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Tribal Energy Evolution Summit Comes to St. Paul, MN Tribal Nations Call for Unity

MN Native News

Chief Henry Red Cloud at the opening reception for the Tribal Energy Equity Summit on May 5, 2025.
Photo Credit: Sarah Arnoff Yoaman

This week on Minnesota Native News, the third annual Tribal Energy Evolution Summit brings over 70 Indigenous nations to St. Paul, and leaders from 11 Minnesota tribes call for unity and action following recent neighborhood violence impacting the Little Earth community.

TRANSCRIPT

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Anchor Marie Rock: I’m Marie Rock, and this is Minnesota Native News. This week, Indigenous leaders from over 70 nations visited St. Paul on May 5 to the 8th for the third annual Tribal Energy Evolution Summit. The Tribal Clean Energy Alliance hosted the event. Reporter Emma Needham has the story.

Cheri Smith: And there are people still alive right now that remember their families, their elders telling them, if you see someone from the electric company run away because there was still a bounty placed on the head of natives to clear natives from the land where the grid was being built, where the transmission lines were being built.

Emma Needham: Cheri Smith is from Mi’kmak Nation on the Northeast Coast of Turtle Island. She founded the Tribal Clean Energy Alliance in 2016 to address energy issues across Indian Country and remains the CEO today.

Smith: In 2025, there are still 14% of native households don’t have electricity yet. These are really profound statistics that we are actively every single day working to address. We started at the grassroots level, now we’re working at the systems change level so that we can have an impact in our lifetime that will make a difference for the next generation.

Needham: Matt Dannenberg is the head of Tribal Affairs at the Tribal Clean Energy Alliance. He says Indigenous communities often face more decisions beyond just turning on the heat or putting food on the table.

Matt Dannenberg: Sometimes, people don’t have a choice. They’re stuck with unfair electrical rates. They have medical equipment that they’re reliant on and there’s brownouts because of the infrastructure and being left out of the planning or having a lack of resources invested in our communities.

Needham: Part of Dannenberg’s work is to build relationships with members of the energy industry.

Dannenberg: There’s a lot of non-native people in the room. So, we have curriculum called Pathways to Trust. So building culturally appropriate, respectful relationships, working with tribes. So we’ll be providing that curriculum here to build our allyship in the energy industry.

Needham: This year’s summit offered workshops on financing mechanisms, policy advocacy, and integrating traditional ecological knowledge into modern energy planning. Attendees engaged in discussions on renewable energy products, workforce development, and strategies for achieving energy independence. This year’s summit also highlighted the importance of Tribal Nation partnership in the just transition to clean energy. 

Smith: We look forward to a time whereas many Native nations who want to be energy independent can be.

Needham: Cheri Smith says this is why she founded the Tribal Clean Energy Alliance. 

Smith: I founded the org on the Mi’kmaq premise of Eduwap’temum, which is “two-eyed seeing,” that it’s going to take all of us on earth to solve the mess that we’re in.

Needham: The Tribal Clean Energy Alliance hosts three nationwide events each year across the country. More information is available at tribalcleanenergy.org. For Minnesota Native News, I’m Emma Needham.

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Rock: Next, tribal nations in Minnesota call for connection following an outbreak of violence in the Metro area that targeted people of the Little Earth community.

[Sound element: Community Drum Sounds]

Rock: Celebrations planned for Minnesota’s American Indian Heritage Month last weekend were cancelled and replaced with events calling for peace.

[Sound element: Community Drum Sounds]

Rock: Nine people were shot in separate incidents across the city in late April. Five of them died, including four people from the Little Earth Housing Community in the Phillips Neighborhood.

[Sound element: Minneapolis Police Department Press conference audio]

Rock: Arrests made included members of the community, and prosecutors say gang involvement or retaliation are factors in some of the shootings. In response, leaders from all 11 Tribal Nations in Minnesota signed a rare joint letter. They called the violence tragic and condemned it as a direct threat to tribal communities. Tribal leaders urged for community connection. Tribal leaders sent this message to community members across Minnesota: “As Native peoples, we have always known grief. But we have also always known strength. We are here because our ancestors cared for one another. That is how you are even here—because someone before you chose love, protection, and community over despair. That is how we honor them, and how we must continue forward: by protecting one another, by choosing life together, and by remembering that we are stronger united.”

For Minnesota Native News, I’m Marie Rock.

[sound element: flute music (Minnesota Native News theme)] Anchor Marie Rock: Minnesota Native News is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota’s communities, made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

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