Indigenous Peoples Task Force : Strengthening and Enhanding the Health and Education of Native People

Boozhoo, Hola, Greetings!

Interested in working for the Indigenous Peoples Task Force (IPTF)? See our job openings here, updated January 2009.
Join us in spring 2010 for the fifith annual Connecting Our Lifeways: Traditional Tobacco Use and Contemporary Abuse conference
Conference Flyer 2010(105 KB)
Conference 2009 Brochure (551 KB)

Greetings!

The plants in our garden are planted in a circular pattern. This year, we have blue corn, asemaa, squash, tomatoes and amaranth that volunteered itself from last year.

We pray for a good harvest and for the land. As we weed and tend to the plants, the eagles soar overhead, talking to us, encouraging us to do our work. The plants mean more than just organic food, they represent continuance of our cultural ways and the asemaa is our first medicine. The asemaa is what we offer to the spirits before we do anything else. This year, we were able to provide the Bois Forte Reservation with enough natural tobacco/ asemaa so they could host the first smoke-free and commercial tobacco free pow-wow. All the dancers and singers were offered asemaa before they danced and sang. Migwetch to the Bois Forte Reservation for doing this, for being the first to host a smoke free, commercial tobacco free pow-wow! As we continue to re-connect to our original teachings, we feel good about being Anishinabe, the people Indigenous to North America. We have already gathered sage this year; sage is another of our medicines used for purification.

IPTF has received two new grants, one for the Center for Disease Control for HIV testing, Community Promise to work with Native Americans in Treatment Centers to tell their stories; and Popular Opinion Leaders to work with Women who are dancers and singers at Pow-wows. We are grateful for the funds to do our work. If you have not been tested for HIV in the past six months and are sexually active, call us up. We will provide you with a free test, so you will know your status, and we will even give you a ten-dollar gift card!

Native Chat: Ikidowin is winding up it’s first summer of youth services. We will begin recruitment for our fall session. Youth, if you want to earn a pre-paid cell phone, work with some really cool young adults call Leslie and she will hook you up.

We will spend the next couple of months developing the new women’s program, revising our curriculum and then watch for our new programs to roll out.

In the meantime, stay safe,

Migwetch

See past letters from the director here:

Indigenous Peoples Task Force (IPTF) is a Native American provider of HIV education and direct services to the Native community in Minnesota. For over 15 years, IPTF has developed and implemented culturally appropriate programs to prevent further transmission of HIV, increase access to traditional and western medical services, and improve the quality of life for clients, families, and communities.