BeSEENN
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, opportunity number DHS-23-TTP-132-00-01
Project Name: BeSEENN: Be Students Empowering and Encouraging Native Nations
PI: Wendelin Hume
Project BeSEENN started in a Tribal Justice class Spring 2022. The project was advised by the PI and addressed domestic terrorism for the Department of Homeland Security national competition. By educating people about Native American cultures we aim to lessen the perpetuation of stereotypes, othering, and targeted violence. The free on-line educational module about Indigenous culture also collects data in Qualtrics about participants thoughts and planned future actions around race, to see if the module is having the intended impact and to better understand respondents’ mindsets. The feelings of isolation by many Native Americans is often referred to as feeling invisible. To help counter this, we titled our project BeSEENN: Be Students Empowering and Encouraging Native Nations.
One of our goals is that our educational modules expand understanding of Indigenous culture and promote conversations about peace and nonviolence. Our project won Third place in the DC competition and with the support from the McCain Institute, and now DHS, it is still continuing.