For Immediate Release

February, 2019

Info@nacdi.org

612-235-4968

Native American Community Development Institute Will Lead and Develop Community-Led Strategies to Address Homelessness in the Minneapolis Native American Communities

Minneapolis, Minnesota - The Bush Foundation granted Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) an Innovation grant for the WiiDooKoDaaDiiWag “They Help Each Other” (THEO) project in response to the Franklin Hiawatha Encampment.

“Due to NACDI’s history and depth of relationships, we found it to be well-positioned to lead a problem-solving process and begin to identify solutions to conditions of homelessness in the Native community,” said Rudy Guglielmo, who serves as a Community Innovation Program Manager for the Bush Foundation.

In the summer of 2018, a small cluster of tents appeared near Franklin and Hiawatha

Avenues in Minneapolis and grew rapidly. By September 2018, 300 to 400 people, primarily Native, lived there in over 150 tents. The Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID) came together with the community to identify immediate needs and redirect their resources in response. Community allies mobilized to direct outreach and support for the encampment.

NACDI and MUID are recognized by community and the City of Minneapolis as intermediaries to engage the public and private sectors and other organizational and community partners. Community allies quickly mobilized direct outreach and support at the camp. Collectively we will seek and create long term strategies to the homeless and issues contributing to the creation of the encampment, and innovative ways to address the historic, systemic challenges in the Native community.

“At the Bush Foundation, we believe NACDI’s ability to collaborate and engage the community can result in shared ownership of solutions to conditions causing homelessness in the Native community,” said Guglielmo.

THEO was created to support NACDI, MUID and Allies to continue to aid Native people to achieve their self-determined goals successfully, through broad community organizing and engagement process. This led to the closing systematic gaps in access, policy, practice, and programing to improve the condition for homeless Native people.

Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) is an American Indian

community development intermediary organization - the first of its kind in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. NACDI believes all American Indian people have a place, purpose, and a

future strengthened by sustainable community development. NACDI’s key projects include the development of the American Indian Cultural Corridor, management of All My Relations Gallery, and catalyzing the implementation of the American Indian Community Blueprint.

For more information: Info@nacdi.org; https://www.theyhelpeachother.org/

At the Bush Foundation we invest in great ideas and the people who power them. We encourage individuals and organizations to think bigger and think differently about what is possible in communities across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the same geographic area.

The Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth. Inspired by the Bushes’ desire to build their community and encourage innovation, the Foundation has invested more than one billion dollars in grants to thousands of organizations and individuals.

For more information: Bushfoundation.org

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