Native News

The Native News Project is a new initiative from MPR News.

Stay informed with the latest news about local and national Native American communities, highlighting stories and issues important to Native American communities in Minnesota and beyond.

Our coverage includes cultural events, policy updates, community stories and more to provide a platform for Native voices, perspectives and important news.

Minnesota teen honored by Girl Scouts USA after saving the lives of her mother and grandmother
Fifteen-year-old senior Girl Scout Ilona Delaney, a citizen of Red Lake Nation, was honored with the Bronze Cross for risking her own life to save her grandmother and mother from drowning during a family boating trip last summer.
Celebrating American Indian Month with the reopening of local community center
Indigenous communities in Minnesota celebrate American Indian Month throughout May. A part of this month’s celebration is the reopening of the Minneapolis American Indian Center after a two-year closure for renovations.
Renovated Minneapolis American Indian Center reflects urban Indigenous identity
The Minneapolis American Indian Center provides social services to the urban Native community and has served as a central gathering place for nearly 50 years. The redesign reflects a sense of belonging and history and showcases ways the Minneapolis Indigenous community embraces its future. 
Fond du Lac Band receives funding to help restore tip of Wisconsin Point
The Fond du lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has received a $350,000 planning grant from the federal infrastructure law to help restore land on the tip of Wisconsin Point, the gateway to the Duluth-Superior harbor.
Prairie Island community trying to reclaim noose used in 1862 mass execution of Dakota men
The Prairie Island Indian Community filed a claim through its Tribal Historic Preservation Office. The claim was made through the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Art and history come together in ‘Fur Trade Nation: an Ojibwe’s Graphic History’
Artist Carl Gawboy has used his thirty years of experience teaching the history of fur trade relations on Turtle Island, also known as North America, to create hundreds of illustrations depicting stories of Ojibwe people and lifeways centered on entrepreneurship and freedom.
U’s Center of American Indian and Minority Health expands to Minneapolis campus
The University of Minnesota’s medical school hosted the grand opening of the expanded Center of American Indian and Minority Health in Minneapolis on Tuesday. The center focuses on research, education and programming to positively impact American Indian and Alaskan Native health.
Red Lake Nation goes on a sales trip to India to discuss trade, walleye and wild rice
India is now the world’s most populous nation with 1.4 billion people. This week a representative from the Red Lake Nation will look to tap into that giant market by joining a U.S. trade mission to New Delhi.