Join us for the September “Breakfast Bites” on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 from 8:00am - 9:15am, All Nations Church, 1515 East 23rd Street (on Bloomington Avenue).

“Breakfast Bites” are free alternative community meetings designed to help jump-start your day! These short morning get-togethers include a professional development/team-building activity and a light breakfast! Feel free to bring a colleague, friend or the entire office!

Please RSVP your attendance to kjourdain@nacdi.org

Download the flier.

By Sheila Regan

10 years ago, Navajo playwright Rhiana Yazzie received a postcard from a friend that depicted a group of surrealist artists having a picnic in a park. The Lee Miller photograph included two women with bare breasts, one of whom was smiling exhuberantly at the camera. Yazzie read the back of the postcard, where her friend wrote “that well ventilated woman looks like you.”

“At first I was like ‘what?’ Yazzie recalled in an interview, but as she looked at the postcard, Yazzie did see herself in the woman, Adrienne Fidelin (or Ady, for short). Yazzie couldn’t understand why this woman, who was from the island of Guadalupe, could look so much like herself, a Navajo woman.

On August 31st, 2010 NACDI's Justin Huenemann was the featured guest on the national radio call-in show Native America Calling.  Justin talked about the American Indian Cultural Corridor on Franklin Avenue and the American Indian Community Blueprint.  If you missed the show, the podcast is available here.

by Rhiana Yazzie

The college of Saint Catherine recently saw an evening of monologues written and performed by their students aptly named the Catherine Monologues. The stories all dealt with issues women face throughout life, from coming-of-age stories to memories by an elder to the retelling of a Hmong origin story with a feminist edge.

One very notable performance came from soon-to-be-senior Rebecca Roepke. Hailing from Oklahoma, Roepke is of Kanienkehaka, Cayuga and Cree descent.

August 27, 2010

By Sheila Regan

The American Indian Community Development Corporation along with Common Bond Communities have been awarded $6.78 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for an affordable housing project geared toward serving American Indian Elders. Work is expected to begin on Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi (Come in, Rest) in the spring.

The money comes from HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly Program, according to Michael Goze, President and CEO of AICDC.

NACDI's work on the American Indian Cultural Corridor was featured on Minnesota Public Radio on August 24th, 2010.  Rupa Shenoy toured Franklin Avenue and spoke with NACDI's CEO & President Justin Huenemann.  The story is available online here.