UMD News: October 23, 2008

Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830

October 23, 2008
Susan Beasy Latto, Director, UMD Public Relations (218) 726-8830 slatto@d.umn.edu
John Day, Director of American Indian Projects, UMD Department of Social Work (218) 726-7971 jday@d.umn.edu

UMD Department of Social Work Collaborates with
The Grand Portage and Mille Lacs Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa
on Studies About Raising Healthy American Indian Children

The UMD Department of Social Work has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation to collaborate with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa on a project focused on raising healthy American Indian Children in Grand Portage.

An additional $12,300 grant was received from the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research to do similar work in Mille Lacs.

The two projects will involve gathering information from community elders and tribal human services and other tribal professionals in the area through focus groups and interviews. The collaborators will use that information to develop training and parenting education materials designed specifically for each tribe. The traditional wisdom of the elders will be fundamental to these year-long projects, which have received support from the Grand Portage Council and the Mille Lacs Human Service division.

The project team from UMD will draw on its many years of experience working in tribal communities including a similar project with the Bois Forte Band, which will soon be linked to the Department of Social Work website at http://www.d.umn.edu/sw/

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