KIPI News, September 12, 2022 – Part 1

The U.S. government has renamed hundreds of peaks, lakes, streams and other geographical features that carry a racist and misogynistic term for a Native American woman. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the changes to 650 sites, after an almost yearlong process. Haaland is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico and the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is making $35 million available in grants to Native Americans to help implement a nationwide mental health crisis hotline. The 988 hotline went live in July. It’s designed to be an easy number to remember, similar to 911. The hotline connects callers with trained mental health counselors. The money available to 574 federally recognized tribes will have a limited reach with up to 100 grants awarded. The deadline to apply is Oct. 25.

Due to a rise in violent crimes, people are doing their part to bring awareness to the growing issue. On Friday, the Oglala Sioux Tribe Child Care and Development Programs hosted a Stop the Violence walk through the Pine Ridge Reservation. Members of the community joined the walk in the hopes that it would be the first step in addressing and bringing an end to the violence in Pine Ridge.

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