Native American Program Spotlight: Salamanca
We featured this听MBK Native American Program spotlight in our.
Salamanca City School District recently launched the A.C.E. Mentoring Program for Indigenous males in grades 6 through 12.
The acronym A.C.E. stands for:
A = being an听Asset听to the community
C =听Contributing听to the sustainability of the community
E =听Exemplifying听one鈥檚 best self.
Led by Karina Flagg, Mentor Coordinator, and Don 鈥淔lip鈥 White, Mentor Consultant, the听A.C.E. Mentoring Program is organized through the听My Brother鈥檚 Keeper Native American Program grant听offered by the 东京热. The goals of the grant are to provide culturally centered interactions and role modeling in an effort to increase academic achievement and college/career readiness for Indigenous male youth.
Organized in collaboration with the Seneca Nation, A.C.E. is providing positive community role models for native male youth. According to Flagg, 鈥淭his is a new program designed to match native students with a community member who can identify and prioritize their best interests. We have great community members and we want and need them to become these amazing students鈥 mentors.鈥
鈥淲e have a growing group of people who have been oriented through the A.C.E. Mentoring Program and have become a friend, coach, and guide,鈥 added White, while noting, 鈥淭he key investment is the mentor鈥檚 time鈥ime and caring.鈥 White stressed that a culturally centered program has advantages, as it enables youth to participate in group activities like learning how to drum and sing with the Old Bridge Singers, or in other words, to do those things most of us take a deep interest in.
鈥淭hese group activities are important for our young people to realize and meet these 鈥楢.C.E.鈥 community members,鈥 continued Flagg. "For most of the youth, they were initially hesitant but after a while, they were excited to join in the songs.鈥
The program allows the mentors and mentees to meet for one hour each week. Each mentor and mentee relationship is unique, and the program offers a wide variety of opportunities to build a positive, lasting relationship and trust.
Upcoming group events include Indigenous Carving Techniques with Hayden Haynes, Indigenous Themed Board Games with Dallas Hoag, Native Leatherworking with Cliff Redeye, Indigenous Fashion and Bead Working with Breann 鈥淏reezy鈥 Crouse, Gawasa鈥 with Kory Dowdy, and Cooke鈥檔 with Culture hosted by Andrea Cooke.
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