Mission Statement: To provide a healing place for American Indian youth and families to thrive in safety and wholeness..
The Ain Dah Yung Center – which means “our home” in the Ojibwe language – began in 1983 as an emergency shelter for runaway and homeless American Indian youth. The shelter quickly filled the need for a culturally relevant and safe place in the Twin Cities – one of the most concentrated urban American Indian populations in the United States.
Today, the Ain Dah Yung Center is a national model for providing a broad spectrum of culturally relevant and cost-effective social services to American Indian youth and their families – a group that has been reluctant to use mainstream government services and programs.
The Ain Dah Yung Center provides a continuum of care and services – recognizing that, in American Indian culture, you can’t grow as a person until you have honor, dignity, and respect for both yourself and everything around you. Each year, the Ain Dah Yung Center provides services to about 1100 youth and families, using traditional American Indian beliefs as a starting point for personal and community growth.
The Ain Dah Yung Center is a cornerstone for community healing. We are committed to ensuring that American Indian youth and families in the Twin Cities Area retain access to their Indigenous rights of community belonging and culturally identity. The following values continue to guide our actions and decisions:
- Safety always comes first
- We treat each other with love, kindness, respect and dignity
- Native language, traditions, spirituality and storytelling are the keys to healing and thriving in our community
- We act with integrity and accountability as careful stewards of community resources
- Humor and humbleness help us weather many storms and keep perspective
- We empower all to dream, set high standards and achieve
