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Running Strong

@runstrong4aiy

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We believe in Native youth.
📍Sacramento, CA + Kyle, SD
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💚 “It helped me mentally and it helped me feel closer to my family.” That's how one 12-year-old described their experience with the Afraid of Bear–American Horse Tiospaye's Rites of Passage program. Held on ancestral lands in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the program brings Native youth together with elders, matriarchs, and community leaders to learn about Lakota culture and traditions. Through sacred ceremonies, traditional teachings, and guidance from older generations, young people learn about their cultural responsibilities, receive support as they grow into adulthood, and build stronger connections with their families and communities. With support from Running Strong, 90 people participated in this year's program, helping pass down knowledge and traditions to the next generation. 🧡 This Native American Heritage Month, we're celebrating the families and elders making these experiences possible! 👉 Read more about the Rites of Passage program and its impact:https://indianyouth.org/afraid-of-bear-american-horse-tiospaye-lakota-culture-native-youth/ by @runstrong4aiy
🧡 November is Native American Heritage Month! This month, we're celebrating the history, cultures, languages, and contributions of Native peoples across the country! With more than 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States, each with its own history and traditions, there's so much to recognize, celebrate, and learn. At Running Strong, we're proud to work alongside Native communities to preserve languages and cultural traditions, strengthen food sovereignty, support Native youth and families, and create opportunities for future generations. Throughout November, we'll be sharing Native stories, traditional foods and recipes, cultural traditions, and ways YOU can join the celebration! 🧡 Let's make this a month of learning, sharing, and celebrating Native communities! Follow along and share our posts to help more people learn about Native American heritage. 👉 Read more: https://indianyouth.org/celebrating-native-american-heritage-month/ by @runstrong4aiy
🧡 We're wrapping up October with something special! All month long, we've been celebrating Native languages, and now it's time to hear from the people who speak them! From different tribal communities and language backgrounds, participants sent us videos sharing their Native languages, and we've brought them together for this special compilation. 🗣️ To everyone who participated: THANK YOU! We're proud to help share your voices and celebrate the languages you're carrying forward. 🎥 Watch, listen, and share this video to help more people hear these languages! And get ready, because Native American Heritage Month starts soon! We've got even more Native pride, culture, and community stories coming your way throughout November. Stay tuned! 🧡 by @runstrong4aiy
💚 Verdena Parker spent her life speaking a language she was once punished for using. Growing up, Verdena spoke Hupa with her grandmother and mother, even when speaking it at school meant being teased or punished. Years later, she helped preserve the language through recordings that are now used to teach children at the Hupa Language Immersion Nest. Before Verdena passed away in March 2026 at age 90, she got to see something she had hoped for throughout her life: children learning and speaking Hupa freely, without fear of being punished. Program founder Sara Merrick shared that Verdena wanted the teachers and students to know she was “leaving the language in good hands.” Today, her voice continues to be part of the lessons children learn, helping pass Hupa down to future generations. 💚 👉 Read more about Verdena's life and legacy: https://indianyouth.org/passing-down-the-hupa-language-to-the-next-generation/ by @runstrong4aiy
💚 Meet the Hupa Language Immersion Nest team from Hoopa, California! Since launching the work over a decade ago, the team has been helping young children learn Hupa through daily immersion, while giving families resources to practice the language at home. Their goal is to raise a new generation of fluent Hupa speakers. 🎥 Watch and share about this important work! by @runstrong4aiy
💚 In Hoopa, California, children as young as 2½ are learning to speak Hupa four days a week! 2017 Running Strong Dreamstarter Sara Merrick started the Hupa Language Immersion Nest in 2023 to help bring the language back into everyday use among young children. And the program goes beyond the classroom! Families receive books, videos, and games featuring recordings of Hupa-speaking elders so they can practice together at home. From September 2025 through May 2026, Sara's organization reached 100 children and 50 adults through its language programs and activities. 👉 Read how Sara and her community are teaching Hupa to the next generation: https://indianyouth.org/passing-down-the-hupa-language-to-the-next-generation/ by @runstrong4aiy
