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Meet the people behind Native Vote
Hi John,
This week we’re celebrating ten years of Wisconsin Native Vote!
That means lifting up the people who made Native Vote what it is today – and who continue to build a strong program. Learn more about our Native Vote staff members who put their hearts and souls into improving voting access for Native communities and protecting the land, the air, and the waterways that are home to the largest expanse of wild rice beds in the Great Lakes region.
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Dee Sweet, Native Vote Manager
Dee is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe, White Earth) and lives on the shores of Lake Superior – right in between the Bad River and Red Cliff reservations. She joined WCV as a staff member in 2018, but has been protesting mining projects, writing and performing poetry about her Native heritage, and advocating for Native rights long before that.
WCV is fortunate to work with Dee as she leads the Native Vote team as its manager and builds stronger relationships with tribal leaders, activists, and partners in multiple tribal communities. In 2018 and 2020 – two major election years – Dee managed a team of organizers across the state and ran major voter engagement campaigns. In 2020, voter turnout in Red Cliff increased by 28 percent compared to 2016 – and increased similarly in many more tribal communities. The partnership between Native Vote and the Red Cliff Tribe has been successful and rewarding.
In addition to her voter engagement work, Dee is dedicated to educating others about Native tradition and how climate change is threatening it. Next week, Dee and the Native Vote team will be hosting a virtual event called “Harvesting Our Heritage.” We’ll dig into the traditional Indigenous diet, how it has changed over time, and how traditional customs continue.
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Cassie Molkentin, Regional Tribal Organizer
Cassie was raised on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation and has always had a passion for connecting with others. After being a long time leader in her tribe and a natural community builder, she came to Wisconsin Conservation Voices in 2020.
Cassie Molkentin and John Teller are pictured here at the MAST Golf Outing
During the 2020 fall election, Cassie helped lead virtual educational events, organized voter registration tables in her community, and worked with tribal leaders to disseminate voter information in her tribe. One of the most successful events she organized along with past Native Vote organizer John Teller, was the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes (MAST) Golf Outing. Thanks to Cassie and John, Native Vote had a large presence at this event, connected with tribal leaders across the Midwest, registered new voters, and filmed our popular “I Vote” video, which was popular among Native voters.
This year, Cassie continues to build on the successes of 2020 and is growing her network of tribal connections who want to engage in voter outreach.
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Justice Peche, Native Vote Fellow
Justice Peche, an Oneida tribal member, has been on the front lines of the Stop Line 3 and Line 5 movement. He has traveled to Minnesota for protests against Enbridge’s pipeline expansion and continues to organize community members and put pressure on Green Bay elected officials to prevent Enbridge from damaging Wisconsin’s waters and land.
He does all this while going to school at UW-Green Bay to work towards his degree in First Nations Studies and Political Science.
Justice also organizes many of our Native Vote events and panel discussions focused around voter registration, education on tribal issues, and environmental justice. He often recruits the speakers for the events, works with Dee to build out the program, writes emails to our members, and creates social media content.
A crucial member of the Native Vote and Wisconsin Conservation Voices team, Justice has an infectious energy for this work and is a powerful, though underrecognized, leader in the state’s environmental movement.
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Your generous tax-deductible contribution to Wisconsin Native Vote makes our work possible. Consider giving a gift today so we can continue our efforts in voter engagement and environmental justice.
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Wisconsin Conservation Voters
133 S. Butler Street Suite 320
Madison, WI 53703
United States
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