Cece Benimon’s Gift for Connecting Kids with Culture & Conservation

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine – Weekly Radio Show

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.

Native Lights – Cece Benimon’s Gift for Connecting Kids with Culture & Conservation

On today’s show, we talk with Cece Benimon (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) who is the family liaison for Anishinaabe Academy, a Minneapolis school with a Native-centered curriculum. Cece shares some of the different ways the school is revitalizing and Indigenizing curriculum. We learn how Cece’s business background helped her develop relationships with students, families, and community members; inspiring deeper connections with each other and the land too.

Cece tells us about the exciting new long-term partnership between Anishinaabe Academy and the Belwin Conservancy in Afton, called “Restoring Land, Reviving Heritage: Conservation Through Indigenous Culture.” The reciprocal project dedicates 17 acres to the Anishinaabe Academy, providing a space for Native elders to lead students from the urban school in hands-on learning about conservation, restoration, and gardening. The Belwin Conservancy also gains from the Indigenous stewardship of some of its St. Croix Valley land.

Miigwech Cece for your enthusiastic work connecting kids and community with culture and land conservation!

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. Online at https://minnesotanativenews.org/