Maada'ookiing Round 2
Grants Awarded
Congratulations & Miigwech to the September 2021 Grantees!
Collette Pederson ($2,500): To capture Elders' stories of their lives and knowledge to share the history of Grand Portage community.
Rebecca Gawboy ($2,500): To host a weekend gathering of Native women to make their own hand drums, ribbon skirts, bond, pray, and be in ceremony.
Muriel Deegan ($2,500): To offer weekly evening sessions for community members to bead, hear traditional winter stories, and learn cultural teachings at Vermilion Social Center.
Briand Morrison ($2,500): To create and perform original music, Anishinaabe Blues, with three live performances in Grand Portage at the Elders Powwow, on a live radio show, and at Wabaan, a healing circle.
Billy Blackwell ($2,500): To capture and retain the stories of the history and culture of the Grand Portage Anishinaabe before the stories are lost. This project will record stories on video and digitally so they can be made available to all people who want to learn.
Janis Fairbanks ($2,500): To create a book that highlights traditional Ojibwe beadwork design and techniques featuring the life work of Ralph Fairbanks, a traditional Ojibwe Elder (1948 - 2020), with pictures of his work and commentary on the artistic, spiritual, and cultural importance of his legacy to pass this knowledge to future generations.
Alexander Kmett ($2,500): To create an informational video that highlights the importance of both food sovereignty and language revitalization, and how they are both relevant in developing our way of relating to the natural world as Indigenous peoples.
Linda Newman ($2,500): To educate, support, and empower young women (ages 12+) of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa through opportunities to work with traditional sled dogs, paddle into the BWCA, learn to make beeswax candles, and immerse themselves in off-grid activities.
Brian Stillday ($2,500): To teach children in the Duluth area traditional singing basics, back-up singing, and the responsibility of handling a drum.
Maija Stillday ($2,500): To teach ribbon skirt and regalia making to youth in Duluth and host a fashion show in a round dance style to display the youths’ work.
Tashia Hart ($2,500): To make narratives of healthy, healing portrayals of love, body, and relationships easily accessible to uplift Native communities of Minnesota and beyond. Free copies of the novel Native Love Jams will be distributed to tribal libraries, women's shelters, and other locations.
Patra Wise ($2,500): To host a workshop to teach Native youth the art of preserving culturally significant herbs, in partnership with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Community Center and American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO).
Jordan Gawboy ($2,500): To offer drumming and regalia making classes for youth ages 8-18 years old at Bois Forte Tribal Nation communities of Lake Vermilion and Nett Lake in a community center setting.
Ryan Bajan ($2,500): To hold drum circle once a week in after-school programming on the Bois Forte Tribal Nation with youth 6-18 years old.
Airlea DeFoe ($2,500): To host an event to raise awareness, funds, and resources for Indigenous peoples who are unhoused, in emergency shelter, and spotlight issues that cause Native homelessness.
Ashley Ammesmaki ($2,500): To create a MMIW (missing murdered indigenous women)-MMIS (missing murdered indigenous survivors) Beaded Mural to educate on these movements to help MMIW and MMIS families and survivors, raise awareness, and generate more resources.
October Allen ($2,500): To add cultural components to a successful recovery/wellness group within a housing support program and bring awareness to the needs of Indigenous women and the importance of cultural activities.
Danielle Pieratos ($2,500): To create a Farmers Market Manager for the Ode-imini Giizhis (Strawberry Moon) Farmers Market on Bois Forte Tribal Nation to increase healthy, local, fresh food access.
