Recently we were asked about the factors that make for a top college for Native Americans students. It is a great question and it really depends on individual student needs and goals; however, that does not make for a great blog. So I will answer this with a top ten list of things that Native American students should consider when choosing a college.
Indigenous people are gathered along the Mni Soce, the churning waters known as the Missouri River, exercising their right as citizens to protect the waters that give life to all of us. This gathering, which began in April, has blossomed into a movement, drawing Native people from across the country to join in support and putting Native peoples and nations in the national spotlight. Hundreds of people from many tribal nations are gathered together in a large camp along with people from all races.
The American Indian College Fund (the College Fund) joins The Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions (CMSI) and its partners in announcing a new data-driven national campaign focused on spreading factual awareness of the return on investment (ROI) of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).
I was inspired to see Hilary Pennington’s article, “Rethinking scholarships as social justice” in the Ford Foundation’s Equals Change blog. Her article examines the approach in action through the implementation of the Ford Foundation’s International Fellowships Program, which spans 22 countries and a decade to support emerging leaders who face discrimination because of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, economic status, or physical ability. Her essay opens the door to discussing and examining further why scholarships are particularly important to indigenous people as tools of social justice and opportunity.
Congratulations to the American Indian College Fund’s Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, the 2016 recipient of Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education.
The American Indian College Fund will create pathways to college for Native American youth to improve access to college, thanks to a $2.4 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The three-year, three-pronged program, called The Native Pathways to College Project, will begin June 1st of this year.
Dr. David Yarlott, President of Little Big Horn College, Crow Agency, Mont., honored by American Indian College Fund with College Fund President Cheryl Crazy Bull. Dr. Yarlott received the 2016 American Indian College Fund Tribal College Honoree of the Year award for his leadership.
The American Indian College Fund honored American Indian scholarship recipients at its 2015-16 Student of the Year reception at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Student Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The program, sponsored by the Adolph Coors Foundation, awarded each honoree a $1,000 scholarship.
By the next century, nearly half of the roughly 6,000 languages spoken on Earth will disappear, according to estimates by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Of those languages, in North America 54 Native American languages are already extinct and another 137 are in various degree of being endangered. Yet the positive benefits of speaking one’s native language include better academic performance, self-identity, mental and physical health, and more.
As an institution that seeks to honor and embrace their culture, Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC) works diligently to model Anishinaabe values. In August 2014, LLTC officially became commercial tobacco-free, prohibiting use of all commercial tobacco products on campus other than for ceremonial use.
