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The Qawalangin Tribe is offering free online college programs to all tribal members through a new educational partnership.

KUCB’s Sofia Stuart-Rasi reports tribal officials are hoping the opportunity will help grow a workforce in Unalaska beyond the fishing industry.

The Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska is partnering with an online college offering free certificates and degrees to all tribal members.

The collaboration is part of the tribe’s Workforce Development Pilot Program and offers a range of courses in healthcare, business administration, and skilled trades at Penn Foster College.

Tanaya Horne is the Chief Operating Officer for the Tribe.

She says they intentionally chose programs that would support Unalaska’s workforce as the city looks to diversify its economy amid declining crab stocks and other uncertainties in the fishing industry.

“[It] comes into flux where we don’t quite know what is going to happen… It’s our responsibility and pride to ensure that the lands are protected. And part of that is making sure that we’ve got capable people on island who can do the work that comes with that economic development that we’re so looking forward to in Unalaska.”

The Qawalangin Tribe is part of a trilateral agreement with the City of Unalaska and the island’s Native village corporation Ounalashka Corporation.

The entities have pledged to jointly address the island’s infrastructure needs. And Horne says they’re also investing in Unalaskans.

“We’re training people … we’re using federal training dollars through workforce development grants … and we’re not having to invest in bringing people on the island. You know, it’s reducing operational expenses.”

There are dozens of free online Penn Foster College courses now available to tribal members to help them get a high school diploma, certificates and degrees.

Horne says several people have already enrolled in the college partnership since launching the program late last month.

The U.S. Census Bureau has a tool called My Tribal Area that organizes information about tribal communities.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau explains how it’s been received over the years.

The tool allows users to search for a particular reservation or pueblo, and it will show information in five categories: people, jobs, housing, economy, and education.

The tool aims to make tribal data clear and more readily accessible. Eric Coyle with the Bureau says it’s been useful for grant writers.

“I send them a link to this tool and I just get thank you’s all around.”

But not much has changed to the layout since its inception in 2016, besides the updated data.

Some data points have large margins of error.

And Carolyn Liebler, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, says the Census changed their coding for race in 2020, which impacted the numbers.

“It is really hard to make policy decisions when some of the data that you’re working with are different over time for reasons that aren’t related to what’s happening on the ground.”

Still, Liebler believes it’s one of the best tools for accessing American Indian and Alaska Native data.

Tribal leaders and California state lawmakers pressed top California State University officials Tuesday about returning nearly 700,000 Native American human remains and items to tribes.

They held a press conference at the state capitol, followed by a committee hearing on findings from a state auditor’s report released in June.

Tribal leaders and lawmakers say the university is failing to return the remains, which they say is violating federal and state law.

The university’s interim president and four other campus representatives are scheduled to testify.

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A first-of-its-kind report on missing persons in Alaska has been released.

The State Department of Public Safety and the Anchorage Police Department collaborated to collect this data.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Austin McDaniel, a spokesman for the Public Safety Department, says the report maps out hundreds of cases going back to 1960.

“We think this is a good first effort, and we’re definitely interested in adding additional data points.”

McDaniel says the work, which is an outgrowth of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK)’s People First Initiative, will be updated every quarter and can be found online.

In the last quarter, from April to June, 200 Alaska Native or American Indian people went missing in the state. Most of those have been found, except for 25.

The database has an important new feature.

It categorizes the circumstances surrounding the disappearances, identifying those which are suspicious.

As director of the Data for Indigenous Justice group, Charlene Apok welcomes the new report and says it’s what advocates for missing Indigenous people have been asking for – for years.

She worked on an earlier attempt to track their numbers.

“Sadly, I think what this really illustrates is a systemic issue of violence that’s being perpetrated in our community in the state of Alaska. And that should raise flags and alarms, and really start igniting justice.”

Apok hopes the database will continue to improve and provide more information about those missing, including their hometowns and Native cultural identities, so they become more than just points of data, but reminders of loved ones, lost to their families.

Indigenous groups in Guatemala say they’re preparing for massive protests if necessary to defend the results of last weekend’s election.

That vote saw a landslide by the anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo, which the Guatemalan government is now trying to overturn.

