Dreamstarter Teacher Jennifer John: Promoting Literacy with Indigenous Literature
Jennifer John of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Is a third grade teacher at theNative American Community Academy in the Albuquerque Public Schools district serving students of theNavajo, Pueblo, Apache, Blackfeet, Lakota, Mandan, Northern Cheyenne, Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, Omaha, Euchee, Lumbee, Seminole, Tohono O’odham, Fort Mojave, Paiute Indian, Kiowa tribes, and many others. Jennifer used her […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Eli Redeker: Creating a Native American Young Adult Literature Study Program
Eli Redeker of Charlo, Montana, is an English Language Arts/reading teacher (as well as the junior high football and boys’ basketball and high school track coach and National Honor Society Advisor) at Charlo Jr/Sr. High School serving students of the confederated Salish & Kootenai (Flathead) tribes. Eli used his $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to implement […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Autumn Adams – Incorporating art into the classroom
Autumn Adams of Ronan, Montana is a reading and social studies teacher at Ronan Middle School where she teaches Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes members. In her Dreamstarter Teacher application, Autumn had told us that her school recently lost its art programs “which will have a devastating impact on our students. “As a result, I […]
Dreamstarter Teacher LoriAnne Adams – Students make “Keys of Love for our Native Veterans”
LoriAnne Adams of Wapato, Washington, is an Indian Education Counselor at Simcoe Elementary School on the Yakama Nation Reservation which has 100 percent free and reduced lunch student body population. LoriAnne’s idea was “Keys of Love for our Native Veterans”, and she used her $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to purchase supplies such as bone and […]
Dreamstarter Teacher John Price: School Assembly, and students, teach Catawba History
John Price of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Castle Heights Middle School serving the Catawba Nation whose goal is to establish an enrichment class exclusively for Native American students. “The purpose of my Dreamstarter Teacher Project was to create a Native American Enrichment program that would address the academic, […]
Dreamstarter Teacher Ceriss Blackwood: 1st and 3rd Graders Go Solar!
Dreamstarter Teacher Ceriss Blackwood of Ignacio, Colorado, is a 1st-3rd grade teacher at the Southern Ute Indian Montessori Academy (SUIMA), part of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe school district, which emphasizes tribal culture and language and places a high value on lifelong learning. Ceriss used her grant to begin an afterschool STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, […]
Toys, and More, for Tribes
This holiday season we are working once again to ensure that “Santa” doesn’t pass hundreds of Native American children and families by this Christmas by providing funding for 2,400 toys to be distributed throughout Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, as well as holiday grant funding to our partners in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and on the […]
Bringing the Rez to the City
Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2022 Dreamstarter Mariah Plummer, 24, (Navajo), of South Jordan, Utah, Dreamstarter idea, the Utah K’é (Navajo Kinship and Relations) project, is an indigenous woman-led initiative that strengthens the unity of inter-tribal communities in the state of Utah, specifically the Salt Lake Valley “This project will utilize traditional values of […]
The Oyate Ta Kola Ku Center Opens its doors to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation community
In the spring of 2021, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® proudly announced our vision for the proposed Oyate Ta Kola Ku Community Center to be constructed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The 21,000-square-foot center, named Oyate Ta Kola Ku – Friend of All Nations – in memory of the late Running Strong co-founder, […]
2022 Dreamstarter Mariah Gladstone helps the Blackfeet Tribe to eat healthier
2022 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Mariah Gladstone, 28, (Blackfeet, Cherokee), of Babb, Montana, is fulfilling her dream of helping members of her Blackfeet Tribe to eat healthier a reality. Mariah earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in environmental engineering “because I have always been dedicated to serving my community through sustainability” […]
Operation Snowsuit 2022
Life is harsh on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where 49 percent of residents live below the federal poverty level, 61 percent of them under 18 years old. Parents on Pine Ridge do all they can for their children but face great challenges just putting food on the table, a roof over their heads, and […]
Heat Match Triples for this Coming Winter
The beautiful fall days we are enjoying now are a reminder that in a few short weeks the cold days of winter will soon be upon us across the country, and especially for those families living in drafty mobile homes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on the Great Plains of South Dakota. For it’s […]
A Project Comes to Life – Turning Trash to Treasure
A Project Come to Life 2022 Running Strong for American Indian Youth® Dreamstarter Cameron Troxel, 18, (Catawba), of Rock Hill, South Carolina, dream project is “For the River,” which aims to address plastic pollution in the Catawba River and accompanying waterways. Over the past few months, the project has come to life! The Suukčapi (Beaverhouse) […]
The Dream Begins to Take Shape – the Data Begins to Unfold
Since becoming a 2022 Class of Social Action Dreamstarter, Kyle Swann (Piscataway Conoy) has made tremendous strides in developing an understanding of and tackling the big-picture issues that the Piscataway Conoy Tribe have been facing for many years- homelessness, inadequate healthcare, unemployment, and affordable childcare. Kyle’s dream is to create an accurate, point-in-time snapshot of […]
Introducing Billy Mills as Executive Producer of documentary “Remaining Native”
