David and Lucile Packard Foundation to Multiply Math & Science Learning at U.S. Tribal Colleges

American Indian College Fund
Tuesday, 1 June 1999

$2 million grant for construction of math and science classrooms is American Indian College Fund's largest gift ever

(Denver, Colorado) --Dramatically increasing its support of American Indian education, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced a $2 million grant to the nation's 30 tribal colleges. The gift to the American Indian College Fund is the largest donation ever received by the 10-year-old College Fund, the tribal colleges' scholarship and fundraising arm.

The Packard Foundation's gift will support the construction of science and mathematics classroom facilities on tribal college campuses. Serving 26,000 Indian students in 12 states, these colleges have received growing, national acclaim for successfully providing education that combines accredited academics with Native culture. Tribal colleges have enjoyed educational success despite operating in unsafe, substandard facilities, according to Richard Williams, executive director of the College Fund.

"The Packard Foundation's grant will greatly enhance learning at tribal colleges," said Williams, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. "Indian students deserve safe, up-to-date class-rooms-not the trailers and condemned buildings that many tribal colleges operate in now."

The grant represents an expansion of the Los Altos, California-based Packard Foundation's support of the 30 tribal colleges. Since 1994, the Foundation has supported math and science programs at 11 individual institutions, as well as scholarships for tribal college graduates who are pursuing four-year degrees in math, science and technology. In 1999, in addition to its $2 million College Fund grant, Packard is providing $2.5 million in direct support of tribal colleges and their graduates-up from $1.2 million in 1998.

"The Packard Foundation is supporting its belief in the important role played by tribal colleges in the scientific and technical education of Native people," said Dr. Kenneth Ford, the Foundation's director of science programs.

Beginning in 1968, tribal colleges were founded by Indian tribes to fight Native Americans' high rates of poverty, educational failure and cultural loss. About 85 percent of tribal college students live at the poverty level. Located mostly on rural Indian reservations, the colleges are both two- and four-year institutions that have been called "economic lifelines" for Indian communities.

Tribal college officials called news of the Packard Foundation grant "an historic moment" in the effort by Indian people for educational self-determination and empowerment.

"We are grateful for the Packard Foundation's recognition that tribal colleges can be successful as Indian institutions," said Ron McNeil, president of Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, North Dakota. "With enrollment increasing while federal funds are decreasing, we must build on Packard's partnership with tribal people by seeking even more support for Indian education."

McNeil also serves as chairman of the College Fund's board of trustees.

Previously, Packard Foundation grants to individual tribal colleges greatly expanded science, math and technology programs, according to instructors. Besides increasing the number of graduates in these areas, Packard grants have supported laboratory facilities, research efforts and student scholarships.

"Without exaggeration, monies from the Packard Foundation have provided the very life-blood of our programs," said Scott Friskics, an instructor at Fort Belknap College near Harlem, Montana.

Unemployment in the areas that tribal colleges serve can reach 80 percent. While 9 out of 10 Indian students who leave reservations for public colleges fail to graduate, tribal colleges are reversing this trend. About 90% of tribal college graduates find jobs or pursue further education. Tribal colleges credit their mix of fully-accredited academics and Native culture.

These colleges are accredited by the same agencies that govern public and private colleges. However, tribal colleges receive no state funds; and federal monies are limited. (In 1998, enrollments grew, but the colleges' federal budgets remained stagnant.) In the rural areas where tribal colleges operate, tribal governments have few resources and Indian casinos are not successful.

With a flame and feather symbol, the Denver-based American Indian College Fund's credo is "educating the mind and spirit." In 1998, the College Fund distributed nearly $4 million in scholarships and other support to the 30 tribal colleges. This record-breaking distribution directly supported more than 5,000 students. The College Fund also supported endowments and public awareness, as well as college programs in Native cultural preservation and teacher training. Fully operating since 1989, the College Fund counts more than 200 corporations and foundations and 90,000 individual Americans among its supporters.

For more information, or to contact American Indian College Fund, see their website at: www.collegefund.org