Maria Martin reports.

About a dozen Maya and other Indigenous groups met recently in the community of Totonicapan.

Later they issued a statement addressed to the people of Guatemala and the international community.

In it, the influential Maya Quiche organization “48 Cantones” – speaking for the collective, expressed “profound concerns” at Guatemala’s constitutional crisis, which they say is a result of quote “constant and flagrant” violations of the constitution by an entrenched corrupt group that seeks to hold on to power.”

It’s the first time for people to defend their vote says the 48 Cantones President Luis Pacheco Gutierrez.

“And to show that Native people…along with all Guatemalans are uniting to oppose wrong decisions that are being taken…enough is enough.”

The Indigenous authorities of Solola meanwhile say if Attorney General Consuelo Porras continues to “destroy democracy,” they’ll be forced to take over highways, airports, and offices of the Public Ministry.

They’re also calling for Porras’ resignation.

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York has received an initial distribution of $1.3 million from a group of nationwide opioid settlements.

The tribe was part of the opioid settlements reached in 2022 with pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.

According to the tribe, additional payments are to be made by some of the settling companies over a number of years.

The tribe filed suit in 2018 contending companies that manufacture, market, and distribute opioids carried out a scheme to make individuals believe that prescription opioids were safe, non-addictive, and could be used without long-term effects.

The complaint alleges that the scheme created an opioid epidemic that has ravaged tribal communities.

According to the tribe, the opioid epidemic created health effects on its members and their families, as well as increased instances of child welfare, foster care cases, and crime.

The tribe has been working to combat the impacts of the opioid epidemic.

The settlement will be used to support programs and services.

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There’s a new marker along Anchorage’s Coastal Trail.

It says Nuch’ishtunt, which means “the place protected from the wind” in Dena’ina Athabascan.

The sign is part of the Indigenous Place Names Project and is a reminder that Dena’ina people were and continue to be part of Anchorage.

Jeremy Hsieh reports from Alaska Public Media in Anchorage.

At a ceremony celebrating the new signpost, Aaron Leggett shares an anecdote about meeting other young Alaska Natives when he was 19 working at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

“And I told them that I was Dena’ina. They said, ‘Well, what’s that?’ Then they said, ‘Well, where’s your village?’ I said, ‘We’re from here.’ They said, ‘No, where’s your Native village?’ I said, ‘We’re from here.’ ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Well, Eklutna is 26 miles from downtown Anchorage.’ And some of them who had grown up in Anchorage said, ‘Well, I didn’t know Native people lived here.”

He says he realized Dena’ina were largely invisible and he wanted to work on reclaiming who Dena’ina are as a people.

That was more than 20 years ago.

Now, Leggett is the president of the Native Village of Eklutna and a curator with the Anchorage Museum.

He’s been working on the Indigenous Place Names Project since its inception in 2018.

The “Nuch’ishtunt” sign is the effort’s fourth installment.

Dena’ina people used to set up seasonal salmon fishing camps near this point, up until federal officials banned commercial fishing here in the 1950s.

“Indigenous place making deepens the connection we have to place.”

Beth Nordlund is the executive director of the Anchorage Park Foundation, another organization working on the project.

“This is bigger than signs. It’s a movement.”

Project supporters eventually want to put up 32 of these sculpture signs in high visibility areas around Anchorage and Eklutna.

They each feature iron artwork representing a fire bag, a pouch used to carry materials for starting a fire.

It’s also a symbol of living outdoors and sharing.

Poarch Band of Creek Indians Magnolia Branch Wildlife Reserve. (Photo: Lance Cheung / USDA)

A new report shows forests managed by tribal communities are extremely underfunded. And that’s affecting lands they rely on for economic, social, and cultural resources.

The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.

The report was done by the Indian Forest Management Assessment Team.

It calls on the federal government to increase funding to tribes by nearly $100 million each year.

That would match the per-acre funds that agencies like the U.S. Forest Service receive to manage forests.

Cody Desautel is president of the Intertribal Timber Council and member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington State.

He says wildfires have burned almost 700,000 acres of their forestlands since 2015.

“And in places that we likely would have had treated ahead of time to reduce that post-fire severity if we had more funding and staffing.”

