Reporter Charlotte West, with contributing writer Arlo Iron Cloud (Oglala Lakota), look at the myriad ways the pandemic impacted three Native women, along with its wider impact on Native American students. The College Fund worked to share data and trends and Cheryl Crazy Bull also spoke to Ms. West for the story, which explores college access, food and housing insecurity, illness in Native communities, resulting mental health challenges due to grief and loss, and more.

In this episode of the Varying Viewpoints podcast series by Proctor Institute, Leah Hollis, Visiting Scholar there, interviewed Joseph Angel de Soto, a STEM Professor at Diné College, a tribal college in Tsaile, Arizona.

In recognition of Juneteenth being recognized as a federal holiday, the Better Business Bureau included the American Indian College Fund in its list of charities that meet the 20 BBB Standards for Charity Accountability (i.e. are BBB Accredited Charities) that address civil rights, free speech, legal rights, and related topics. The national charity watchdog also included a link to donation tips for supporters interested in supporting the College Fund and other organizations in recognition of the holiday.

Samantha Maltais, the American Indian College Fund Law Scholarship recipient headed to Harvard Law School, was interviewed last night on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell program on MSNBC live. She gave a shout-out to the College Fund for her law scholarship, the Full Circle Scholarship program that funded her education at Dartmouth, spoke about murdered and missing Indigenous people, and shared her career goals.

“Green collar jobs” in the environmental sciences and sustainable energy are a path to the middle class, yet Indigenous people are underrepresented in the field. Read more about the issue, learn about how tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), TCU student Jasmine Neosh, and the American Indian College Fund are working to fill the training gap.

Students studying the Piikani language at Blackfeet Community College (BCC) receive language kits to take home, thanks in part to support from the American Indian College Fund.

Freshman enrollment dropped more than 25% across Montana tribal colleges and universities last fall, and nationwide all Native American student enrollment experienced the largest drops nationwide. Montana Public Radio reporter Aaron Bolton speaks to President Cheryl Crazy Bull of the American Indian College Fund, tribal college presidents, and tribal college students about how COVID-19 and the digital divide in Montana’s rural reservation areas fueled many students’ decisions not to enroll or return to college last fall.