November is Native American Heritage Month and VoteRunLead is featuring extraordinary Native American ladies all month long.

Prairie Rose is an enrolled tribal member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, descendant of thePrairie Rose Seminole pic
Sahnish/Arikara, Northern Cheyenne, Mandan and Lakota Nations. As North Dakota’s Native Vote director, Prairie Rose works around the country with the Native American Leadership Program, with Wellstone Action to train and empower leaders, activists, campaign workers, and those seeking elected office. Prairie has trained with VoteRunLead and if you haven’t met her yet, be sure to tune into her GOTV Planning session.

Prairie Rose is also an educator at the Boys & Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes in New Town, ND, where she focuses on alcohol prevention through education and hosts a weekly radio broadcast called “The Voice” and airs at 2pm on Wednesdays on KMHA 91.3 FM. It’s a place for people to come together to solve problems and hear from community leaders.

Prairie Rose emphasizes the interconnected nature of humanity, faith and the responsibility we all have to ensuring social accountability in communities of respect and opportunity – an understanding that lies at the core of her being. As a community activist, Prairie Rose worked in Fargo, ND, as a cultural advisor for Sanford and held appointed office for 18 years. She was seated at 14 years old! Just this past month, she helped campaign to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous People’s Day — and they won. She believes tribes have been left out of the process of decision-making at county and state levels. In response, she has provided countless trainings in the community, with law enforcement and even partnered with states attorney offices to educate them on tribes and tribal law enforcement.

Prairie Rose studies and lectures on leadership as well as historical and contemporary American Indian issues. Influenced by spending her formative years in Fargo, North Dakota where her parents, Lynette and Delbert Seminole, were prominent in the community as American Indian activists and social justice organizers, Prairie Rose has over 10 years of community organizing experience. Her story has been published in Nona Willis Aronowitz’s book, “Girldrive: Criss-crossing America, Redefining Feminism” and in Billy Black’s photo -essay book “Beautiful Women of North Dakota.”

She is optimistic, bold, purpose-driven, and unafraid. The moment you speak to Prairie Rose, you can tell there is something powerful about her, and she’s using that power to make real changes in her local community and the world.

Check out her online workshop with VoteRunLead on Getting Out The Vote Planning

You can download a copy of her presentation deck here.