He says tribes need those now – as climate change fuels more frequent and severe wildfires.

“We’d like to do considerably more prescribed fire to combat some of the post-fire impacts we’ve seen and protect our communities.”

In 2019, tribal forests covered more than 19 million acres in the U.S.

The Mechoopda are recognized in a Chico State University entry hall display that includes tribal artifacts, biographies of the first two Mechoopda graduates, and a listing of all Mechoopda who have earned degrees. (Photo: Jason Halley / Chico State University)

Tribal leaders and state lawmakers in California are pressing California State University officials to return Native American human remains and artifacts to tribes.

Leaders and lawmakers plan to gather at the state capitol next week to discuss an auditor’s report released this summer with CSU representatives.

Tribal leaders and lawmakers citing the report say CSU is failing to return the remains and cultural items, which is failing to comply with federal and state laws.

According to the audit, only around 6% of CSU’s nearly 700,000 remains and items have been repatriated.

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In the heavily Indigenous country of Guatemala, Indigenous citizens hold high hopes for the upcoming administration of their newly elected president, as Maria Martin reports.

Anthropologist Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj (Kʼicheʼ Maya), who has taught at Stanford and other U.S. universities, shared in the nationwide euphoria after the upset landslide victory last Sunday of reform candidate Bernardo Arévalo.

”In many ways, this is a dream that come true.”

For Indigenous people, she says, there are now hopes for a different Guatemala, one in which the Maya and other Indigenous groups aren’t marginalized and treated as second-class citizens.

“So this is the opportunity to change the reality, to stop the migration to the United States… this is also a special moment for Indigenous women… Indigenous women in Guatemala have been working very hard for justice.”

Velásquez herself has suffered threats for her work as a columnist in the now closed newspaper El Periodico.

Her hopes for change are tempered by the reality of a Guatemalan system still trying to block Arévalo from taking office.

“We know that Arévalo has many challenges, but we also recognize that it’s possible to start to change and to build another Guatemala.”

Kyla Magdalena and her crew members from the 2022 Forest Stewards Youth Corps summer program in Jemez Pueblo work on installing a wildlife watershed installation. (Courtesy Kyla Magdalena)

There’s plenty of conservation work to do on tribal lands, but it’s not always easy to get Indigenous people into these positions.

Groups such as the Forest Stewards Youth Corps see the value of working with them and it’s made an impact on the community, as Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau reports in part two of her series.

Conservation is interwoven into Indigenous teachings and they know how to care for the land.

A 2021 study showed that Indigenous-managed lands accounted for protecting about 85% of the world’s biodiversity.

Chas Robles is the director of Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps, another conservation group focused on recruiting Indigenous Youth in the Mountain West, like the Forest Stewards Youth Corps.

He says investment in youth training programs is critical.

“So reconnecting those young folks to those places and spaces… is a really powerful opportunity for those young folks to really find a passion for the outdoors and the lands in the waters that their ancestors inhabited.”

And that passion is being pursued. 30 people from Jemez Pueblo have gone through the Youth Corps programs.

Of the 23 people who served on all of the crews this summer, 12 said they are pursuing, or plan to pursue, a career in Natural Resource Management.

Kyla Magdalena works with Antuane Lucero from the 2022 Forest Stewards Youth Corps summer crew in Jemez Pueblo. (Courtesy Kyla Magdalena)

Kyla Magdalena had a similar experience.

She expected to go to work straight out of high school… until she fell in love with tree plot planning.

“It was kind of like a scavenger hunt because they would just give you the map in the coordinates.”

Now, she wants to study Geographic Information Systems.

“That really inspired me, so I plan to get my degree and come back to the community and help out with land.”

That’s critical for people like John Galvan, the tribal forest manager for Jemez Pueblo.

He says the work doesn’t get done without the trainees’ help.

He gives them all the same advice: “Go out and explore the world and see what’s out there and get your education, but do come back again to help our people, our community, our landscape.”

Galvan hopes that more Indigenous people will use their knowledge of the land to help preserve it for years to come.

“That’s what it comes down. What are we leaving for our future generations? So it’s great to have these kids that are interested right now. Hopefully we can direct them to become foresters again.”

