Where did the idea for the podcasts come from?

In the fall of 2015, members of two Minnesota Tribal Communities, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe, launched the Tribal NEAR Science and Community Wisdom Project. Since the project’s inception, we have expanded partnerships to include the Lower Sioux Community, and are continuing our work currently with Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and Bois Forte.

The project, a collaboration between several tribal nations in Minnesota, FamilyWise Services (home of Prevent Child Abuse MN), and The Center for Prevention at Blue Cross Blue Shield, was designed to build awareness and understanding regarding the root causes of the contemporary issues our tribal communities face. The project aimed to combine efforts to move upstream toward prevention – breaking cycles to strengthen our families and brighten the future for our children – by amplifying community voice and wisdom to create solutionsthat will address our current day traumas and hardships, beginning the process of healing and remembering resilience for all our people – past, present, and future.

In each community, the first phase of the effort aims to build knowledge through a series of introductory presentations regarding Neuroscience, Epigenetics, Adverse Childhood Experiences, & Resilience (NEAR Science) thereby encouraging a common language and shared understanding throughout the community around how we have been impacted, both individually and collectively.

We kept at the forefront of our collective thinking how we could make sure this work would continue to have an impact, long after the timeline of our project…

The next phase brought community members together to have conversations about the science, emphasizing cultural wisdom and drawing on input from the community as a core tenet of the process. Through this work, each community was able to emerge with unique plans to respond to their most pressing issues — as they defined them.

Community partners at White Earth approached us about creating content they could use on an ongoing basis at their tribal radio station to help spread this information throughout their community and beyond…

And it was through this idea, with adaptations along the way, Remembering Resilience came into existence.

Tribal N.E.A.R and Community Wisdom Project Today

Today, the Tribal N.E.A.R. Science and Community Wisdom Project continues to focus on broadening awareness of N.E.A.R. Science, primarily by offering trainings, events, resources, consultations, and workshops to Tribal community members and partners who would like to deepen their understanding of how NEAR science applies to their own lives, their families, and their communities.

The project is implemented by Peacemaker Resources and FamilyWise Services with funding from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. To learn more about this project, please contact TribalNEAR@familywiseservices.org.