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Anchor: Antonia Gonzales
A 10-week virtual coding camp for Native girls recently started to get young girls interested in STEM. In 2020, only 0.1% of engineers and scientists were Native women, as Taylar Stagner reports.
The Sisterhood of Native American Coders is in its third year.
The group puts together a coding camp for girls ages 9 to 12 and has participants from 89 different tribes. The group aims to expose young Native students to coding principles.
Founder Elizabeth Holm attends Stanford studying computer science. She says the group brings together coding mentors from across the US.
“Our goal is really to get them interested at that young age by exposing it to them, showing them how much how much fun it can be, and like how creative they can be with it, and hopefully inspiring them to continue onward in STEM.”
Holm said that the program was originally in person, but due to the pandemic moved online which allowed the group to include more girls.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez signed legislation into law on Friday, which provides more than $1 billion for infrastructure projects on the reservation.
The federal funds from the American Rescue Plan invests in water projects, electricity, broadband, housing, COVID-19 mitigation, public safety, and local community priorities.
It also provides additional hardship money for Navajo citizens.
A ceremony was held in Crownpoint, NM, which was streamed online and aired on Navajo radio.
President Nez says jobs are also being created.
“We have our Navajo people living off the Navajo Nation that are building homes for other people because they have to work out here. It is time to open back the door to the Navajo Nation and welcome back our Navajo professionals and young people back home.”
The signing represents the largest ever investment in infrastructure projects for the Navajo Nation.
The legislation was approved by the tribal council by a 20-2 vote during a special session in June.
In 2020, the tribe implemented more than $700 million in federal CARES Act funds, which invested in similar infrastructure projects.
Cankdeska Cikana Community College in North Dakota is celebrating the release of the book Mni Wakan, which is described as a tribute to the Spirit Lake Tribe’s traditional language and oral history.
Tribal college president Cindy Lindquist says the book will be part of curriculum and hopes to engage surrounding communities.
“Trying to help non-Native and Indigenous people and our respective cultures and languages. And then, as you get into understanding, there’s such richness, there’s such commonality among the values.”
It’s the third such book the school has issued and leaders say it coincides with similar projects carried out by tribal colleges and universities across the country.
On Thursday, copies will be given away during a public event.
Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI) championship games will be streamed on ESPN+.
The games kicked off Sunday in Phoenix, AZ.
More than 400 games will be played this week in Phoenix-area gyms.
There are more than 130 teams comprised of male and female athletes ages 14 to 19.
The games will be available to watch on ESPN+ Friday and Saturday.
Organizers say this will mark the first time an all-Native youth sporting event will be featured on a major sports network.
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