Listen to part one of her series:

This two-part series was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland experienced what Alaska Natives in remote villages experience all the time Tuesday.

Rhonda McBride from our flagship station reports.

Merrick Garland got weathered out of a flight to Huslia, a tiny community on the Koyukuk River in Interior Alaska.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who traveled with Garland, says she’s not in the habit of wishing visitors to Alaska bad weather.

“But it was a reminder that when something happens when there is a tragedy, or a threat or something that requires public safety intervention in a community that is not accessible, and weather shuts in, there is no plan B.”

Rain and strong winds cancelled Garland’s flight to Huslia, which is only accessible by air and water.

Garland says the challenges of Alaska weather was not something he could have fully understood without experiencing it.

“We had a United States Marshals plane, we had a United States Air Force plane and still with the weather, we weren’t able to get there. I can’t imagine what would happen in the circumstance, if there was an emergency.”

Garland was able to meet with tribal leaders in Galena, another Interior Alaska community.

He also attended a roundtable hosted by the Alaska Federation of Natives in Anchorage, where he announced $22 million in funding for the Alaska Native Justice Center to help tribes improve their public safety and justice systems.

The meeting was closed to the media, but Michelle Demmert (Lingít), a longtime tribal court judge, says there was a lot at stake for Alaska Natives who experience some of the highest rates of violence in the country

“Alaska tribes have not gotten the same resources across the board when it comes to essential governmental services and it’s time for them to pony up.”

Demmert is the Not Invisible Commissioner of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Tribal Governance Program.

She called the meeting groundbreaking, because Garland acknowledged Alaska tribes as democratic institutions and their importance to the nation.

Read Garland’s remarks at a roundtable with representatives of Alaska Native organizations in Anchorage

*This story was updated to correct the federal funding amount awarded to Alaska. It was reported $70 million, when in fact it was $22 million.

Allen Baca works on pruning the dead branches of the trees at the Walatowa Red Rocks tourist site in Jemez Pueblo, N.M. on June 22nd, 2023. (Photo: Emma VandenEinde / KUNC)

The land and its waterways have long been sacred to Indigenous people. And they know how to care for it well.

Now, some groups are recruiting Indigenous youth to restore and protect these areas.

Emma VandenEinde of the Mountain West News Bureau visits a pueblo in New Mexico to see how one crew is doing that.

“So, yeah, just cut loose branches, any low-hanging branches.”

It’s a hot, sunny morning in Jemez Pueblo.

Allen Baca, a crew member from the Forest Stewards Youth Corps, is giving instructions for their project at a trailhead near a red rock formation.

“The site is going to be anywhere within the grounds, don’t worry about those outside the boundaries.”

They start cutting and sawing.

Branches overflow in the pickup truck bed, but Baca makes sure they take care of every tree.

“Sam, if you want to head down to that tree right there and just prune that one, and me and Mell are going to go around collecting.”

Behind each branch is a lesson to these Indigenous youth about giving back.

“It’s not just for the benefit of me. It’s for the benefit of the community and then our future as well, our future kids and our future governors.”

The Youth Corps summer program is for 15-to-25 year olds like Baca.

Five crews across New Mexico are trained on natural resource careers, all while restoring the land.

The Jemez Pueblo crew, which joined in 2020, is the only one on Indigenous land.

For a little over two months, they work on a variety of projects, like thinning forests to slow wildfires or removing invasive trees by streams.

One of their projects is by Jemez Springs.

On the side of a cliff is an image of a woman wearing a shawl, which is spiritually important to the Jemez people.

Baca says work like this is much more than cutting down trees.

“We just have deep connections with our own lands as well. And just, you know, taking care of your land just feels like you’re just taking care of, you know, yourself as well.”

There are other Indigenous conservation groups in the Mountain West, like Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps. Their crews work on habitat restoration projects on tribal lands in New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming.

But Chas Robles, the director of Ancestral Lands, says recruitment has been challenging.

Along with factors like low pay, there’s another barrier: trauma.

Indigenous people used to inhabit and manage these lands, but the federal government forced them onto reservations. And that history hasn’t always been acknowledged in natural resource jobs.

