Outreach to the Ho-Chunk Community

While staffing a Downtown Grand Affair event booth in fall of 2019, members of LWV Wisconsin Rapids Area (LWVWRA) started a conversation with members of the Ho-Chunk Tribe who were setup at their booth nearby. The LWVWRA Poverty Study Committee and the Voter Services Committee were focused on a 2020 voter service project targeting groups experiencing barriers to voting. A highlight of their effort became outreach to the Ho-Chunk Nation, which has a strong presence in their community. Barbara Heqet, an LWVWRA member with Native American heritage, led the initiative and identified Rhonda Funmaker, an honored member of the Ho-Chunk Nation from Baraboo, as a key contact person.   

Members of the League and the Ho-Chunk Tribe were soon planning action steps. The League helped connect the tribal community to Wisconsin Native Vote and an idea surfaced to designate Ho-Chunk Community Centers as polling places an effort which remains a longer-term goal given the complexity of the process.

“An important first step has been taken in our grassroots effort to engage with the Native population in our community,” said Mary Dahm, LWVWRA voter services chair.

The partnership has also sparked interest among members of the tribe to explore the idea of a local League of Women Voters for Indigenous women. As a point of League history, an Indian League of Women Voters chapter was organized in Wisconsin in 1924 to fight for equal participation and justice for Native people.