Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities

In this episode of Points North, Shawn provides an outlook on what the new Minnesota DNR commissioner Tom Landwehr will face during his appointment.

The Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has earned accreditation from the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium — or WINHEC. [Win-heck] The accreditation comes after college faculty worked for more than two years to integrate college coursework deeper within the Anishinaabe culture of the Fond du Lac tribal community. Reporter Melissa Townsend has the details.

This week on Minnesota Native News Health Report, reporter Emma Needham talks with an M.D. about recommendations for COVID vaccines for our littlest relatives, and provides additional information on vaccine availability.

The fastest-growing refugee community in Minnesota over the past few years is a population from Southeast Asia most Minnesotans have never heard of–the Karen (pronounced Kuh-RENN). The nearly 7,000 Karen living here, mostly on the east side of St. Paul, have kept a low profile since they first started arriving in 2000. Their journey to Minnesota has been long and difficult. The Karen are an oppressed ethnic minority from Burma, the country also known as Myanmar, and for more than 60 years, innocent Karen men, women and children have become displaced by violence and civil war. Like many refugees who come to Minnesota, the Karen are here because they want to be safe and free from persecution. Most importantly, they want to give their children a better life and a good education. As producer Marisa Helms reports in this MinneCulture audio documentary, the story of the Karen is about resilience and the survival of a community and culture. Here in Minnesota, the Karen have found refuge, and finally, hope for the future.

Art possesses the unique super power of bringing people together. The Nemeth Art Center in Park Rapids, MN is hosting a unique arts collaboration this summer that has connected Columbian-born visual artist Luisa Fernanda Garcia-Gomez with northern Minnesota textile artist Bruce Engebretson. Together, Luisa and Bruce are spending the summer working on projects at the Nemeth, a collaboration the Nemeth calls “Weaving Community Together”. Throughout the summer, Luisa is working with community members on a variety of visual art projects while Bruce is working at his loom inside creating a large tapestry inspired by Luisa’s exibit at the Nemeth called “Impossible Landscapes.”