“To totally ignore the Indigenous people who inhabited those lands…it’s a huge injustice.”

Tune in tomorrow to hear how successful the program has been in tribal communities despite these barriers to recruitment.

This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is ready to assist tribes as part of its response to Tropical Storm Hilary.

According to FEMA, Hilary hit more than 60 tribes in three states – California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Kelbie Kennedy is FEMA’s National Tribal Affairs Advocate.

“We’re currently working with FEMA region 9 in coordination with tribal nations. There’s a lot of rain, landslides, mudslides many impacts coming from the tropical storm that we’re making sure we’re being connected with tribal leadership and keep an eye out in case they have requests for assistance at this time.”

Kennedy says way before the tropical storm, tribes have been working with the agency on disaster preparedness plans.

“We’re constantly working with tribal nations even on blue sky days outside of disasters to make sure that we are supportive of their priorities on how they want to build their emergency management departments and that could be anything from building up training and exercises, building up different plans like their emergency operations plans, mitigation plans and really making sure that Indian Country is fully prepared by the time we get to an active disaster like what’s happening right now.”

Post-Hilary, Kennedy advises tribal nations and tribal citizens to continue to listen for local alerts, not to drive through water logged areas, keep food and water on hand, and check in on neighbors including elders.

“I know the goal of so many tribal leaders is to make sure anybody in your community, Native or not, is safe during a disaster and so anything we can do at FEMA to help support tribal nations in that effort we’re more than happy to do that to make sure everyone is safe.”

As of Monday afternoon, Kennedy says there were inquiries from tribal leaders, but there were no official requests for assistance.

Courtesy: Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa / Facebook

Minnesota saw a record 5.7 million people visit food shelves last year.

While there’s still concern about households not having enough to eat, new community-level solutions are taking shape, thanks to pandemic aid.

One tribe was able to boost its bison program.

Minnesota received nearly $14 million in American Rescue Plan funding to assist hunger relief efforts.

The grants went to food shelves, meal programs, SNAP outreach, and tribal nations.

The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa used its grant to accelerate its bison ranch.

Program administrator Jared Swader says being a food desert, they stocked up on products to hand out right away. But they also saw long-term opportunities.

“We’ve had a bison project in the works for about 10 to 15 years but there was no bison on land – it’s just all kind of in the planning phases. Well, with this funding we were able to buy some of the last minute things – get some hay on board and get some equipment and things like that.”

They now have bison for the ranch, and Swader says they plan to secure additional resources for reproduction. He says that would establish food sources for years to come, without having to worry as much about costs and other barriers in buying food in bulk.

This story is provided by the Minnesota News Connection

Aaron Leggett, president of the Native Village of Eklutna, addresses the crowd at the Nuch’ishtunt signpost unveiling at Point Woronzof on Friday. (Photo: Adam Nicely / Alaska Public Media)

Nuch’ishtunt, which means “the place protected from wind” and is otherwise known as Point Woronzof in the Anchorage, Alaska area, is being celebrated this month for its long history as a summer salmon fish camp for the Dena’ina.

Hannah Bissett from our flagship station KNBA has more.

The Nuchishtunt was of a specific importance for the Knik, Łajat, Niteh, Idlughet (Eklutna) and more, because the camp was a large part of the winter food supply.

During the early and mid-20th century, the Dena’ina harvested salmon at Nuch’ishtunt with more modernized methods of set gill nets for both commercial and subsistence purposes.

Then in the 1950s, federal authorities closed the site to commercial fishing, causing Dena’ina families to move their camps.

Nuch’ishtunts’ newest name comes from Lt. Joseph Whidbey.

A member from the 1794 expedition to Cook Inlet, although he never stepped foot on Alaska.

The celebration of history is supported by the Indigenous Place Names Project, and is part four of a 32-part project to bring Dena’ina names and history back into Anchorage.

The project is provided by the Anchorage Assembly, Rasmuson Foundation, Atwood Foundation, CIRI, CIRI Foundation, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage Park Foundation, and U.S. Fish Wildlife Service.

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Many Guatemalans are still celebrating the presidential victory of Bernardo Arévalo, the once-unlikely reform candidate who won a commanding 57% of the vote.

