NATIVE YOUTH FUTURES program to introduce entrepreneurship and financial literacy to Minneapolis American Indian youth

Minneapolis, MN – On October 4, 2011, MIGIZI Communications, Inc. was awarded $894,002 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Program for a three - year grant to implement Native Youth Futures. Funding is provided through the Administration for Children and Families, Administration for Native Americans (ANA), Social and Economic Development Strategies (SEDS) program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 
Native Youth Futures: Investing Today for Greater Prosperity Tomorrow is a three-year project designed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that threatens the potential and promise of our youth in the Minneapolis American Indian Community.
 
The project goal is to create an urban Native Youth Entrepreneurship Pathway that leads to economic self-sufficiency for individual youth, and helps to grow a vibrant Indian-owned small business sector for the community. MIGIZI will work with school partners South High School, Nawayee Center School and AIOIC’s Career Immersion High School, as well as many other community partners, to bring skills and opportunities to over 200 American Indian middle-school and high-school youth.

Native Youth Futures responds directly to the needs identified and vision created out of a two-year strategic planning process facilitated by the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) and involving hundreds of Minneapolis American Indian community members of all ages.  The document created from this process: American Indian Community Blueprint: Building a 21st Century American Indian Community, articulates a vision of a vibrant healthy and balanced community where there are economic opportunities for American Indian people.
 
MIGIZI Communications’ mission is to advance a message of success, well-being, and justice for the American Indian community. MIGIZI is an Indian-controlled non-profit organization that has served the Minneapolis American Indian community for the past thirty-four years. According to Elaine J. Salinas, President of MIGIZI Communications, “Native Youth Futures is worthy of this investment, as we have high expectations for significant return that will benefit the American Indian and broader communities”.
 
For more information about this project, contact Graham Hartley, Director of Programs at 612-721-6631 x 208 or John Gwinn, Project Coordinator at 612-721-6631 x 222. Inquiries via e-mail can be sent to info@migizi.org.