Graduation and Dropout Rates</h3>
Understanding the state’s American Indian graduation and dropout rates requires considering multiple factors.
According to Ross Roemmich, the management information systems director at DPI, the data includes both low and high ranges due to many variables and to protect student identities.
In the 2023-2024 dataset, the state average dropout rate for American Indian students was 15%. The dropout rate remained the same compared to the 2022-2023 dataset.
According to the latest dataset, the two schools with the highest American Indian dropout rates are Souris River Campus Community High School in Minot and South Central Alternative High School in Bismarck, both at 59%.
Despite the data, several factors are not included in the numbers. Souris River Campus Alternative High School has 55 enrolled students, with approximately 13 of them identifying as American Indian, according to Principal Brian Aufforth. Because of the school’s small population, a single dropout can significantly impact the data more than larger institutions.
“Classrooms here are smaller, so they should have more one-on-one with teachers,” Aufforth said. “Max classroom size is 10 per class. And with that one-on-one, they should be able to get more support, more direct instruction for each individual student.”
Other schools are similar. South Central High School, for example, is not a typical high school; it serves a concentrated population of students at high risk of dropping out. According to Joe Kalvoda, the principal of SCHS, many of their students have already dropped out of the traditional high schools in the area.
“If not physically, at least mentally, they’ve dropped out,” he said. “That being said, we do a lot to try and engage the student to get them back into coming to school and being successful to give them the opportunity.”
Students face various challenges that make it difficult to stay in school, such as poverty, family obligations, special circumstances or stress from their home life. Additionally, Kalvoda noted that for some students, the current education system simply does not meet their needs.
“Traditional schools function in a controlled manner,” he said. “They’re going to tell you, sit here, do this. Then the bell rings, you get up, and you go across the hall. It’s very much about structure and order. While that works for a large portion of the population, there are students who don’t do well with that environment.”
South Central High School serves 118 students, with 35% to 40% identifying as Native, according to Kalvoda, who has been principal for the past 12 years. He explained that the school aims to give students a second chance to complete their education. South Central uses an individualized instruction model, offering flexible schedules that cater to students’ unique needs and circumstances.
“I always tell students who come here, this is a second chance for you to be successful, but it’s also a second chance for us as Bismarck Public Schools to serve you better and to try another model to see if we can help you,” Kalvoda said.
<h3>Ongoing Solutions to Increase Graduation Rates</h3>
Lucy Fredericks, director of Indian and Multicultural Education at DPI, said the department continuously seeks solutions to improve the graduation rate and decrease the dropout rate. The department sponsored a North Dakota Dropout Prevention &amp; Reengagement Summit for three years from 2017-2019. The summit has not been held since 2019.
The department has initiated programs like <a href="https://www.nd.gov/dpi/districtsschools/essa/accountability-support-improvement/choice-ready" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Choice Ready</a> to prepare students for higher education and the workforce.
St. John High School has been implementing the Choice Ready program. Anderson said the school tries to provide students with career opportunities by offering programs such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration certification, CPR certification and welding classes.
“I think Choice Ready is beneficial because our students aren’t pigeonholed to just what they’re doing academically,” Anderson said. “It’s how do we get kids ready for when they graduate high school for the path that they want and the choices that they have?”
DPI also began the <a href="https://www.nd.gov/dpi/education-programs/indian-education/native-american-needs-assessment-survey-and-action-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Native American Needs Assessment Survey</a> six years ago. Each need is linked to a variety of evidence-based strategies and resources. The Action Plan is a living document, updated annually with additional needs, strategies and resources.
“One of the questions on the survey was, ‘How can we assist you with attendance, graduation rates and dropout prevention?’’ Fredericks said. “That was one of the areas that came back as the schools and the educators wanted more information and strategies for them to support their students.”
<h3>Endgoal: Supporting Students</h3>
Fredericks said that despite ongoing challenges, the dropout rate has decreased since she joined DPI. “We still have work to do,” she said. “But just seeing that increase from the last 10 to 12 years is really something that we are happy about and are glad to see that it’s going in the right direction.”
Aufforth and Kalvoda also agree that numbers don’t tell the whole story. Kalvoda emphasized that success is measured by perspective and the impact of changing young people’s lives.
“People think if the student doesn’t graduate, they’re a failure,” he said. “That’s not true. We have a lot of students who come here whose life path is a negative trajectory. They’ve lost hope for a positive future. We help students find hope for a positive future and find a new path. If that includes graduating, great. But if it doesn’t –– that’s still okay.”
Ultimately, educators are working to improve the graduation rate by creating a safe and healthy learning environment.
“We know that if students come here to a place where they are comfortable and successful, they stay in school and we get them across the stage [at graduation],” Anderson said. “We’re extremely proud of the school that we have.”
</body></html>