Northland Foundation providing grants to strengthen Native culture

In northern Minnesota there’s several different tribes of the Ojibwe, Dakota, northern Cheyenne & other indigenous populations. The Northland Foundation is providing grants to people who want to strengthen native culture. The non-profit is providing up to $5,000 through their grant program.

Cayla Bellanger Degroat, is the program officer. She says the Northland Foundation is providing grants to tribal citizens, descendants, or people affiliated with the Native American communities. The grant is known as Maada’ookiing, it’s Ojibwe for “the distribution”.

“There are some bigger projects that we’re seeing on the horizon, and also increased costs for everybody across the board. We give these grants to individuals versus organizations, that’s what we mean by grassroots grants,” Bellanger Degroat said. “You don’t need to be a 501(c)(3). You can just be somebody who has a good idea and wants to do something good for the community.”

There’s still time for people to apply for the Maada’ooking grant . Individuals need to be part of the tribal communities of Northeastern Minnesota. These communities are Leech Lake District 1, Mille Lacs Band District 2, Boise Forte, Grand Portage, and Fond du Lac.  

“We’ve awarded 88 total grants in the life of the program, and we’ve given out approximately $240,000 in grants,” Bellanger Degroat said. “We’ve also seen a big uptick in our applications and awards from Leech Lake, which is fantastic. We always like to see a nice even spread to make sure that we’re getting those dollars out there as much as we can.”

Some of the projects created by recipients of the Maada’ooking grant range from designing traditional moccasins, to leather artwork and learning the spiritual drum teachings.

“I get goosebumps just thinking about it because it’s incredible what these people are doing every single day,” Bellanger Degroat said. ‘The best thing that I think you could do is just tell your friends and neighbors who might have a really good idea because we would love to help them out.”

The next deadline to apply for the grant, for spring funding, is February 15, 2025. Also the other deadlines are September 15th, and May 15th.