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Mni Sota Fund receives $1.5 million from MacKenzie Scott
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota nonprofit furthering Native homeownership received a $1.5 million donation from MacKenzie Scott.
Scott, an author and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has given millions of dollars to nonprofits.
Andrea Reese, a board member and former staffer, said the donation will do so much for the Mni Sota Fund.
“I was like jumping up and down like crazy,” said Reese. “It was such a huge honor.”
The Mni Sota Fund provides wealth-building services and access to capital for the Urban Indian community.
“Having a very culturally responsive native home buying resource has made a huge impact the last 12 years that it’s been in operation,” said Reese.
Minnesota is among the worst in the nation for facial disparities in home ownership. While 77 percent of white households own their home, only about 49 percent of Native American families do, according to the American Community Survey.
“I think that a lot of the barriers are very systemic and very perpetuated by the traditional lending institutions,” said Reese,
Homeownership also impacts the health of communities too, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
“I believe it’s it comes from that stability,” said Reese. “It comes from that stability and having the security, that you have a safe place to be. And that provides financial security, it provides mental health, it provides physical health.”
There are only five full-time staff members with the fund. Reese says this donation will help so many find their way home.
Events Monday range from a voting rally in Minneapolis to a public talk about the Native vote at Virginia Tech. It comes three weeks before the election.
MINNEAPOLIS — As Native Americans across the U.S. come together on Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate their history and culture and acknowledge the ongoing challenges they face, many will do so with a focus on the election.
From a voting rally in Minneapolis featuring food, games and raffles to a public talk about the Native vote at Virginia Tech, the holiday, which comes about three weeks before Election Day, will feature a wide array of events geared toward Native voter mobilization and outreach amid a strong recognition of the power of their votes.
In 2020, Native voters proved decisive in the presidential election. Voter turnout on tribal land in Arizona increased dramatically compared with the previous presidential election, helping Joe Biden win a state that hadn’t supported a Democratic candidate in a White House contest since 1996.
Janeen Comenote, executive director of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition, which is involved with at least a dozen of these types of voting events across the country, said this year it’s especially important to mobilize Native voters because the country is selecting the president. But she cautioned that Native people are in no way a monolith in terms of how they vote.
“We’re really all about just getting Native voters out to vote, not telling them how to vote. But sort of understanding that you have a voice and you’re a democracy, a democracy that we helped create,” said Comenote, a citizen of the Quinault Indian Nation.
In Arizona, her coalition is partnering with the Phoenix Indian Center to hold a town hall Monday called “Democracy Is Indigenous: Power Of The Native Vote,” which will feature speakers and performances, along with Indigenous artwork centered on democracy.
In Apex, North Carolina, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southwest of Raleigh, the coalition is working with the Triangle Native American Society for an event expected to include a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and a booth with nonpartisan voter information and giveaways.
While not a federal holiday, Indigenous Peoples Day is observed by 17 states, including Washington, South Dakota and Maine, as well as Washington, D.C., according to the Pew Research Center. It typically takes place on the second Monday in October, which is the same day as the Columbus Day federal holiday.
Human-driven climate change, through the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, has made the once-rare event all too common.
GRAND TOWER, Ill. — Tourists in 2022 flocked to Southern Missouri for what they thought would be a “once-in-a-lifetime” tourist destination. As of Sunday morning, Tower Rock reemerged from the depths of the Mississippi River for the third year in a row.
The aptly named towering rock formation usually sits isolated in the Mississippi River around 100 miles south of St. Louis. It’s normally separated from the bank of the river, but low water levels in 2022 exposed a rock walkway to the destination.
Mississippi River levels at Chester, Illinois, dipped below 1.5 feet early Sunday morning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Prediction Service. Once water levels dip that low, the path to Tower Rock washes up.
Editor’s note: The above video originally aired during a 2022 broadcast.
5 On Your Side was warned in 2022 about this “once-in-a-lifetime” event becoming all too common by then-American Rivers representative Olivia Dorothy. She said annual low river levels are something Missourians and all residents along the Mississippi should get accustomed to as human-induced climate change through the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas make these conditions more common.
“This is the new normal,” Dorothy said in 2022. “Climate models have predicted that this region will shift to being prone to very long and dramatic droughts that will be punctuated by extreme fluctuation and flooding.”
One of the firefighters was treated and released at the scene and the other is being treated at North Memorial Hospital.
ROGERS, Minn. — One person was found dead and two firefighters were hurt after a structure caught fire in Rogers, Minnesota.
According to the Rogers Fire Department, the fire occurred on Territorial and Fletcher and has been contained.
The two firefighters suffered minor injuries, according to the department. One of them was treated and released at the scene and the other is being treated at North Memorial Hospital.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
