Give To The Max Day Fundraiser

On May 25th, 2020, the world watched George Floyd being murdered in the street by the Minneapolis police department. This gross perversion of justice sparked a revolution, not just here in the Twin Cities, but across the country and even around the world. 

There was a reckoning. People protested. Riots broke out. Amidst this civil unrest, Migizi’s newly constructed home caught fire and we watched helplessly as our building burned to ashes. This wasn’t simply a loss for our organization and its employees, but for the Lake Street community and the Native youths we have served and supported for over four decades. With the aid of numerous community partners, organizers, donors, and staff, we were able to find a temporary location, supply it with the necessary resources, and resume some of our daily activities. 

In January of 2021, Migizi purchased the Little Brothers of the Elderly building at 1845 Lake Street and began looking to the future with the resilience and determination of Indigenous people everywhere. The following month, we began to engage Native youth in the vision for our new space, which resulted in the dream of a green building. Over the course of the next three months, we listened and learned. We developed a vision for a state-of-the-art green building that includes geothermal heating capabilities and rooftop solar panels, with an addition to the existing structure that will be entirely net-zero. Our new home has been designed by, with, and for our youth. 

Without a permanent structure, we cannot offer our programming, let alone expand it to continue reaching more students. Our work is more critical than ever before due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has further widened one of the largest opportunity gaps of any racial/ethnic group in the educational system. Currently, just 11% of Native American students at Minneapolis Public Schools kindergarten through 8th grade were proficient in Math and Reading at the end of last year. Only 30% of MPS 9th graders ended the year (2020) on track to graduate in 4 years. Meanwhile, Indigenous students across Minnesota are graduating at a rate of just 50%, a figure that is exceptionally alarming and wholly unacceptable.  

To make this dream of a new green building a reality will cost $5.3 million dollars and we can’t do it alone. We depend on the dedication and passion of our Migizi circle to help us nurture and develop our Native youth. You have the power to create change in our community through your support.

Migizi is a Indigenous led organization with a mission to provide a strong circle of support that nurtures the education, social, economic, and cultural development of American Indian youth. In our community, youth are acknowledged and honored for their sacred gifts and boundless potential which they share, as leaders, with their communities and nations. At Migizi, and in the broader Native community, we view life through a relational lens and as such our values are grounded in the importance of relationships. We work towards each person embracing these values individually as well as from a place of belonging within the circle. Our values keep the circle strong and support youth in discovering their own sacred gifts.