How to Contact the Cultural Resources Extension Office

Doug Peconge,

Email: dpeconge@miamination.com

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Mission Statement

The Cultural Resources Extension Office serves Miami Tribal citizens in the ancestral homelands by promoting myaamia history, language, culture, and traditions, thereby strengthening community development and tribal sovereignty.


CREO Purpose and History

The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma recognized the need to provide cultural programming to tribal citizens within the original homelands. The Cultural Resources Extension Office (CREO) was established in 2015 by purchasing a 10-acre property on Trentmann Road in Fort Wayne. The purpose of the CREO was to provide tribal members living in the lower Great Lakes region an opportunity to reconnect with their myaamia history, language, and culture. Within six years, the property could no longer support the growing cultural needs of the local myaamiaki community. Tribal leadership moved to sell the Trentmann property and began searching to find a new home for the CREO. An amazing property fitting, the needs of the Tribe, was purchased in fall of 2021. Located northwest of Fort Wayne on Fritz Road, peehkahkionki 'beautiful place' is a 45-acre property which includes a 3.5-acre pond with 13 acres of woods. 

 

Cultural Programming 

The Cultural Resources Extension Office (CREO) in Kiihkayonki 'Fort Wayne, IN' supports the efforts of the eemawiciki cultural education office. The CREO works with the eemawiciki cultural education office and the Myaamia Center at Miami University to bring cultural learning opportunities to the myaamiaki living in the Lower Great Lakes region.

The CREO staff promotes cultural knowledge in the community through activities such as hikes, stomp dancing, winter storytelling, cooking, lacrosse, and workshops. 

ARPA Mission Statement


The kiihkayonki ARPA project facilitates holistic health and cultural learning for the myaamia community, adhering to public health guidelines.

The Kiihkayonki ARPA Project team is focused on two related to ARPA, community wellness and foods.

Health and Wellness


The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Kiihkayonki team is responsible for providing community members access to a physical and virtual environment that promotes physical and mental wellness through both indoor and outdoor activities. Programs presented to the community to meet these goals are created with a Myaamia cultural focus.

Food Programs


The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Kiihkayonki team provides opportunities to practice home and community garden methods of growing, processing, and distributing which will allow sustainable food production for community members. These efforts are designed to inspire cultural reconnection to the land and seasons through gardening and foraging.

CREO/ARPA Staff


Doug Peconge

Kiihkayonki ARPA Project Manager

Doug is a citizen of the Miami tribe of Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Trine University and Western Governors University. Doug has a degree in Engineering along with a degree in information technology with a focus in security. After spending seventeen years in IT, he joined the Cultural Resources Office (CRO) of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma in 2015 to continue his passion for learning the cultural ways of the Tribe and providing opportunities for Tribal citizens living in the Lower Great Lakes to expand their cultural knowledge.

Doug's myaamia cultural journey started in the late 90s when Daryl Baldwin introduced the community to the myaamia language. Years later, when his children were attending eewansaapita he became a more involved language learner while volunteering. During this time, Doug also heard from community members wanting more cultural learning for their children and themselves. Understanding the community's needs, he organized monthly language learning workshops in 2013. Since joining the CRO in 2015 as the Community Programming Manager for the Cultural Resources Extension Office (CREO), Doug has become a community storyteller, a tribal photographer, and a lacrosse stick maker for his community.

In 2021, his role in Kiihkaynoki shifted when the Tribe purchased peehkihkayonki(The beautiful place) on the Northwest side of Fort Wayne, Indiana. As the ARPA Project Manager in Fort Wayne, Doug oversees the 45-acre property and the ARPA project in Fort Wayne. He is working with his kiihkayonki ARPA team to establish goals and plans to assist tribal citizens in food, health, and wellness. He also ensures that the community's cultural needs are met.