He received substantial support among Indigenous voters, who make up at least 40% of Guatemalans.

Maria Martin reports.

Traditional fireworks rang into the night in Indigenous communities throughout Guatemala to celebrate the resounding victory of Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement)’s Arévalo.

Arévalo had surprised everyone when he came in second-place in June’s first round elections for the runoff.

He had campaigned in heavily Indigenous areas, calling for an end to centuries of racism and marginalization of the Maya and other Indigenous and ethnic groups.

Arévalo’s runoff election rival, former First Lady Sandra Torres, has a strong political machine in heavily Indigenous states like Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Quiche.

Recent polls showed Torres would win rural areas, but the vote was close with Arévalo.

Indigenous leaders and organizations have been among the most vocal sectors of Guatemalan society against corruption – the hallmark of Arévalo’s campaign.

Groups of spiritual elders sent messages via social media Sunday to voters and to Guatemala.

Sean Sherman works a temporary reincarnation of his food truck at the Owamni Falling Water Festival outside his brick and mortar restaurant. (Photo: August Schwerdfeger / Wiki CC)

Indigenous chefs are racking up prestigious awards for their cooking.

But this wasn’t always the case – and there’s still room to grow.

Now, these chefs are working to share their cuisine while highlighting their history.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde reports.

Chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) says the absence of Native restaurants resulted from many wrongdoings by the federal government.

Bison were killed at alarming rates.

Federal boarding schools stripped Indigenous peoples of their culture and forcing them onto resource-poor reservations put them in a systemic trap. 

He says they haven’t had time to heal yet, let alone evolve.

“The more you dig into it, the more inequality you see in the more racist structures that you can see that are still built into the system.”

Chef Andrea Murdoch (Indigenous Andean) wants to shed light on this through her cooking.

She’s made food for several fundraising dinners that focus on issues like missing and murdered Indigenous relatives and Indian boarding school trauma.

“Yes, I’m a chef, but I’m using that platform to bring awareness to cultural issues.”

This summer, she helped with Denver EATSS, hosted by the American Indian College Fund.

It raises tens of millions of dollars each year for Indigenous students to attend tribal colleges.

Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sicangu Lakota), the college fund’s CEO, loves hosting the event.

“Events like this for me are that opportunity for us to showcase the kinds of things that we as Native people contribute to society.”

The dinner portion featured Indigenous chefs preparing dishes with pre-colonial ingredients, like a hen of the woods mushroom soup or a three sisters hors d’oeuvre. 

Ben Jacobs (Osage), the co-founder and chef of Tocabe American Indian Eatery in Denver, also cooked for the event.

With each dish, he tries to tell a story and make food for people, not for a profit.

“The point is being able to provide people food that’s meaningful and not worry about, ‘At the end of the day, I’m only here to make money,’ because we’re not. We’re here to make impact.”

Murdoch wants to do the same. By cooking at events like this, she hopes to uplift the cuisine and causes of her community while inviting others into the discovery.

“Food is a common necessity, one of the few common necessities that everybody needs, no matter what. Like, we need it for survival. So why not have a conversation about where your food came from?”

Listen to part one of Emma’s report

The Lummi Nation in Washington state says it’s saddened by the death of Tokitae.

The orca died in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium last week.

In a statement, the Lummi Nation says it stands in solidarity with Lummi members working to bring her home and will now begin talking about what’s next.

Listen to Tokitae singing the song her mother from L-Pod taught her, recorded in the early 1990s in Miami

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Indigenous college students face many obstacles in higher education, including overwhelming costs and not feeling culturally connected on campus.

But those behind a Wisconsin project say another barrier is not having support in seeking financial aid.

Mike Moen reports.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Student Success Through Applied Research – or S-STAR Lab – is using a $500,000 foundational grant to create a “one-stop-shop” for Indigenous students to find scholarship programs and other forms of financial relief specifically geared to them.

Project co-leader Gresham Collom says the searchable database seeks to create more awareness that slipped by him when he was a college student.

“I’m a first descendent member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Tribe, which means I’m not a formally enrolled member and a lot of these scholarship policies are based on formal enrollment in a federally recognized tribe. ”

But he later found out when his sister was enrolling that there were a handful of schools in the US with free tuition programs for first descendent Natives.

