4th Annual Indigenous Service Forum
A Featured Forum Embedded in We the People
the 17th Annual National Service-Learning Conference
Philadelphia, PA
The 4th Annual Indigenous Service Forum (ISF) consists of a reception and series of workshops embedded within the first three days of We the People, the 17th Annual National Service-Learning Conference. The forum provides an opportunity to spotlight the contributions, values and service-based educational concepts that indigenous communities have made to the field of service-learning and to education in general.
The ISF is designed in order that both youth and adults may gather valuable experience and knowledge so that they are better equipped and motivated to return to their communities and schools to effect true and positive systemic change amongst their people.
This years ISF will celebrate this indigenous concept of service through the eyes and experience of its first teachers — indigenous women. Sessions and featured presenters include:
Nina “Lyrispect” Ball (African-American)
Nina “Lyrispect” Ball is a poet, actress, writer, playwright and all around performer. Her literary works have been recognized by the NAACP, the National Black Theater Festival, Center Stage’s Young Playwright’s Festival and the “Sisters Defining Sisters” Festival in it’s inaugural year. In 2005, Lyrispect placed 3rd in the nation at the Red Bull Word Clash Competition. In that same year she also received the Sonia Sanchez Women’s Studies award at Temple University where she is completing her degree in both Film and African American Studies.
Lisa Rodriguez (Boricua)
Lisa Rodriguez is the Director of Teen Leadership Programs at the YMCA of Greater New York. Rodriguez manages and directs teen leadership initiatives for 20 YMCA branches throughout the five boroughs of New York City. A proud Bronx native and resident, she has held positions in ASPIRA of New York City, a leadership development program for Puerto Rican youth, as well as with the New York City Department of Education. As a Boricua, Ms. Rodriguez seeks to inspire youth to celebrate their cultural heritage.
Winona LaDuke (White Earth Ojibwe)
Winona LaDuke, a two-time Vice Presidential candidate, serves as Program Director of Honor the Earth, a American Indian foundation working primarily on environmental and energy policy issues. LaDuke also serves as Founding Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project in northern Minnesota. Among her many accomplishments she has received the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Thomas Merton Award, Ann Bancroft Award, Ms. Woman of the Year Award, and the Global Green Award. Time magazine named her one of America’s 50 Most Promising Leaders Under the Age of 40.
As in years past, the ISF will also feature the presence of six American Indian high school youth from various communities across Minnesota. Four of these youth were invited to participate as Indigenous Youth Leaders as first time attendees, while two other students were selected to serve as youth staff in the role of Indigenous Service Leaders having attended both the NSLC and the ISF previously.
The Indigenous Youth and Service Leaders will have the opportunity to work alongside all of the forums featured presenters as well as attend a variety of diverse service-learning trainings, workshops and projects. These American Indian youth will also interact closely with leading practitioners, educators and their peers within the field itself and present alongside University of Minnesota staff.
Moderator and Coordinator, Lynn F. Lapointe
Lynn is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation - Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. He has designed and coordinated the ISF since it’s inception in 2001, with the first forum held in 2002 at the NYSL conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Lynn has worked in the field of experiential education, youth leadership, and service-learning for over 16 years. He has extensive experience coordinating and implementing summer and school year service-learning and youth leadership programs. Lynn emphasizes the importance of cultural identity, personal development, and youth leadership by utilizing traditional Native thoughts and philosophies in correlation with contemporary models of education and service-learning.
Lynn currently works at the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota as a community program specialist. There he coordinates two federally-funded projects that serve to develop healthy leadership models with American Indian youth and their communities through experiential- and service-based programming.
In addition, Lynn serves as President of NAALA (Natives, Africans, Asians, Latinos(as) & Allies), a professional affiliation group within the Association for Experiential Education.
You may contact Lynn at (612) 624-2008 or lapoi014@umn.edu.
ISF Sponsor
The annual ISF is funded by the Shinnyo-en Foundation. The Shinnyo-en Foundation helps build more caring communities by supporting educational programs that engage and inspire young people in meaningful acts of service. http://www.sef.org
To Learn More
To learn more about the rest of the 17th Annual Service-Learning Conference, We the People, visit their Web site at https://programs.regweb.com/metro/NSLC2006/
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