Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced last week that American Indian College fund in partnership with the American Indian Graduate Center will be the two organizations responsible for the distribution of the Cobell scholarship monies.
Cobell Scholarship money on its way
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Staff writer WASHINGTON— Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced last week that American Indian College fund in partnership with the American Indian Graduate Center will be the two organizations responsible for the distribution of the Cobell scholarship monies. In a statement from the Department of Interior, Secretary Ken Salazar spoke of the importance of the scholarship fund and why these two highly respected organizations were chosen. “This Scholarship Fund for Native American students will be a lasting, meaningful legacy of the Cobell Settlement that will help strengthen Indian communities, advance tribal progress and secure a better future for the First Americans,” Salazar said. “In selecting these qualified organizations and in seeking the best trustees to oversee this educational fund, we are honoring Eloise Cobell and helping to empower Indian Country,” he added. The Secretary’s decision to use the AICF and the AIGC came after receiving nominations from the lead plaintiff in the Cobell case and after receiving advice from a selection committee made up of Interior policy advisors, the office of the Solicitor and the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget. As part of the historic $3.4 billion Cobell settlement, $1.9 billion was set aside for a tribal land buy-back program. The buy-back program was established for tribal governments to purchase fractionalized trust lands from individual tribal members on reservations across the country. The funds will be disbursed based upon the amount of fractionalized trust land within a given reservation. As an incentive for tribes to take part in the buyback program a small portion of each transaction will be allocated to the scholarship program. The Department of Interior is authorized by the settlement to set aside up to $60 million for the scholarship fund. The scholarship fund money will be divided in an 80/20 split between the two organizations with the American Indian College Fund receiving the majority of the dollars and the American Indian Graduate Center slated to receive the latter. “We are honored to have been selected to administer the largest scholarship fund ever established on behalf American Indian and Alaska Native students,” said Dr. Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund. “I look forward to working with the American Indian Graduate Center to provide greater opportunities for higher education to the next generation of Indian leaders and professionals,” she added. Established in 1989 AICF is the Nation’s largest American Indian scholarship organization. During the 2011 school year the organization provide over four thousand scholarships to Native students across the country. “American Indian and Alaska Native communities experience a tremendous restoration of our abundant lifestyles when our people get an education. In today's society, access to postsecondary education is essential to our prosperity. The Cobell Education Fund will help us support more students to achieve their educational dreams,” said Dr. Crazy Bull. The decision to include the American Indian Graduate Center as part of the scholarship disbursement process is seen as an important move in advancing both the educational opportunities of Native people across the country and the potential for tribes to further develop their own professionals to advocate on their behalf. The AIGC is located in Albuquerque and has the ability to, and specializes in providing money for Native students who are looking to pursue graduate level degrees. Currently in Indian country there is a huge demand for educated professionals with advanced degrees, however their currently exists a limited number of tribal members with these levels of education. “The American Indian Graduate Center is happy to congratulate the American Indian College Fund and knows it will do a great job as it has done over the years. We extend our offer of cooperation and support and look forward to working with the Fund,” said Sam Deloria head of the AIGC. It is rumored that the two organizations will use part of the money to endow future activities, thus developing an environment that promotes the sustainability of the scholarship fund and thus guaranteeing tribal members across the country access to dollars for education. The first round of Cobell payments went to tribal members who had individual trust land accounts held by the federal government and whose accounts were actively being used prior to September 30, 2009. Much of the money that was distributed across Indian country had very little impact on the economies of tribes. It is the hope of Native educators and policy makers that the scholarship monies will not only help address the immediate needs of tribes but that they help secure a sustainable future for Indian country. “I fully support Cobell settlement money advancing higher education for Indian students. When we look honestly at the settlement from an individual basis its apparent that the first series of checks were spent as fast as people could cash them with little impact on tribal economies or long lasting impact on family budgets,” said Ryan Wilson an Oglala Lakota and the former head of National Indian Education Association. “By investing in education we will see a lasting legacy from Cobell and the tribes that mobilize their citizens to take advantage of this opportunity will see long term benefits from these scholarships in both their tribal communities and the strengthened families who will acquire a sharpened set of skills,” he added. The Cobell settlement awarded monies to individual tribal members, however part of the payout included a reward to tribes. Recently the Oglala Sioux tribe was awarded $20 million dollars from the part of the settlement that has come to be known as Salazar. Whereas Cobell paid out funds to individual tribal members Salazar awarded funds to tribes. Instead of taking the money and investing it in to a plan for long term growth and sustainability the tribe has already allocated the money to address immediate needs. The tribe used $2.5 million for the OST payroll, $1 million to pay for a bridge loan from the First National Bank of Gordon for the construction of a nursing home, and late last week decided to give each of the nine districts across the reservation $1 million dollars for general spending. These decisions have left the Oglala Sioux tribe with just over $3 million of the original amount to still allocate. It is yet to be noted if anything lasting is justification for the way the tribe allocated the money. Shannon County upon which the Pine Ridge Indian reservation sits has consistently ranked as one of the most poverty stricken counties in all of America, and continues to suffer from epidemics of youth suicide and diabetes. Ryan Wilson feels that the coming influx of dollars if invested in education could potentially help to alleviate some of the struggles that exist on the reservation. “The Oglala Sioux Tribe should follow this model (the endowment model) with the Salazar and Ramah settlement by creating an Oglala Education Foundation for our own tribal members. We need to advance an educational vision for our tribe that rewards forward thinking and future investment,” said Wilson. “These types of crucial decisions are essential to the revitalization of the Oglala Lakota economically, politically, culturally and intellectually. It is time for bold leadership to confront the practice of bartering away the future of the tribe for political expediency,” he added The tribe has yet to announce how the remaining $3.3 million will be spent. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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