MDHHS
Indian outreach workers help youth maintain tribal identity
Every day, our Indian outreach workers meet with Native American youth across Michigan, trying to help them maintain their tribal self-identity and their culture.
In doing so, we hope to prepare these children for a successful and bright future
Studies have shown that supporting a youth’s tribal identity results in less risky behaviors, including teen pregnancy, substance abuse and suicide. Indian outreach workers, who assist Native American families in a wide variety of ways, often help solidify tribal identity through role modeling and sharing personal stories with youth and families.
Lexi Krupp reports on efforts to restore arctic grayling populations in Michigan
In a dim, out-of-the-way corner of the state fish hatchery in Marquette are a few thousand skinny, grey fish, each no more than nine inches long.
“They are skittish,” says Jim Aho, who runs the facility for the Department of Natural Resources. “Movement above them definitely puts stress on them, so they’re in a dark, quiet few tanks here.”
They’re arctic grayling, known as nmégos in Ojibwe a species that was once dominant in rivers and streams in northern Michigan, before they were wiped out from the state over a century ago.