Earth Partnership, Tribal Youth and Community Liaison, Dr. Rachel Byington, PhD (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) was invited to provide a keynote speech on September 29, 2022 at the Seventh Generation Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit held at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University. The Seventh Generation Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit is held in partnership between the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, the College of Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin System. Presenters focused on four key topics: Education, Economic Development, Health & Safety, and Environment.
Byington will share her findings from her study focusing on understanding the impacts of cultural programs with an environmental focus on urban American Indian youth. She also provided an overview of the current USDA New Beginnings for Tribal Students projects–the first significant collaboration between the three land grant colleges in Wisconsin–the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, the College of Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Building on lessons learned from the two current New Beginnings grants along with the Ho-Chunk Nation, a third project was funded to deepen Tribal student success by strengthening culturally-engaged pathways to natural resource, agriculture, and STEM careers. Marilyn J. Zimmerman, PhD. and Amy Foster Wolferman from the National Native Children’s Trauma Center provided the State of the Child pre-convening keynote speech. There was a wide variety of wonderful presentations to support the focus areas. Additional keynote speakers included Brenda J. Child, author of Boarding Schools and American Indian Dispossession; Misty Cook, author of Medicine Generations: Natural Native American Medicines Traditional to the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans Tribe; and Burton Warrington, from MenominiYou each sharing their wisdom and expertise.
The full agenda can be seen here https://www.lco.edu/7gensummit