Grant for MIGIZI
Minneapolis-based MIGIZI
Executive Director Kelly Drummer said the MIGIZI’s new mission is to provide a strong circle of support that nurtures educational, social, economic and cultural development of American Indian Youth.
Migizi’s work, mission and resiliency hasn’t gone unnoticed as proven by their newest grant, WRITING CHANGE, a collaboration between Estee Lauder and Amanda Gorman, the youngest Inaugural Poet in history. WRITING CHANGE is a three-year $3 million initiative to support grassroots organizations dedicated to literacy and young voices. A total of five organizations nation-wide were chosen.
Migizi’s programs include Green Job Pathways, academic support programming, and First Person Productions which allows youth to “develop not only expertise in videography and photography, but also management, digital marketing and interpersonal skills.”
The grant aims to invest in organizations working hard to advance systemic changes and close the literacy gap by providing equitable access to tools, resources, and programming that are essential to sustained progress.
Drummer said they did not apply for this grant, instead the award-winning writer chose them.
“One of the reasons our work is so important is because as native people, we are natural born story tellers and First Person came about because we wanted to tell our own stories and that is what this grant is empowering our students to do – to tell their stories in their own way,” Binisekwe Means said. “That is what makes this so unique.”
WHO
MIGIZI.org receives Writing for Change grant
WHERE
WHEN
MIGIZI is a first-year awardee for this program in 2022.
WHY
WRITING CHANGE will support MIGIZI’s First Person Production program equipping young Native people with 21st century media skills, teaching them how they can make a positive impact in Native media representation, and providing an arts and media space for emerging storytellers.
Read More about MIGIZI here