Collom says as more states add scholarship and grant initiatives, these individuals need up-to-date information.

Collom hopes the effort compels more higher education institutions to expand opportunities and update policies, which he adds can go beyond traditional financial aid.

“A lot of Indigenous students come from low-income areas where they have Pell Grant funding and what I would like to see is a lot of these programs expand their offerings to cover costs like childcare, health care, basic cost of living.”

He says those “wrap around” issues often get in the way of Indigenous students advancing their college careers.

Collom predicts the database will not only be web-friendly, but mobile-friendly too, knowing that many Native students come from tribal areas with limited access to high-speed internet.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

The Barbie doll has been getting much attention with the release last month of the Barbie movie.

In Alaska, mother Angela Gonzalez and daughter Ermelina of Anchorage, posted their doll titled, “Fish Camp Barbie” on social media, which features an Athabascan Barbie doll dressed in traditional clothing.

It’s gained thousands of views.

KNOM’s Ava White reports.

The iconic slogan of Barbie, “you can be anything,” is brought to life in a culturally rich way.

In this scene, a Barbie doll proudly wears a vibrant hot pink kuspuk, complemented by a beaded necklace, stylish moosehide cuffs, and headband.

Positioned on a nearby table is a fish made from salmon skin, aligned with beadwork.

Barbie is holding an Ulu, ready to skillfully prepare the fish.

All clothing was handmade by Ermelina Gonzalez.

Angela Gonzalez’ family’s fish camp was located along the Koyukuk River, where her family frequented when she was a young girl.

She has played with Barbies since she was a little kid and says her grandmother used to make accessories for her dolls.

“All the dolls would have their little ulus, and we would have a little fish camp scene with fish racks and leaves. Leaves from willows would be our little fish.”

Angela Gonzalez explains the importance of sharing culture towards younger generations and why it’s important for Alaska Native children to feel equally represented.

“I think that it’s just good that they will be able to see themselves represented, even though it’s not for the mass market or anything like that. They can be inspired to create what they want to create, you know, if they have a different way of life, maybe they can make a fishnet or a dip net, you know, just something that that can inspire them to be able to feel like they have permission to customize something that will represent themselves.”

Barbie has a reputation for embracing numerous roles, ranging from a CEO to a gymnast, a construction worker, and now, a skilled fisherwoman at a subsistence camp.

Through the innovative creation of their own Barbie scenes, Angela and Ermelina Gonzalez have succeeded in fashioning a compelling narrative focused on culture.

Their efforts serve as an inspiring testament for young girls across various Alaska Native cultures, conveying the powerful message that they too can embody the spirit of Barbie in their unique ways.

Ermelina Gonzalez is an intern at KNBA, Koahnic’s flagship station in Anchorage.

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A Native group is advocating for Native Hawaiian-led solutions to address the Maui wildfires.

NDN Collective along with its Native Hawaiian partners and board member are urging tourists not to travel to Maui at this time while residents work to recover.

Read NDN Collective’s Statement about the Maui Wildfires

They say there are already very limited resources.

They’re advocating for community-led rebuilding efforts to center on Indigenous knowledge and ways of life of Native Hawaiian people.

Native Hawaiian NDN Collective board member Camille Kalama says they’re mobilizing resources and support for the Native Hawaiian community and are encouraging grassroots efforts, including local mobilization and community-led solutions.

They’re also asking people to seek out vetted donation funds that are supporting immediate mutual aid efforts.

Fire has devastated their ancestral homelands, destroyed cultural and historical sites, and burned businesses and homes, displacing people and separating many who are still searching for their loved ones.

The Arizona School Boards Association has, for the first time in the organization’s 80-year history, chosen an Indigenous woman to be president to its board of directors.

Alex Gonzalez reports.

The ASBA is a nonprofit group that provides training and other services to public school governing boards across Arizona.

Desiree Fowler, a Navajo Nation tribal member, says she is committed to representing Native communities and border towns, as well as working to address the unique challenges rural and urban school districts face.

“A large percentage in Northern Arizona is going to be Navajo, so I just felt that our voices weren’t heard at the state level and I felt that it was important that we continue to advocate at the association level to be able to be transparent and, you know, just be diverse in every aspect.”

