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An Indigenous organization is collecting data about American Indian and Alaska Native youth.
Emma VandenEinde with KUNC reports.
The Center for Native American Youth is conducting a nationally reaching survey aimed at 18-24 year olds who identify as Indigenous.
Cheyenne Brady is with the center.
“How can we be working for Native youth if we don’t really know what their voice is?”
The center has done a few surveys like this in the past, but this one focuses on the resources available to Native youth.
It asks questions about education, food security, economic opportunities, and more.
The survey is part of the Urban Indian Health Institute’s Decolonizing Data grant program.
Brady says their goal is to fill in the data gaps where other surveys fail.
“If we’re not creating new data for us and by us, that risks the opportunity for the nation and the world to continue utilizing any data where we’re severely underrepresented or any data that is simply inaccurate.”
The survey has more than 500 responses.
Once finished, the results will be shared with tribes.
The survey will close Friday and can be accessed via the Center’s website.
Nanuq, after getting his post-journey medications. (Photo: Mandy Iworrigan)
And now for a tale of two Alaskan dogs who live on St. Lawrence Island, a tiny piece of land off the Bering Sea coast not far from Russia and surrounded by sea ice, as told by Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA.
Starlight and Nanuq are the beloved pets of Mandy Iworrigan, who lives in Gambell, a village at the top of the island.
Mandy Iworrigan owns the dogs.
“If dogs could talk, both of them would have one heck of a story.”
Iworrigan left Starlight and Nanuq at home in Gambell, when she took a trip south to Savoonga, but the dogs had other ideas.
They disappeared. And about two-and-a-half weeks later Starlight, who looks like a black lab and husky mix, showed up in Savoonga, about 40 miles away from Gambell.
So where was Nanuq?
Well, the Australian shepherd turned up in Wales, a week after Starlight made it to Savoonga — a trek to the mainland that took Nanuq across more than 150 miles of sea ice. And except for some bite marks on his leg, he was in good condition.
Iworrigan believes he survived by hunting.
“I’m pretty sure he ate scraps of seals, scraps of birds.”
Iworrigan says the dog proved he was a survivor and lived up to his Siberian Yup’ik name, Nanuq, which means “polar bear”.
Nanuq traveled by airplane back to Gambell.
Iworrigan says she was especially grateful to Michael and Hilary Ahkinga of Wales, a brother and sister who took care of Nanuq – and to those who helped him fly home.
Iworrigan says she and her children were there to greet him.
“When he came and heard our voices off of the plane, he started whining and crying, you know, just the happiness.”
With help from antibiotics to treat his leg, Nanuq appears to be on the mend. Iworrigan believes he may have been bitten by a wolverine or a seal, possibly even a polar bear.
Western Michigan University is announcing a graduate certificate in tribal governance.
The certificate is in cooperation between the School of Public Affairs and Administration, and three Potawatomi nations.
The opportunity is intended to provide tribally endorsed resources where students can engage with various tribal entities through subject matter and experts.
Plans include cohorts involving government, gaming and economic development with each tribal nation.
The announcement will be made Thursday afternoon as the university hosts a talk with U.S. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland.
Newland is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community in northern Michigan.
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