At Vision Maker Media we're worried. Many Native 

youth face despair and serious challenges that lead many to take their own lives. Suicide rates in Indian Country are more than three times the national average, and up to 10 times on some reservations.

But, there is hope. Vision Maker Media works diligently to address these and other pressing problems facing Native communities. Vision Maker Media does this through our mission: To share Native stories with the world and advance media that represents the experiences, values, and cultures of American Indians and Alaska Natives. We tackle tough issues like low graduation rates, drugs, suicide, boarding schools, and historical trauma. Vision Maker Media films prove there's more to an Indian than feathers and furs.

Your support will empower us to help Native youth learn and embrace traditional values of connecting individuals, family, and community. Your donation will allow us to share these stories about how family and community can make a significant difference. Without your valuable contribution, these Native stories will be lost.

To fulfill our mission we've worked with some of the best Native independent filmmakers and PBS stations across the country to bring you these inspiring stories. Generous people like you provide financial support and because of those contributions we are able to bring these independent films to broadcast this fall: Finding Refuge, Rising Voices/Hόtȟaninpi, Swift Water Place, SOL and The Road to Andersonville.

The loss of our traditional Tribal languages has been tied to some of the most pressing problems facing Native youth--the loss of cultural identity. Though the Lakota nation have over 170,000 tribal members, only 6,000 of them speak Lakota today. The average age of native speakers is now almost 70. But the film, Rising Voices/Hόtȟaninpi depicts an exhilarating effort by both Lakota and non-Indian people to hold back the floodwaters of history: the day-by-day struggle to save a dying language.

Check out our Coming Attractions, which includes information about these upcoming films and our plans for the future.

In honoring our traditional ways, we give back by offering value-added programming:

• Free Viewer Discussion Guides and Standards-based Lesson Plans to help teachers bring these stories to the classroom;
• Internships across the country at local PBS stations to increase skills in both the creative and business aspects of the industry for Native college students;
• Collaborative opportunities that allow Native filmmakers, visual artists, technologists, and designers to promote interactive storytelling projects. We sponsor this Hackathon event with the Tribeca Film Institute;
• and Archival Services to preserve and repurpose Indian Country's film, video, and audio--including 39 years of Vision Maker Media's collection--to ensure access for generations to come.