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Graham
Hartley, director of programs, points out the design for the
new Migizi building to Kelly Drummer, transitions coordinator.
(Photo by Lee Egerstrom.)
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Migizi Communications
is celebrating 40 years of service to the American Indian community
in the Twin Cities but is looking far ahead through training Native
youth for leadership, education preparation and careers in emerging
environmental, technical and renewable energy occupations.
To aid its plans for
the future, the nonprofit organization purchased a vacant building
at 3017 27th Ave. S. in Minneapolis and recently completed design
work and planning for the new building.
When remodeling is completed,
the new site will allow Migizi to almost double the number of students
and others it serves with its programs, said Kelly Drummer, the
transition coordinator. Migizi is currently housed in rented space
at 1516 East Lake St., also in south Minneapolis.
Drummer, who is overseeing
operations during the transition to new leadership and the new building,
said fundraising is now 70 percent complete for the $1.6 million
acquisition and buildout project. Grants from Northwest Area Foundation,
the Otto Bremer Foundation and Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
got the project started.
With the move, space
for programs will increase from 3,400 square feet to 7,400 square
feet. That opens the way for additional students and program interns,
said Graham Hartley, director of programs.
At the same time, Migizi
is expanding its education and training programs to St. Paul and
with high school programs in suburban Farmington and Fridley. Those
programs are in planning stages.
Migizi (the bald
eagle in Ojibwe) will celebrate 40 years of service at a special
reception Nov. 8 at the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul. That
program will be a special salute to Laura Waterman Wittstock, who
founded Migizi in 1977, and Elaine Salinas, who was Migizi president
from 2004 until retiring in April.
MIGIZI is constantly
evolving in its response to community needs based on past experience
and new learning, while remaining true to its original mission to
inform and educate, Salinas said.
It started in 1977 as
a targeted program to train young journalists to counter misrepresentations
of Native Americans in media. From that it evolved into a variety
of career advancement and training programs in more recent years.
Migizi programs
Four main categories for its programs include: Native Academy, a
middle school and high school program that focuses on STEM, or science
technology and math education; Native Youth Futures, an internship
program and financial literacy track; First Person Productions,
a media training program that teaches students how to produce videos
and film for new media; and Green Jobs Pathway, which helps Native
students complete high school, succeed in post-secondary education
and training programs, and become qualified for jobs in the evolving
Green Economy.
These four areas are
interconnected and all prepare students for future employment and
financial success. For those reasons, Drummer said a future growth
area will be the Green Jobs Pathway.
These jobs pay
$18.50 to $24 an hour, she said. Those are living wages
and they represent the jobs of the future.
The median hourly wage
for available jobs statewide in October was $12.40, according to
data assembled by the Jobs Now Coalition. The median is the point
where half of all jobs pay more and half pay less than that wage.
Four low-paying occupations
food preparation and serving, sales, personal care and office
support accounted for 46 percent of Minnesotas 142,000
job openings heading into October.
Kevin Ristau, analyst
for the jobs group, said only 45 percent of Minnesotas job
openings offered health care benefits and more than half of the
jobs were part-time.
In contrast, the Minnesota
Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has a Cost
of Living Calculator showing a Minnesota family of three must
have both parents working full time and both earning at least $15.80
an hour to meet basic family needs.
Getting people prepared
for living wage careers isnt easy. Recognizing that, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services awarded Migizi two three-year
contracts, totaling $2.1 million, to support its programs. That
funding will be used on two projects that connect the four Migizi
training and education categories, Drummer said.
The Indigenous Pathways
to Economic Independence project includes specific career training,
internships and apprenticeships leading to industry recognized certification
in technology and new media fields and in renewable energy. Part
of this will help build youth social enterprises, such as the First
Person Productions unit that is seeking to become self-sustaining
by producing videos and training materials for nonprofits and other
groups.
The second project is called the 21st Century Warriors Society.
It uses Migizis programs to work with 200 American Indian
youth to develop leadership skills, deepen their cultural identity
and community connections and prepare for high school and postsecondary
success.
In a statement from Hartley
explaining the grants, the latter effort for student preparedness
was described as improving their educational trajectory so
that their futures will be defined by choices, rather than circumstances.
Partnering with Migizi
on these programs for the current year are the Minnesota Department
of Public Safety, Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Minneapolis
Public Schools, Youthprise and the STEP-UP youth employment program
of AchieveMpls and City of Minneapolis.
Other partners cited
for making these programs work included the All Nations Program
at Minneapolis South High School and Minneapolis Public Schools
District Indian Education Department, the NaWayEe Center School,
Minneapolis College, Century College and Phillips Indian Educators.
Wilder Foundation research
shows the programs do have success although Drummer said much work
remains to be done.
In an evaluation of Migizis
Native Academy programs this past year, Wilder researchers found
53 percent of Native Academy program participants were on track
for on-time graduation in the 2016-2017 school year. The overall
American Indian graduation rate in Minneapolis schools that year
was only 30 percent.
Of those Native Academy
students, 79 percent had plans for postsecondary education. Twenty
percent would seek an associates degree, 60 percent were planning
on bachelors degree programs and another 20 percent planned
to pursue education to the doctorate level.
For info on Migizi Communications,
see: https://migizi.org.
MIGIZI
Communications, Inc.
MIGIZI Communications, Inc. has been in operation as a Minnesota
non-profit since November 15, 1977. MIGIZI was founded with a goal
of countering the misrepresentations, inaccuracies, and falsehoods
promulgated about Native Peoples in the major media. For its first
seventeen years of existence, MIGIZI trained Indian journalists
who produced the first nationally-distributed Indian radio news
magazine in the country. This news magazine performed two vital
functions: 1) it provided a venue for Indian people to tell their
own stories; and 2) it served as a primary source of accurate information
about Native Peoples for thousands of non-Native listeners.
https://migizi.org
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