Changing Winds
Advocacy Center
* Changing Winds Inc * PO Box 801 * Fairfield, CT * 06824 * 203-256-9720 *
A Native American Civil Rights and Education Agency
A 501 C3 nonprofit charitable organization


MISSION STATEMENT

Through presentations, classroom sessions, curriculum, fund raising, charitable works, and multi-media efforts,
we seek to raise public awareness of the stereotyping, discrimination, racism and other unique situations facing
Native Americans.


Honor and Dishonor in Indian Country: Lecture and Exhibit


Baseball and Literacy Projects
Winter Warmth Drive: The Results Are In!!!
To visit our pages for Ongoing Needs, Click Here.

All Things Educational

Our involvement in resolving discrimination in many areas of the country has enabled us to see many ways of approaching problems.

Our mediators will help your school or workplace understand your perspective and we will work on your behalf to settle your complaints at no charge.

Here's what Changing Winds has been doing.

Baseball and Literacy Programs

Changing Winds provided materials for several baseball teams for the kids on the reservations in South Dakota, and we thank everyone who helped us achieve that, notably the Southport Congregational Church and its awesome members, as well as the Girls Softball League in Fairfield. Items have been shipped and are on their way.

Introducing
HOCIKALA!

Changing Winds has been working in different educational capacities to improve the lives of the Lakota children in South Dakota for almost a decade. Through interviews with parents and teachers, Changing Winds has seen how difficult it has been for Lakota children to celebrate their culture within the educational system and we have found many ways to help: we have provided Lakota language tapes, and books by and about Lakota people and culture to organizations in SD that support the children; and we have begun a program to bring in successful Native role models to give children an idea of the ways they can work within their culture with a strong vision for the future.

We are now introducing our newspaper, Hocikala! (Little Voices) where the children will write stories about their own lives, see them in print, and read what other children in different parts of SD are doing, experiencing, drawing, thinking, etc. Our goal is to strengthen language skills, both English and Lakota.

The paper will be distributed all over South Dakota. “We have funding in place to carry this project for six months,
and we are going ahead on faith because we believe this is an important project for the kids. If the project is good, we believe the money will come to keep it going!” says Christine Rose, founder and director of Changing Winds Inc.

To read more about Hocikala see Jodi Rave's column:
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/04/29/jodirave/rave46.txt

Changing Winds is a 501 C3 non-profit charitable organization which functions solely through donations. It is unique in that no member of Changing Winds staff is paid through donations, so donors can rest assured that every penny they donate will reach the children it was intended for.
That is our promise to you!
Your donations ARE tax deductible!

Want to receive a subscription or place an ad in Hocikala?
Call 203-256-9720 or write to CWAdvocacyCenter@aol.com

Changing Winds Literacy Project
For the Indian Reservations in South Dakota


WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT LITERACY IN
SOUTH DAKOTA?

SUICIDE is the LEADING cause of death among the youth, and on some Reservations, there is a suicide almost every two weeks and more.

On the Pine Ridge reservation, in 2006, close to 1,000 children were removed from their homes and families, their culture and people. Many were removed solely due to poverty.

75% Drop Out of High School due to inability to get to school, lack of inspiration in their daily life, inability to conceive of a better life, parental hopelessness that breeds hopelessness in the children

Poverty causes astronomical health problems including depression, alcoholism and diabetes, highest infant mortality rates in the country, lowest ages of adult mortality: 50 years old for men, 60 for women.

Unemployment is 70-85% on most of the reservations we serve * The nearest city offering employment is often100-200 miles away * Most homes were built in the 1970s and have had no repair since.* Mobile homes are patched with cardboard and car parts* In South Dakota 80% of American Indian children live in extreme poverty. * Some people live in trucking containers and cars * The temperatures are extreme both in the summer and winter * Many people heat their homes with their ovens * Children come to school with their pants held up by ropes and their shoes held together with tape. * Many homes on Pine Ridge, Crow Creek, Cheyenne River do not have heat throughout the winter. Some people sleep on floors *

 

SEVEN OF THE TOP TEN POOREST COUNTIES IN THIS COUNTRY ARE
INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN SOUTH DAKOTA!!

NEVER BELIEVE THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO!
Children need to have goals, visualize a future, be excited about their days,
HAVE FUN!

Contact us to find out where you can send baseball equipment.

Call 203-256-9720 for more information about our organization

Featured on WBAI 99.5 First Voices Indigenous Radio in NYC with Tiokasin Ghost Horse
http://www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/

WPKN fm radio in Fairfield County, and

News Channel 12 Connecticut for Native American Heritage Month

To visit our pages for Ongoing Needs, Click Here.

Thanks to Tiokasin Ghost Horse, whose dedication to the people of South Dakota makes the warm clothing and heating drive such a success.
Be sure to visit his website and listen to his Thursday morning radio show and archives at: www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org.
First Voices Indigenous Radio offers so many ways in which we can all better the world.


Changing Winds Advocacy Center
PO Box 801
Fairfield, CT 06824
203-256-9720
CWAdvocacyCenter@aol.com

© 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - Changing Winds Advocacy Center