Foundation Public Awareness
Foundation is dedicated to furthering the education of not only
Native American students but also non-Indian people who seldom have
a chance at learning with us or about us. Public awareness about
indigenous people beyond Indian Country past, present, future;
domestic and global - is an important issue at the Nihewan Foundation.
Native American people suffer from being misperceived all their
lives. From childhood through adulthood, the absence of accuracy
in books, television and movies, combined with a lack of accuracy
in available teaching materials makes it difficult for non-Indian
people to have accurate perceptions of their Native American peers.
This results in lack of self identity and self esteem among indigenous
people and contributes to ill health, school dropout, and the highest
rate of suicide in the country.
The suicide rate
for Indian people is the highest in America, and more than twice
the rate of all other non-white people.
Demographics of American Indians" from
The Institute for Educational Leadership, Inc.
Center for Demographic Studies
Low self-esteem and self-concept problems arose as children were
taught that their own culture was inferior.
Social Services Training Resources
"Canada's Native People"
In 1995, the graduation rate for American Indians at a group of
more than 300 colleges and universities was only 37 percent, the
lowest among major ethnic minority groups.
and Wilson, 1997
Nihewan Foundation programs serve targeted audiences within North
America, both Indian and non-Indian. Through websites, multimedia,
magazine articles, workshops, networking conferences, presentations,
speaking engagements, concerts, and the production of curricula
for an interested public, the Nihewan Foundation shares focused,
engaging information about Native American peoples.
Experience has shown that the global community too is hungry to
be more accurately informed about indigenous people, their cultures
and their contributions. The Foundation sponsored a Cradleboard
Teaching Project networking conference in Hawaii which brought together
120 children and teachers from the United States, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand and Norway.
In September of 2000, as Faculty in Session 382 of the prestigious
Salzburg Seminar in Austria, founder Buffy Sainte-Marie brought
awareness of the Nihewan Foundation's Youth Council on Race; Curriculum;
and Cradleboard Teaching Project methods to 58 participating Fellows
from 32 countries, eager to share information about engaging youth
of the world in civic participation. Cradleboard methods are seen
as a way to improve race relations between indigenous and colonial
populations world wide. Several international teams serve on the
Nihewan Youth Council on Race.