Culture is living. Access is relational.

A home for culture, language, and connection.

Zitkádan Tí creates Native-led pathways to learn, gather, reconnect, and belong through cultural education, land-based learning, community partnerships, and meaningful language access for Native Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing relatives.

Explore Our Work Support Zitkádan Tí

Community-powered, culturally grounded, and built through relationships.

Zitkádan Tí logo featuring a hummingbird surrounded by flowers and leaves
Reconnect tradition, language, story
Restore land, food, knowledge
Belong community, access, relation

Why Zitkádan Tí Matters

Our cultures are not relics. They are living parts of who we are.

Generations of Native people have experienced efforts to separate us from language, story, land, and community. Zitkádan Tí exists to help create places where those connections can grow again, through hands-on learning, relationships, and shared responsibility.

We believe cultural knowledge is carried in people, practice, humor, songs, stories, food, movement, language, and the way we care for one another. Our work is about creating room for that knowledge to remain alive and accessible across generations.

01

Reconnect with Tradition

Hands-on learning in regalia, traditional arts, drum, dance, storytelling, and cultural knowledge.

02

Restore Relationship with the Land

Food sovereignty, traditional crops, gathering, foraging, medicine walks, and sustainable practice.

03

Strengthen Community

Spaces where families, schools, Tribal communities, educators, and relatives can learn and grow together.

Our Work

Culture is carried forward by doing.

Programs can be shaped for Tribal communities, schools, colleges, community organizations, families, and public gatherings.

Cultural Education

Workshops & Learning

Age-appropriate, hands-on learning rooted in Native knowledge and cultural practice.

  • Regalia making & traditional arts
  • Storytelling, music, drum & dance
  • School, college & community programs

Land-Based Learning

Food Sovereignty & Place

Learning that reconnects people with plants, traditional foods, gathering, and relationship with the land.

  • Traditional crops & gardens
  • Foraging & medicine walks
  • Food preparation & sharing

Community Connection

Gatherings & Partnerships

Programs shaped through relationship with Tribal communities, schools, organizers, and community partners.

  • Cultural events & seasonal gatherings
  • Community outreach & collaboration
  • Tailored educational partnerships

Language Access

Native Deaf Access

Communication access designed around community, cultural context, and the right to fully participate.

  • ASL & Certified Deaf Interpreters
  • Tactile & protactile interpretation
  • Culturally grounded interpreter preparation

Native Deaf Access

“Language sovereignty must include everyone.”

Access should never be an afterthought.

Native Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing relatives deserve full access to teachings, humor, ceremony, gatherings, relationships, and the everyday community life that shapes belonging.

At cultural events ASL, CDI, tactile, and protactile support at powwows, gatherings, and community events.
Before the event Relationship-building, outreach, scheduling, cultural preparation, and coordination that make access work.
For the future Support for Native interpreters, mentorship, culturally aligned practice, and sustainable community capacity.
Partner with us on access

How We Work

Relational, not transactional.

Our approach centers community-defined needs, reciprocity, cultural knowledge, and accountability.

Native-led

Decisions are grounded in lived experience, cultural knowledge, and community leadership.

Community-powered

Programs grow through listening, partnership, and what communities identify as useful and needed.

Accessible

Communication access is part of belonging, not an optional add-on after everything else is planned.

Reciprocal

We build relationships with care, return value to community, and treat access as a shared responsibility.

A Long-Term Vision

A cultural home where learning can take root.

We envision a dedicated place for cultural education, gathering, ceremony, land-based learning, and intergenerational connection, a home where knowledge can be practiced, shared, and sustained.

Gather

Meeting space for workshops, classes, families, and community gatherings.

Learn

Hands-on cultural education, drum, storytelling, traditional arts, and youth learning.

Walk the land

Medicine walks, foraging, traditional crops, gardens, and food sovereignty education.

Build connection

Immersive experiences that bring generations together and strengthen relationships.

Support the Work

Help build a nest for the future.

Support helps expand cultural programming, Native Deaf access, interpreter preparation, travel to rural and reservation communities, outreach, and the infrastructure needed to keep this work sustainable.

Donate / Sponsor Become a Partner

We’re finalizing our direct giving link. To donate or sponsor now, email info@zitkadanti.org.

Zitkádan Tí is fiscally sponsored by Minnesota Deaf Muslim Community (MDMC), a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

Connect With Us

Bring Zitkádan Tí into your community.

We welcome conversations with Tribal communities, schools, colleges, Native organizations, event organizers, funders, and relatives interested in cultural education or communication access.

Request a Program

Invite us for a workshop, class, cultural learning experience, or educational partnership.

Plan Language Access

Work with us to build culturally grounded communication access into an event from the beginning.

Fund or Partner

Support programming, travel, Native Deaf access, mentorship, and community-led infrastructure.

Start a Conversation

Tell us what you’re thinking about.

Share a little about your community, event, program, access need, or partnership idea. This form is set up to work automatically when the site is hosted on Netlify.

By submitting this form, you agree that Zitkádan Tí may use the information you provide to respond to your inquiry. See our privacy notice.