For 2017 Dreamstarter Shayleena Britton, teaching Wailaki is about giving more people in her community the opportunity to learn a language that was once at risk of being lost. From creating a Wailaki ABC book to helping bring language lessons to classrooms, she's making Wailaki more accessible to young learners! 💚 Hear from Shayleena herself about her work teaching Wailaki and why passing the language on matters to her community. by @runstrong4aiy
Did you know the Wailaki language was once considered nearly extinct? With no known audio recordings and only a few elders who remembered the language, opportunities to learn it were limited. But look how far it’s come! In 2017, Shayleena Britton, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes and Wailaki language teacher, received a grant from Running Strong to help establish Wailaki Kunnes Bakang Ishjii Naagai, an organization that teaches Wailaki through in-person sessions and social media. She also created a Wailaki ABC book, posters, and coloring pages for local students! According to Shayleena’s story, Wailaki is now taught in every K-8 classroom in the Round Valley community, and Round Valley High School offers Wailaki language courses for credit. Learn how Shayleena and others are helping more young people learn Wailaki! Read the full story: https://indianyouth.org/bringing- the-wailaki-language-back-to-the-classroom/ by @runstrong4aiy
🗣️ What does it take to keep Native languages part of everyday life? For Tlingit & Haida communities, it means creating opportunities for people to hear, learn, and use their languages, especially young people growing up away from their ancestral homelands. Language is more than just words. It's how stories, traditions, and knowledge are shared from one generation to the next. 2025 Dreamstarter Elizah Dominy is passionate about helping more people in her community learn and embrace their language and culture. 💚 Listen to Elizah speak Tlingit and share her passion for helping her community connect with their language and culture! by @runstrong4aiy
🗣️💚 Did you know that more than 9,000 Tlingit & Haida tribal citizens live in Washington state, far from their ancestral homelands in Alaska? For many families, living away from their homelands can make it harder to learn their languages and stay connected to cultural traditions. That's why language revitalization workshops are so important! They give young people opportunities to learn their ancestral languages and connect with their culture. One person helping make this possible is 2025 Dreamstarter Elizah Dominy, a Tlingit & Haida tribal citizen from Kent, Washington, who has organized language workshops and cultural activities for Tlingit & Haida youth and families in her community. 💚 See how these efforts are helping pass Native languages on to the next generation! 👉 Read the full story: https://indianyouth.org/preserving-tlingit-and-haida-languages-and-culture-for-future-generations/ by @runstrong4aiy
🗣️💚 Language Spotlight: Navajo (Diné Bizaad)! Meet Kevin Belin (Diné), a 2019 Running Strong Dreamstarter who's helping the next generation learn the Navajo language! As a Navajo language teacher, Kevin brings language and culture into the classroom through storytelling, traditional games, songs, and creative learning materials. Through his Dreamstarter project, Hashké — Hozhó Design & Collaborative, he's creating resources that make learning Diné Bizaad engaging and accessible for young learners. 💚 Take a moment to watch Kevin teach us a little Navajo and see how he's sharing his language with the next generation! by @runstrong4aiy
🗣️ Calling All Native Youth! Your language is part of your identity, your culture, and your community. We want to hear it in your own words! 💚 Send us a short video introducing yourself in your Native language. Share your name, clan, community, or anything else you'd like us to know! Everyone who submits a video will be featured in a special video celebrating Native languages and the young people speaking them at the end of the month! Don't miss out—get your submission in! 📩 How to participate: Email your video and written transcripts (in your Native language and English) to ciscoemartinez@gmail.com or just send your video/transcripts in a DM! 📅 Deadline: Monday, October 19, at 11:59 PM your local time. Help us represent as many Tribal Nations and languages as possible! by @runstrong4aiy

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