Memo to the planning group for "Northwest Native American Cultural Studies"

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Memo to the planning group for "Northwest Native American Cultural Studies"

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To:
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Planning Group, "Northwest Native American Cultural Studies"
Betsy Diffendal

Subject:

Potential for awarding Evergreen credit for workshops, etc. given
by other organiz~tions in Native American communities.

In our second planning meeting we disaussed the idea that outreach by
Evergreen might be improved by the college's granting credit to members of
Native American communities who attend workshops sponsored by such national
organizations as the Indian Law Institute in Washington, D.C., the National
Indian Training Center in Utah, etc. I have been doing some telephoning
to find out more about these organizations and the kinds of things that they
might be doing in the Northwest for which creddt might be generated. I have
found out the following so far:
a) Institute for the Development of Indian Law ~ This non-profit organization
based in Washington, D.C. is currently beginning the third year of a
curriculum development project in the area of Indian Law funded by the
Office of Native American Programs (ONAP). Under this grant in the past
two years, they have provided training to members of ~rihal goverhments
in four major areas of the country - the Pacific Northwest included. This ·
comins year they plan to service more communities. In addition to workshops
which they provide to a specific tribe, they conduct at least one 4-5 day
intensive workshopsi.n·,the Pacific Northwest region, open to anyone. These
workshops are taught by attorneys who specialize in treaty law and in the legal
relations&ip between the Federal government and Indians. As a part of the grant,
the Law Institute has developed a group of self-paced learning units in
treaty law, the federal trust re ~~ ationship, etc. which I have copies of here.
To date, they have not explored the possibility of granting credit for these
workshops and were very enthusiastic about the possibility of 8vergreen's
involvement in this. way. As tbeilf schedule is firmed up, they will get back
to us on specifics.
b) National Indian Training Center - This Center is located in Brigham
City, Utah and is a cooperative effort by the Civil Service Commission and
the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Center provides workshops and consultant
services without cost to agencies or tribes at their request. Among the
areas in which they have conducted workshops are tribal government, school
board development, develihping tribal constitutions, communications skills,
human relations in management, media technology. Their workshops have been
given academic credit through a consortium arrangement of colleges
in the West. Fortunately, I think, for us, no college in the state of Washington
has yet joined this consortium which includes Portland State College, Utah
State, University of Idaho, University of Alaska. They also were quite
interested in the idea and are sending descriptive material through the ma•L
c) Americans for Iddian Opportunity ·- This non-profit organization based
in Albuqu~rque, N.M. is concerned primari!y with ppoviding technical assistance
to any Indian organization seeking help with a paoject. This year, as was done
last year, AIO will try to present severdl ~orksh~ps in the general area zof
natural resource management and economic development in native communities.

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They are unsure about what their activity will be in the Northwest until
they receive final word on their federal funding jn a week or two. Were
quite interested in the idea of generating .credit for participants and will
saad . us descriptive material about their natural resource workshops.

***********
In the area of looking at potential grant sources for funding a review of
the history of Native American studies and students who have attended
Evergreen, I have talked with Sue Feeney in Evergreen's Development Office. ·
She has given me some good suggestions, and I am beginning to write up
a descriptmon of a potential project for which to request funds.

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1973-86_NAS_8D38_02_08