Redwood Area School District, Lower Sioux receive $10,000 innovation award

In 2016, the Lower Sioux Community and the Redwood Area School District co-hosted a cultural competence day for the entire staff of the local school district.

The event was such a success, it is being planned for this coming August, and this year the school district has an additional $5,000 it can use to help plan the event.

The funds were awarded to the school district by the Bush Foundation and the Native Nations Building Initiative through what is known as the annual local government innovation awards (LGIA) program, co-sponsored by the Minnesota Association of Townships, the League of Minnesota Cities, the Association of Minnesota Counties and the Minnesota School Boards Association.

Each year awards are presented for innovation at the city, township, county and school level, with a fifth award added this year that recognizes innovation related to the Native Nations of Minnesota.

The local school district, in conjunction with the Lower Sioux Community, which also received a $5,000 gift, applied for the award.

As the overall winner of the award based on its efforts to create culturally-based resources and results for American Indian students, the school district and Lower Sioux Community pointed to the culture competence day as well as the recent joint effort between the school and the tribal council to develop a Dakota language class.

That class is currently being offered to students as a language option, and the funds received by Lower Sioux are going to be used to help develop that program.

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