Native Lights is a weekly, half-hour 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.
Today we chat with LeAnn Littlewolf, a Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe citizen and co-Executive Director for the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) in Duluth. AICHO’s community-informed programs aim to create a stronger, healthier, more stable Native community in Duluth.
As co-Executive Director, LeAnn brings three decades of experience in community leadership and advocacy, culturally informed strategies for community and economic development. She shares about her path to leading at AICHO, how her work and AICHO’s service are built around community needs and engagement and what is next for AICHO.
AICHO’s programs include emergency and transitional housing; health equity and food sovereignty initiatives; and community arts and cultural programming. Learn more about AICHO at: https://www.aicho.org/
Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.
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More from Native Lights
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Today, we’re speaking with language revitalization leader and cultural educator Alex Kmett. Alex is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and a descendant of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. He’s a 2026 Bush Fellow and a co-founder of a charter school in Red Lake Nation. - Ryan Dixon: Making Friends with the Dakota Language
Today, we’re speaking with Ryan Dixon. Ryan is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge in South Dakota and has spent over two decades immersed in the Lower Sioux community in southern Minnesota. He trained under First Language Dakota speakers, and he now teaches Dakota. An educator and Indigenous language activist, he co-founded a Dakota Immersion Head Start programming and works to keep the language alive for future generations. - Michael Kurtz: Tales of a Wildlife Photographer
Our guest today is a photographer who takes some stunning photos of wildlife. We’re very excited to speak with Michael Kurtz (Tasunka Opi). He’s Sicangu Lakota, enrolled in the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He runs Lakota Photography, blending wildlife photography, tracking, and cultural education. He’s also a naturalist and has volunteered with groups like the National Park Service and Project Coyote. He has spent countless hours across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and beyond, capturing wildlife in its natural habitat. Currently, he’s supervisor of programming and interpretation with Hoċokata Ṫi Cultural Center at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community.
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