About Us

Minnesota Native News is a weekly radio segment covering ideas and events relevant to Minnesota’s Native American communities since 2014. MNN is produced and distributed by AMPERS and airs on tribal and community stations across Minnesota. MNN reaches more than 124,000 listeners each week. The team includes a majority of Native reporters/producers all sharing in the editorial and story-telling duties.

Executive Producer: Emma Needham

Producers: Deanna StandingCloud, CJ Younger, Travis Zimmerman

Editing support: Chandra Colvin

Host: Marie Rock

Contact: mnnteam@ampers.org

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• New Native Theatre’s 15th Year & REAL ID
  This week, how REAL ID requirements impact Indigenous people, especially Two-Spirit individuals. Also, New Native Theatre’s latest play runs April 16-May 4.
• Ziigwan Biidaajimowin (Spring News): NACC Issues Call for Artists and Little Earth Kicks Off American Indian Month with a Parade
  This week, Minneapolis’s Native American Community Clinic (NACC) seeks artists to commission pieces for their new building. Plus, nearby, the Little Earth of United Tribes housing community will kick off May’s American Indian Month with a celebration organized in part by the Minneapolis Public Schools American Indian Youth Council, Ogichida Oyate

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Minnesota Native News also produces the weekly radio show and podcast Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine. Native Lights is a weekly, podcast and radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

• BearPaw Shields: Leaving a Legacy for Future Generations
  In this episode, we speak with BearPaw Shields from the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. She is a Saint Cloud State University alumna and is currently the Indigenous Learning Community Program Coordinator at the University’s American Indian Center. In her forties, she decided to go to college and get a degree so that she could make the change she wanted to see in the world. She does that now through her work at St. Cloud State’s American Indian Center, helping Native students to succeed in school and connect with their culture through language, field trips and other experiences. As a board member with the Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, she had been instrumental in teaching park staff and visitors about the land’s Native history. Last year, that included the opening of an amphitheater with art provided by Indigenous artists and the names of park animals provided in Dakota and Ojibwemowin. BearPaw Shields lives in Zimmerman where she likes to go on hikes and find her serenity at the nearby Refuge.
• Allison Waukau: Empowering Native Stories Through Community Service and Podcasting
  In this episode, we speak with Allison Waukau (Menominee/Navajo), who serves as the Tribal Liaison and Native Relations Coordinator at the Metropolitan Council. She previously worked at the Hennepin County Library and the Roseville School District as American Indian Community Liaison. Last year, she started a new podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger. Through “Books Are Good Medicine,” the co-hosts explore Native literature with the aim of increasing the knowledge of educators and libraries about Native American books and materials. Allison Waukau lives in Minneapolis with her family, including a young son, and had a dream come true recently when she was selected to participate in Cohort 14 of the Native Governance Center’s Rebuilder Program. Allison’s podcast with Odia Wood-Krueger can be found at Books Are Good Medicine.

Subscribe to Native Lights wherever you get your podcasts

Listen to MN Native News and Native Lights on your local station

If there’s someone you’d like to hear us catch up with or if you have comments about the show, please send us an email at mnnteam@ampers.org or nativelights@ampers.org.

Native Lights and Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota’s communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.