Alaska Native organizations receive $35 million for education programs

Millions of federal dollars are going to Alaska Native organizations and entities across the state for education projects.

The U.S. Department of Education has announced it awarded funds totaling more than $35 million dispersed over three years to support Alaska Native education programs statewide.

Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska were among the 30 organizations that were awarded the funds.

The program aims to improve curricula, education programs and education needs for Alaska Native students across the state, and can also go toward training for educators, early childhood and parent outreach and other similar programs.

“Every Alaska Native student — in rural and remote villages, in regional hubs, and in urban centers — should have access to high-quality and culturally responsive educational opportunities. These projects help fulfill that obligation by supporting existing partnerships between students, families, schools, and Alaska Native organizations,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a prepared statement Sept. 2.

Sealaska Heritage received four separate grants totaling close to $9 million.

“We will be using them in multiple areas in partnership with the Juneau and other school districts, tribes and tribal organizations, and the University of Alaska Southeast to regain ground in the academic progress we had been making,” Lee Kadinger, chief operating officer at Sealaska Heritage, said in a prepared statement.

“Through the past years we have learned that integrating Native language and culture into schools has promoted the academic success of Native students and improved school retention,” Kadinger said.

One of the new programs Sealaska Heritage plans to use the money for is furthering its work in integrating traditional ecological knowledge into the sciences, which Kadinger said he hopes will lead to an increase in the number of Alaska Native people in science and engineering.

Tlingit and Haida Central Council President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson said the more than $1.2 million it received will be used to help increase the tribe’s Tlingít language immersion efforts, nurture the reemergence of Tlingit and Haida languages through future generations, and develop online educational resources for all tribal citizens and language learners.