MINNESOTA INDIAN WOMENS RESOURCE CENTER

MIWRC currently operates 12 programs under the guidance of 4 departments.


Kinooamaage Wi'gaming (Place of learning) - staff provides extensive cultural competency training to social service professionals, educators, parents and community members throughout the state of Minnesota.

Healing Journey - One of MIWRC’s longest continuously funded direct service programs, Healing Journey is a peer-led support program for adult American Indian women aged 22 and older who are challenged by chronic mental health, substance abuse, and trauma histories. The Healing Journey program utilizes harm reduction strategies and the Ojibwe teaching “Ganawenindig” (“Taking Care of Each Other”) to connecting women to a support system of staff and peers who view them as vital, contributing sisters regardless of their past or current struggles.

Safe Harbor Initiative - MIWRC employs one Safe Harbor Worker to further the state of Minnesota’s efforts to end commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of American Indian children and youth.

Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Support Program - Our weekly Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ Support Group offers a safe space for socializing and reconnection with cultural teachings that hold Two-Spirit people in high esteem.

Sexual Assault Advocacy - Four Sexual Assault Advocate provides crisis intervention, individual and group counseling, forensic examination support, the criminal justice system and court advocacy, and culturally grounded healing support for American Indian survivors of sexual violence, including street outreach to highly vulnerable Native women and in-facility support groups for individuals incarcerated at the Hennepin County Adult Correctional Facility (ACF) and the Federal Correctional Institute: Waseca, MN.

Domestic Violence Prevention & Intervention - A new Indian Health Service-funded intervention and healing program for American Indian survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), including domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual violence/exploitation by an intimate partner. Individual counseling and community-based education activities provide a client-centered, strengths-based “safe space” that utilizes cultural teachings and other protective aspects of culture to encourage healing, build resilience, reduce the risk of repeat traumas, and counter the normalization of IPV outside and within our communities.

Section 8 Supportive Housing - MIWRC maintains 13 two- and three-bedroom Section 8 apartments to provide long-term housing for families who have experienced chronic homelessness.

Life Skills Parenting and Parent Support Outreach Program - The Life Skills Parenting Program (LSP) and Parent Support Outreach Program (PSOP) are innovative partnerships with Hennepin County that improve outcomes for Native families who are engaged in Child Protection or at high risk for engagement through the provision of family counseling, parenting support, life skills training, and education in child development and cultural values.

ICWA Collaborative and Kinship Work - The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Collaborative Coordinator provides advocacy services and intensive case monitoring to in-state Minnesota Native families who are involved in ICWA-eligible Child Protection cases. The ICWA Kinship Worker assists identified an extended family in preparing to serve as foster families for Native children in need of care.

Family Spirit Home Visiting Program- is the largest, most rigorous, and only evidence-based early childhood home visiting program designed specifically for American Indian Families. This program increases parenting knowledge and skills, addresses maternal psychosocial risks that could interfere with positive child-rearing, it promotes optimal physical cognitive, social/emotional development for children ages 0-3, prepares children for early school success, ensures children get recommended well-child visits and health care, links families to community services that address specific needs and promotes parents' and children's life skills and behavioral outcomes across the lifespan.

Housing Navigator- provides housing access coordination and other available service identification and referral support to Native American relatives and families on MIWRC's Supportive Housing waitlist, identified through other program areas, and/or walk-ins in need of housing stabilization assistance.

Wawokiye Drop-In Center- Wawokiye is Dakota api and is one of the principal teachings that translates to fully give of one's self. This teaching is the guiding principle for MIWRC’s Outreach Services. Wawokiye has a physical space with its own entrance at the building. There are a variety of services offered to assist the community in leading healthy lives rooted in culture. Wawokiye is the MIWRC Outreach Team and works with youth and adults who are experiencing sex trafficking, unsheltered relatives, and those who need services related to opioid addictions.