 

Dani Tippmann

Kiihkayonki ARPA Foods Program Director

Dani is a Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Citizen, descended from Takumwah, and Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville. As an adult returning student, Dani completed a Bachelor of General Studies from Indiana University in 2002. Dani has been involved in the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma with projects such as the annual Eewaansapita Experience, which involved cooking and plant knowledge. She was employed at the Whitley County Historical Museum as the Director for 14 years from 2008-2022 before taking a position with the Tribe. Her experience includes programming for Miami Days at the Chief Richardville House and Indiana Master Naturalist programming.

Dani has been certified by the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) in Food Safety as a “Morel Mushroom Identification Expert” and as an ISDH “Wild Mushroom Expert.” She has taken the Indiana Hunter Education Class. Dani became an Indiana Master Naturalist in 2007. She was one of the first Hoosiers to obtain a Native American Plant/Tree Material Collection Permit to harvest in Indiana on Natural Resources Properties.

Dani has been interested in gardening, wild plants, and animal usage, which is significant when raising a family to supplement her groceries healthfully. She regularly harvests roadkill for meat, leather, and feathers!

 

Claudia Hedeen

Kiihkayonki ARPA MLRP Community Cultural Education and Wellness Coordinator

 

Peehkihkionki (The Beautiful Place) 


What can I do at Peehkihkionki?

The Cultural Resources Extension Office (CREO) hosts multiple events throughout the year, there are always opportunities for Tribal citizens to visit and enjoy peehkihkionki (the beautiful place) beyond those events. Check out the list below of some of the things you can do at Peehkihkionki. 

   

Athletics and Sportsman 

  • Disc golf 
  • Lacrosse 
  • Fishing 
  • Camping 
  • Self-guided nature walks 
  • Bird watching 
  • Photography 

 

Community gatherings 

  • Invasive Removal 
  • Help with community garden. 
  • Crafting 
  • Storytelling 
  • Stomp Dance 
  • Culturally focused guided nature walks. 
  • Maple Sugaring 
  • Cooking 
  • Seenseewinki (Bowl Game) 
  • Mahkisina meehkintiinki (Moccasin Game) 
  • MTO Information assistance 
  • Reconnecting with myaamiaki (Miami People) 

Wildlife at Peehkihkionki

As tribal citizens walk the trails and around the pond at peehkihkionki they will notice the extensive wildlife that calls this place home. The list below is a sample of what tribal citizens will see when they visit peehkihkionki. 

  

In the Woods and all around the property 

  • Wild turkey 
  • Cormorant 
  • Woodpecker 
  • Cardinals 
  • Crows 
  • Kingfisher 
  • Flycatcher 
  • Mourning doves 
  • Red tailed hawks 
  • Bats 
  • Monarch butterfly 
  • Viceroy butterfly 
  • Garter snakes 
  • Crawfish 
  • Snails 
  • Salamander 
  • Deer 
  • Opossum 
  • Raccoons 
  • Rabbits 

 

 

Pond Life 

  • Herron 
  • Painted Turtles  
  • Bass 
  • Canada Geese 
  • Bluegill 
  • Snapping turtles 
  • Frogs 
  • Muskrats 
  • Water Snakes 
  • Grebe 
  • Wood Ducks 
  • Mallard Ducks 
  • White egret 

Trails at Peehkihkionki

There are 2 miles of trails for tribal citizens to enjoy. These trails consist of maintained mowed paths that are generally flat and easy to walk. Trails highlight landscapes, including the 13-acre woods, open prairie areas, and a picturesque pond. The trails are open year-round, so come prepared for the weather with boots and a jacket. Sakia get hungry during the summer, so bring your mosquito spray. 

Cultural Programming


The Cultural Resources Extension Office (CREO) in Kiihkayonki supports the efforts of the eemawiciki cultural education office. The CREO works with the eemawiciki cultural education office and the Myaamia Center at Miami University to bring cultural learning opportunities to the myaamiaki living in the Lower Great Lakes region.  

   The CREO staff promotes cultural knowledge in the community through activities such as hikes, stomp dancing, winter storytelling, cooking, lacrosse, and workshops (cordage, finger weaving, elm bark baskets…). 

 

CREO Corner


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Upcoming Kiihkayonki Events