USDA ANNOUNCES FIRST TRIBAL COLLEGES AWARDS

                                                               
                                            Release No. 0389.97
                                                               
                                    Tom Amontree (202) 720-4623
                                          tom.amontree@usda.gov
                                     Maria Bynum (202) 720-5192
                                           maria.bynum@usda.gov



USDA ANNOUNCES FIRST TRIBAL COLLEGES AWARDS

     CHANDLER, Ariz., Oct. 28, 1997--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman
today announced nearly $2 million in grant awards to 29 tribal colleges
under USDA's new Tribal Colleges Extension Program.

     "USDA is very pleased to make these awards and to welcome the 29
tribal colleges into the Department's extension program," said Glickman at a
meeting of the Intertribal Agriculture Council here.  "This initiative helps
to break down one of the last frontiers of underserved rural people."

      Tribal colleges were created in the early 1970s in response to the
unique higher education needs of American Indian people.  Today, more than
25,000 students from 250 federally recognized Indian tribes attend tribal
colleges.  Most of the schools are located in communities where no other
post- secondary institution exists.  70% of  tribal college students are
female and the average student age is 27. 

     "The tribal colleges, in partnership with USDA and other land-grant
institutions, will now be in a better position to bring needed scientific
knowledge and informed decision-making skills to the communities they
serve," said Glickman.

     The Tribal Colleges Extension Program will support training and
education in a wide variety of areas including production agriculture,
business management, community and family development, 4-H and youth
leadership, natural resources and conservation, nutrition, diet, and health.

     USDA made awards to the following tribal colleges:

Bay Mills Community College 
Blackfeet Community College
Cheyenne River Community College
College of the Menominee Nation
Crownpoint Institute of Technology
D-Q University
Dull Knife Memorial College
Fond du Lac Community College
Fort Belknap College
Fort Berthold Community College
Fort Peck Community College
Haskell Indian Nations University
Institute of American Indian Arts
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College
Leech Lake Tribal College
Little Big Horn College
Cankdeska Cikana Community College
Dine Community College
Nebraska Indian Community College
Northwest Indian CollegeOglala Lakota College
Salish Kootenai College
Sinte Gleska University
Sisseton Wahpeton Community College
Sitting Bull College
Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute
Stone Child Community College
Turtle Mountain Community College
United Tribes Technical College

                                
                                
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