Join NAPC as we officially kick off FORUM 2026: Preservation Currents. We will gather at the conference hotel for a program featuring Shelley Buck, President of the Dakota-led nonprofit Owámniyomni Okhódayapi. Shelley is an enrolled member of the Prairie Island Indian Community and served 12 years on the Prairie Island Tribal Council, including six years as president.
Featuring the theme, Owámniyomni ed Dakod wićoh’aŋ makoće kiŋ wóyutećapi (Restoring Culture & Environment at Owámniyomni), Shelley will explore how Owámniyomni Okhódayapi is transforming Minneapolis’ most iconic riverfront location, St. Anthony Falls, from a desecrated industrial site into a living monument that says, “This is Dakota land.” The Owámniyomni project will restore native plantings, uplift Dakota land management and cultural practices, and rebuild connections to the water. Shelley Buck, president of the Dakota-led nonprofit, shares how this groundbreaking land reclamation project is challenging preservation policy and reminding us all what it means to treat the land as a relative rather than a resource.
Shelley holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Accounting, a Master of Arts in Sports Management, and a Master of Jurisprudence in Tribal Indian Law and represents District 47A in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Featuring the theme, Owámniyomni ed Dakod wićoh’aŋ makoće kiŋ wóyutećapi (Restoring Culture & Environment at Owámniyomni), Shelley will explore how Owámniyomni Okhódayapi is transforming Minneapolis’ most iconic riverfront location, St. Anthony Falls, from a desecrated industrial site into a living monument that says, “This is Dakota land.” The Owámniyomni project will restore native plantings, uplift Dakota land management and cultural practices, and rebuild connections to the water. Shelley Buck, president of the Dakota-led nonprofit, shares how this groundbreaking land reclamation project is challenging preservation policy and reminding us all what it means to treat the land as a relative rather than a resource.
On Saturday, July 25, we welcome Jeanelle Austin, Executive Director of Rise and Remember, who engages the work of racial justice through memorial preservation, as our featured speaker for the FORUM Saturday Luncheon. Jeanelle will present on the topic of “Prophetic Story-Keepers: Why Community-Based Conservation Works as a Social Movement”. In response to the death of George Floyd in 2020, neighbors organized to preserve the organic memorial and protest site as a form of protest. Six years later, the site still exists and is still maintained by neighbors. Additionally, in the wake of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, more neighbors joined in this work based on their proximity to a memorial site. This talk will explore why the efforts to conserve and preserve a protest memorial evolve into a sacred, volunteer-based vocation of story-keeping for one's community. It will also examine ways the industry can learn from organic social movements that yield community-based art conservation efforts.
In addition to serving as Executive Director of Rise and Remember, Jeanelle earned an MDiv in Ethics and an MA in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Her recent honors include the 2021 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Innovation Hub Award, Community Champion Award from the Urban League Twin Cities, the Women of Courage Award from the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation in honor of Mamie Till-Mobley, and Activist in Residence at the Center for Work and Democracy at Arizona State University. In 2022, she was honored as a Community Visionary for the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub at the University of Minnesota and a Leonard I. Beerman Foundation Fellow. Jeanelle consults and speaks nationally on various topics as they intersect with race in America.
In addition to serving as Executive Director of Rise and Remember, Jeanelle earned an MDiv in Ethics and an MA in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Her recent honors include the 2021 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Innovation Hub Award, Community Champion Award from the Urban League Twin Cities, the Women of Courage Award from the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation in honor of Mamie Till-Mobley, and Activist in Residence at the Center for Work and Democracy at Arizona State University. In 2022, she was honored as a Community Visionary for the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub at the University of Minnesota and a Leonard I. Beerman Foundation Fellow. She consults and speaks nationally on various topics as they intersect with race in America.
