Anishinaabe Healing Stories on Racial Justice https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2020/anishinaabe-healing-stories-on-racial-justice https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Anishinaabe Healing Stories on Racial Justice

Additional Information
Used for	We plan to host an Anishinaabe Healing Stories on Racial Justice event in a rural Michigan Native American community. It is our plan to host the event over the course of at least two entire days. It is our goal to have between 10-12 Story Sharers that are fully supported through the mentoring and story sharing process.
Benefits	The Healing Stories program provides a grassroots and community-based event that has a strong cultural foundation for our Anishinaabe communities. We center the Story Sharers at these events while providing a safe and supportive platform to share. The community at large that benefits from these events as community collaboration and healing is the goal.
Proposal Description	Rural and Remote Native Communities We emphasize working mostly in our rural and remote communities because of our passion to bring Native-led resources to our communities. While most Native people live in major metropolitan areas we emphasize working in our rural and remote communities. There is a clear division and intense marginalization of rural people’s issues. This division is exacerbated when Native people deal with bordertown racism and systemic oppression. Foundations and philanthropy don’t prioritize rural people and communities and the funding disparity is even more for Native communities. The Michigan Native community matters and we are emphasizing the need and desire for this work across our homelands. We would also like to emphasize that the Midwest often gets overlooked and ignored. While Ontario has a different approach with its First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, still northern communities like in the Ring of Fire are overlooked for funding based on the treaty relationship from the government. Our territory presents unique challenges. However, in these challenges our communities are responding to our work and are committed to working on systemic solutions that remain Native-led. Addressing Root Causes & Empowering Community Voice We believe in working directly with the community to address the heart of the matter. Through our programming, we believe in the individual’s voices and stories. As Native people, we have endured centuries of colonization and it has not ended. We are survivors of genocide and this is still continuing to this day. At the Native Justice Coalition, we believe that our work can counter systemic oppression and racism to address the root cause. By providing social, healing, and racial justice we can greater equip our people to fight against injustice and be stronger in the face of oppression. Our work doesn’t seek to necessarily educate the majority culture but with strong alliances, we can work together to counter all that we face. We work towards strengthening our people and communities through our grassroots and community-based programming. We are challenging narratives from all directions while engaging in decolonization. Anishinaabe Healing Stories on Racial Justice Program At the Native Justice Coalition we are passionate about sharing our stories, healing, and racial justice. The Anishinaabe Healing Stories on Racial Justice program emphasizes public story sharing on racism to bring voice and visibility to our people and communities. If grant funds are available we plan to digitally record all the stories into documentaries for community resources. If requested by the community we will offer private story sharing opportunities as some people may not feel safe to share publicly. Work Plan 1. We will host this project in 2 rural Anishinaabe communities and one urban Native community in 2021. We will be working with the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin and Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibway as well as the community of Grand Rapids, MI. 2. Hire a Healing Stories Program Coordinator. We would prefer to have enough grant funds to hire a full-time coordinator with some benefits (i.e. sick and vacation days). 3. Hire Community Coordinators in each community to work with the Healing Stories Program Coordinator. These positions would be temporary, contractual, and part-time. 4. Story Sharer goal for each community includes 12-16 Story Sharers. Between the 3 communities, this would be 36-48 per year. 5. We aim to have 40-60 event attendees for each community. This would total 120-180 event attendees throughout the year. 6. Create new partnerships and expand this work in our territory. Key Organizing Steps 1. Select a community and a project date. 2. Engage community members to do this project. 3. Select a core group to organize this project. 4. Plan, organize and implement the project. How Grant Funds Will Be Used We would use grant funds for the following: Story Sharer honorariums, staffing/internships, cultural support (i.e. traditional healers, counselors, etc, to attend the event) travel assistance, lodging, meals, and supplies.