We are proud to announce the partnership of Running Strong for American Indian Youth and She Carries Her House! Today we are honored to announced that Billy has been named executive producer of an Indigenous documentary featuring the story of 2022 Dreamstarter Ku Stevens’ great-grandfather’s escape from a federal Indian boarding school. Native filmmaker Paige […]
Orange Shirt Day: Every Child Matters
Friday, September 30, is Orange Shirt Day: Every Child Matters – “Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” – to let the world know that #everychildmatters. Together, we at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® will honor and remember our Indigenous children who survived, those who never made it home from federal Indian boarding schools […]
Working to Get out the Vote
For far too long the collective voices of Native Americans across the country, and particularly on reservations, have not been heard in the election process due to significant challenges, and even deliberate obstacles put in their path to the polls. “Too often, our tribal citizens are forced to travel far from our communities to vote,” […]
2022 Dreamstarter Ku Stevens Completes 2nd “Remembrance Run” To Honor Native Boarding School Students
On Sunday, August 14, Running Strong for American Indian Youth® 2020 Dreamstarter Kutoven “Ku” Stevens, 18, (Yerington Paiute) of Yerington, Nevada, held his second “Remembrance Run,” to the Stewart Indian Boarding School in Carson City, Nevada, through the desert and mountains from the Yerington Paiute Reservation to honor the children who ran from Stewart, as […]
Smart Sacks: Feeding 610 Students Each Weekend
More than a decade ago, we at Running Strong for American Indian Youth® heard from the superintendent of the Menominee Indian School District (MISD) on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, that young children were arriving at the elementary school on Monday mornings lethargic and unable to focus on their classwork.The reason?They were famished […]
Beading Workshops in the fall
Running Strong is excited to share two beading workshops being offered this coming fall. Presented with support of the Creative Neighborhood Grant Program made possible by the City of Alexandria, Virginia and an Arts Project grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, these classes will provide residents in the DC/VA/MD area an opportunity to […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Shana Aubid
Shana Aubid “My students are Anishinaabe descendants, and all have different backgrounds of cultural knowledge ranging from no knowledge to some, and they are always eager to show me what words they can remember with the proudest smile as they say and point.” Shana Aubid Head Start Teacher, Mille Lacs Early Education Program Shana Aubid […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Rose Yazzie
Rose Yazzie “This program is a resource needed to help students and families begin to create their own libraries of books written by and showing Indigenous people like them. By reading together and keeping these books students can begin to locate authors and genres they may be interested in and internalize being a reader as […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Shannon Britton
Shannon Britton “I see many of our students who excel in putting together models of Lego kits and toy cars. I see many students with a talent for art. Adding this program after school will allow students to feel successful at school. They can bring things home to their parents/guardians that they are proud of.” […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Sister Mary Ignatius Skipper
Sister Mary Ignatius Skipper “I want my students to enjoy school so they will continue to learn on their own for their entire lives. My goal as an educator is to help my students recognize that they are an unrepeatable gift and that they are capable, with hard work and perseverance, to accomplish the desires […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Ramsey Seweingyawma
Ramsey Seweingyawma “I want more American Indian scholars to stretch their academic ability and explore research to expand their knowledge.” Ramsey Seweingyawma Teacher, Whitehorse High School Ramsey Seweingyawma is a teacher at Whitehorse High School in Montezuma Creek, Utah. He will use his $5,000 grant to support his computer science curriculum and incorporate projects for […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Rachel Davis
Rachel Davis “Our Native American Students unfortunately do not often get chances to engage in professional development opportunities that both reinforces their sense of positive cultural identity and their goals in higher education. The project hopes to normalize success and help students see themselves as competent and their perspectives as Native American as valued and […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Brooke Gregory
Brooke Gregory “This is needed at our school and in our community to ensure our students are gaining exposure to experiences they don’t have regular access to inside or outside of school. They may find a passion that they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience before SEM.” Brooke Gregory Teacher, Cheif Leschi School Brooke […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Candace Dickerson
Candance Dickerson “This grant project is needed at our school because we are just beginning this journey with our children. With this grant, it would help enable us to provide our children and teachers with the preschool classrooms they deserve and help provide the most educational and successful spaces possible.” Candance Dickerson Project Director, Chickahominy’s […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Orleta Slick
Orleta Slick “’Connecting Voices’ will provide students with the opportunity to reflect upon themselves, set educational goals, make positive changes and prepare to become stewards of Navajo traditional knowledge.” Orleta Slick Educator, Shonto Preparatory School Orleta Slick is the 21st Century Community Learning Center site coordinator at Shonto Preparatory School in Shonto, Arizona. She will […]
2022 Dreamstarter® Teacher Connie Michael
Connie Micheal “Native students thrive with the opportunities to learn the cultural significance of the land and water. They gain strength from their language, traditions, and the land they live on. By integrating science through Native knowledge, students can gain strength in their identities.” Connie Micheal Teacher, Crow Agency Public School Connie Michael is a […]