Jesse Swann

“Due to the Piscataway people's early contact with Europeans in the seventeenth century and forced acculturation since Europeans began occupying their homeland, Piscataway cultural traditions have faded over the years. The Piscataway Conoy Tribe Cultural Education Project would meet the demand for cultural education by giving middle school-aged children formal out-of-school educational opportunities."

Jesse Swann

Chief of Piscataway Conoy Tribe

Jesse Swann is the Chief of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe in Pomfret, Maryland. He will be using his $5,000 grant to support the Piscataway Conoy Tribe Cultural Education Project, a program that provides out-of-school programming to Piscataway youth to learn about and share Piscataway history, art, music and cultural practices.

The program provides opportunities for youth to learn traditional crafts such as making drums, rattles, moccasins, dreamcatchers, Ojos de Dios (Eyes of God) and beadwork, and opportunities to learn about history from a First People’s perspective through oral history presentations and class trips.

Through structured cultural education programming, Piscataway youth will be able to connect to their cultural music, dances, crafts, and traditions and learn to master them through consistent instruction.