Niniijaanis War Pony- Riding Together for Equity
Early childhood educators and families- we are here to help!
Niniijaanis One of Ones' mission is to assist Indigenous families & communities to traditionally serve the whole child to reclaim and affirm our children's identities and education.
In Minnesota specifically, American Indian children are experiencing the largest educational disparities from graduating high school to participating in post-secondary options. These disparities have persisted over generations and begin before high school, often as early as kindergarten. The problem worth solving is tackling educational design and equity for American Indian children in early childhood, particularly during rapid brain and personality development before disparities begin to ripple and compound over time.
Growing evidence suggests that children immersed in their language & culture & supported by families in their foundational years will form strong self-identities & build resilience to challenges of racial inequity & bias. With Niniijaanis, children can be exposed to a culturally responsive education through our learning materials and curriculum designed by our collective. Currently we sell online but we are ready to hit the road- literally, pairing our products with educational services through our Niniijaanis War Pony!
This mobile "War Pony" model will allow our collective to do art in-person with community, continue arts-education programming through material-making workshops, & open unlimited learning opportunities for community & collaboration. The network & ecosystem that can be built around our children will allow further co-creating with elders, artists & families that could not have been reached previously online or in our Niniijaanis One of Ones home studio.
We are a collective of Indigenous educators and artisans that come from the same communities we aim to serve. Learn more about our team on our website. With our hand-made culturally-relevant learning materials paired with statewide mobile services, families & communities will get to co-create a learning experience that best fits their children's needs.
Chii-miigwech (thank you) for your generosity & support to help us make a better world for our children!
