Community-driven Projects:

2012:

Worked with Environmental Women’s Institute with our urban farmers produced 600 pounds of organic produce for the south Minneapolis food lines and the American Indian Center Elders lunch.  4 community teaching gardens 2012-2016. Partners: Gardening Matters, 24th Street Mishkiki Gitigan, Project Sweetie Pie

2013:

Zintkala Luta is fully aware of the intelligence and high aspirations of our Native American students. Our Project Director – Anita Gates has worked with schools and community since 2009-2020, providing Dakota language/cultural teaching, and she sees the firsthand – how her students’ math and reading proficiency improved with a bi-cultural approach, and honoring the students’ heritage.

2014:

MCCA (Multi-Cultural Community Alliance) with partnership in forming the vision of the 4-nation medicine wheel Zintkala Luta with Asian Media Access (AMA) Consulting Team comes together with the mission to “Connect the Disconnected,” AMA has been specializing in innovative communication strategies for people of color since its inception in 1992.  Since 2014 AMA has led the Team to work on has a long history of managing government and private sector contracts such as Cultural after-school Programming with Minneapolis Schools.  AMA’s comprehensive project management and re-granting capacity, and has successfully completed projects for the CDC, HHS, SAMHSA, MN Dept. of Ed, MN Dept. of Health, MN Dept. of Human Services, to name a few, in support of Zintkala Luta projects.  MCCA Consulting Team draws expertise from: (a) known for innovative engagement strategies with African American/Black and Pan African communities; b) HACER (known for innovative training and research strategies with Hispanic/Latino communities); c) Zintkala Luta (known for innovative cultural integration strategies with Native American communities).

2015:

Project 4WINDS will support the development of the Native Cultural Complex – Tiospaye Htani (“Community to Work” in Native Dakota Language) in  Minneapolis as a Cultural/Economic Development Hub, along with an Afterschool/ Summer 21st Century Learning Center. This Cultural Complex will focus on the following areas: 1) D/Lakota Language/Cultural Preservation; 2) Year-round STEM Education; 3) Afterschool Program, focusing on Life Skills, Green/Food and Multimedia Technology Training.  Grants will support the development and program operation, creating a win-win situation for the Native communities and their future educational needs.

2016:

Zintkalaluta 2012 has held Regalia Classes since 2012 as a Historical Arts Preservation project in the Minneapolis area.  The director is Anita Gates, an artist and teacher, who coordinates classes and events.  The workshop is located at the NACC health facility in Minneapolis.   Zintkalaluta Regalia Workshop works with families centered on family values and ACCESS to traditional arts and dance through song, regalia-making techniques, to articulate historical and cultural moral story-forms in the values-based approaches on native language revitalization through a Community Engagement process.  The participants learned from community experts who attended, guided, and taught during many weeks of the classes.  The grant of 10,000 dollars will help preserve 200-300 Dakota songs and stories through first-language speakers, who are singers and keepers of this heritage knowledge and art form.

2017:

Garden Matters (the hub) and Sweetie Pie are garden growing partners that will support programming to bring communities together in food justice: Ojibwe and Dakota language, leadership with youth [from schools] to urban garden production, The Teaching Tipi Indigenous-growers Project–education (partner with urban native programs). Troy has created a film on DVD (sent in Garden Matters grant report), teaching about plant medicines and their uses, encouraging health with youth, and naming plants and vegetables in Dakota. It could travel to schools and the greater community. We recorded a class (DVD) learning plant medicines, vegetables, and vegetables in Dakota.

2018–2020:

Growing North Minneapolis is a collective of individuals and organizations from and outside of the North Minneapolis community. We work together to advance environmental, racial, and food justice through urban agriculture and food security work in the North Minneapolis community. Through organic-based education and intergenerational mentorship, we provide education and training for youth and the community in agriculture studies and careers. We provide Fall and summer programming related to urban agriculture, food security, and community health. In the Fall… In the summer, we support North Minneapolis youth and community members with urban agriculture internships. We grow and distribute garden-fresh produce to our program participants, their families, and the North Minneapolis community through food shelves, garden events, and markets.

(Under Construction)