Starting November 15, the American Indian College Fund and Pendleton Woolen Mills, the international lifestyle brand headquartered in Portland, Oregon, are accepting submissions for The Tribal College Blanket Design Contest. American Indian and Alaska Native students attending a tribal college or university are eligible to submit up to two designs.
Two of the American Indian College Fund’s (College Fund) programs are collaborating to launch a new virtual learning series for early childhood educators as well as elementary and secondary educators in Indigenous communities.
To create awareness about how to successfully transfer to a college or university, with opportunities to hear from other Native students who have navigated the process, the American Indian College Fund will host two webinars: Transfer 101 and a Transfer Student Experience panel. Participants will also have access to a transfer process toolbox online. The College Fund is also creating awareness of transfer activities at TCUs by providing $2000 to institutions to assist transfer students by hosting on-campus events, augmenting transfer student resources, or compensating potential transfer student site visits.
The American Indian College Fund (College Fund) joins the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in celebrating Native Vote Week. The College Fund is partnering with tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) to encourage Native students and tribal members to register to vote. From funding student-led voter education events to sharing videos of Native students and educators explaining why voting matters, we’re doing our part to ensure Native voices are heard in tribal, local, state, federal elections.
Nine Indigenous students from across Indian Country were selected to serve as the American Indian College Fund’s (College Fund) 2024-25 student ambassadors. Student ambassadors gain valuable leadership and communications skills while working to create greater visibility of American Indians and Alaska Natives and an understanding of the importance of their cultures.
The American Indian College Fund (College Fund) has received a $50,000 grant from the May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust to implement a six-month fellowship focused on empowering Native student veterans to success. The Naabaahii Ółta’í (Student Warrior): Native Student Veterans Peer-to-Peer Program is a mentorship opportunity that builds relationships between veterans based upon their shared experiences.
Native Americans are more impacted by the law than any other group in the United States. Native students in higher education, or seeking a higher education, in particular are impacted by federal and state laws impacting funding for education, such as Pell Grants, student loans, and federal funding for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), 70% of which comes from federal sources.
Jade Araujo, an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) in Massachusetts and a descendant of the Tlingit and Koyukon Athabascan tribes in Alaska, is the third person to have been awarded the American Indian College Fund Law School Scholarship. Araujo is a senior at Stanford University who will graduate in June with a degree in political science and will enter Harvard Law School in the fall. She is the daughter of Todd Araujo (Aquinnah Wampanoag) and Jaeleen Kookesh (Tlingit and Koyukon Athabascan).
The American Indian College Fund (College Fund) will host its Fifth Annual Summer of Success Conference: Cultivating Connections into Success from May 19 to May 21. This three-day, interactive online event is tailored to high school and college students, staff, faculty, and families, centering Native culture, experiences, and determinants of college success.
The American Indian College Fund named 11 Native students to the 2023-24 cohort of its Student Ambassador Program. Students named to the program are trained in leadership and communications skills to create greater visibility of Native Americans and generate an understanding of the importance of their diverse cultures.
