Our Programs
College Fund Initiatives
About Our Programs
The College Fund support TCUs in their efforts to strengthen education, Native communities, the environment, health and wellness, language and culture, emergent leadership, and infrastructure. It provides awards to TCUs within these key areas, focusing on people from cradle to career. It also supports the success of the funded TCU programs through ongoing professional development, technical support, and research and networking opportunities.

Programs – What We Do
Learn more about The College Fund’s Programs.
TCU Early Childhood Education Initiatives

Native Culture and Language Preservation

Environmental Stewardship

Student and Institutional Success

Infrastructure

Indigenous Visionaries

Our Programs Blog

Support Our Programs

TCU Early Childhood Education Initiatives
Connecting TCUs and our earliest learners, we support the creation and development of early childhood education from within Native communities — strengthening Native families’ roles as advocates and partners in their children’s education, and creating collaborations between early learning centers and community partners. The result is reduced inequity, stronger early childhood education, and greater opportunities for family engagement in community advocacy and policy.

Native Culture and Language Preservation
Strong Native communities are built on tribal languages, cultural knowledge, and traditional arts. With many communities facing the risk of loss of language, culture, and traditional arts, we provide grants and support for communities to restore, sustain, and pass on traditional knowledge.

Environmental Stewardship
The College Fund invests in the TCUs that are engaged in strengthening their environmental science opportunities for students. It provides support for TCUs that are working with Native communities to develop and implement research initiatives and innovative collaborations. The goal is to help students learn to preserve natural resources, address environmental and climate issues, and strategically steward their resources to align with cultural and tribal connections to land, water, animals, and air.

Indigenous Visionaries
By connecting Native women students at TCUs with faculty within their academic disciplines, and providing support for strong mentoring relationships, the College Fund is helping to develop the next generation of Native leadership in early childhood education, environmental science, and traditional Native arts.

Infrastructure
By connecting Native women students at TCUs with faculty within their academic disciplines, and providing support for strong mentoring relationships, the College Fund is helping to develop the next generation of Native leadership in early childhood education, environmental science, and traditional Native arts.

Student and Institutional Success
We invest in individual students to support their pursuit of a college degree, and we invest in TCUs as the institutions that can provide an intellectual and academic home for students in Native communities. Providing technical assistance to TCUs, and academic and professional opportunities for students, as well as funding for both students and institutions, we work toward both student and institutional success.

Our Programs Blog

Tohono O’odham Community College’s First Student to Complete the College Credit Pathway for High School Equivalency
By Delores Saraficio, TOCC GED/HSE Instructor The state of Arizona currently has three pathways to earn a high school...

Motivation and Perseverance
By Kateri Montileaux, OLC GED Director Although TCUs are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic along with the rest...

Sinte Gleska University GED Tutor Identifies Keys to Student Success
by Sherman Marshall, Adult Basic Education Director, and Linda Boes, GED Tutor Throughout her 17 years at Sinte...

Indigenous ECE Family Engagement Webinar with Janice LaFloe
The American Indian College Fund’s Strategic Planning and Building TCU ECE Family Engagement Grant provides TCUs...