Fowler calls the new appointment a “milestone” for her and for all Native Americans as she says she is opening doors for future generations.

Fowler has served in other positions with the ASBA and adds those experiences have given her the tools and knowledge to be a “strong advocate for public schools and equitable education.”

Fowler has also served on the Page Unified School District, which borders the Navajo Nation, where 80% of the students in the community are Native American.

At the administrative and school board level, Fowler says she is the only full-blooded Native American that represents that 80%, which she calls a “sad” situation.

“But in reality, I’m the only one that lives out on the reservation. And I purposely do that, because I want to continue to make it known that we can make changes happen. We can accomplish big things.”

Fowler says when it comes to Northern Arizona and Native communities, things such as infrastructure, lack of access, and cultural differences can make getting an equitable education more challenging, but she hopes to help change that.

Ada Deer greets attendees of a Native November feast in 2018. (Photo: Courtesy of the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association and Bryce Richter / UW-Madison)

Ada Deer, a prominent Native leader from the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin, passed away this week.

She was a longtime advocate for Native rights who helped with Menominee federal restoration, which led to her becoming the first woman to chair the tribe.

Deer was also involved in state and national politics.

She became the first Native woman to hold the position of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs – leading the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In a social media post, Menominee Nation News announced her passing saying “she was a true inspiration and her legacy will continue to live on.”

She recently celebrated her 88^th birthday and was honored by Wisconsin with August 7^th as “Ada Deer Day.”

The Associated Press reports she died of natural causes.

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“Looks like a bomb went off there, it’s totally wiped out.”

That’s how the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s CEO Kuhio Lewis describes the Maui wildfires.

Lewis says fire has destroyed Lahaina, which is significate in the history of Native Hawaiians as the capital of their kingdom where chiefs made decisions.

“What most people see as a cool tourist destination, this cool old town hangout, it has so much sacredness to it, our chiefs are buried there. This is also where we had our part of our immersion school our Hawaiian language revitalize program that has also burned. And the stories we are hearing of where families have to watch their loved ones parish right in front of them is just heart breaking. This emotional toll in addition to the cultural significance is a lot.”

Lewis has assessed the devastation firsthand in order to better help those in need.

“We’ve been very active on the ground to try and buy supplies. It’s been overwhelming from around the world people have been sending support, love, and I really feel through this we are going to get through this, that spirit of aloha that vibrancy that everyone they get to experience when they come to Hawaii will carry us forward.”

Last week, the organization launched a donation drive they’ve raised about $1.5 million from corporate donations and the community has matched funds bringing it to nearly $4 million.

“We’re going to need a lot of resources right now and these are things that FEMA might not cover, the state won’t cover. We’re already hearing families have been denied assistance from FEMA so we’re going to have to step up and fill the gap. We have containers arriving on the island to ensure people have food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear they’ve lost everything. They don’t even have identification. They had to evacuate so quickly.” 

Lewis says it’s going to be a long recovery.

As Guatemala’s turbulent electoral campaign draws to a close with runoff elections on Sunday, Indigenous women came to that nation’s capital for a “weave-in” to protest government interference in the elections.

Maria Martin has this report.

Dozens of Maya weavers knelt on the ground while working colorful fabrics on backstrap looms and their leaders recited the message they’d all come to deliver.

“Tejemos cuidadania, tejemos democracy, y tejemos comunidad.”

“While we weave culture, we weave democracy… we weave stories… we weave hope and joy… while the justice department weaves corruption and pimps for criminals.”

Spokesperson Iris Sactic of the National Movement of Maya Weavers said the women represented more than twenty different ethnic groups are protesting actions by Guatemala’s attorney general and some judges and prosecutors who have attempted to block Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement) party candidate Bernardo Arévalo.

Arévalo surprised everyone by coming in second in the June first-round election.

Now polls show him leading — and if he wins next Sunday, it would be the first time for a center-left government in Guatemala in more than 70 years.

And these women, like many among Guatemala’s substantial Indigenous voters, have high hopes Bernardo Arévalo will make changes to help Guatemala’s marginalized Maya communities.

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