Cultivating relationships with our tribal communities has always been an important goal for the College of the Redwoods. Our long partnership with the Hoopa Tribe at the CR Educational Site on the Hoopa Reservation is a very successful example of our commitment to bring access to college curriculum to our Native populations, but it is not enough. Over the past few years, the CR Administration and Board of Trustees have invested more effort and resources into supporting Native students and expanding higher education opportunities to our local tribes. I want to highlight a few examples of how we’re continuing to strengthen those relationships.

College of the Redwoods has been selected as one of 20 California Community Colleges to receive the Native American Student Support and Success Program Grant (NASSSP). We will use the grant funds to develop a Native Resource Center to deliver orientation, educational planning, career exploration, and financial referral services to Native students. Over the next few months, we will work with our tribal partners to hire the program coordinator and develop an action plan to achieve the grant objectives of “strengthening K–12 pathways to and through the California Community College system for Native American students, ensuring the educational success of Native American students, developing Native American leaders, and increasing the number of Native American mentors to empower future generations.”

We recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Yurok Tribe to develop workforce training programs with an emphasis on renewable and offshore energy technologies. With this important MOU, the Yurok Tribe and CR agreed to work together to develop curriculum to be shared publicly and with the wind technology companies, create a K-16 educational pipeline, and strengthen the Tribe’s and CR’s Native student advising and support services capacity, with particular focus on transfer to a university or directly to the job market.

Similarly, we have entered into an MOU with the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribal Education Agency and other partners to promote innovation, efficiency, and improved student outcomes in secondary and post-secondary education programs, with a focus on college and career readiness, workforce development, and culturally responsive education. This will include increasing coordination between educational programs, enhancing meaningful tribal consultation, and developing programs to provide culturally appropriate instruction to Blue Lake’s Native students.

We are also committed to working with the Wiyot Tribe, Humboldt County, the city of Arcata and various community partners to identify future economic opportunities and empower tribal members by offering comprehensive workforce training programs, valuable apprenticeship and internship opportunities, and a range of entrepreneurial experiences.

While celebrating these partnerships with tribal communities, College of the Redwoods is also actively exploring the following:

• Offering a dual enrollment Native American Studies course for high school students.

• Constructing a regulation-size NCAA artificial turf baseball field alongside the softball field on Bear River Rancheria where our teams will practice and compete.

• Contracting with Bear River Rancheria to provide affordable rooms for students in need of housing.

• Developing an interdisciplinary course of study that prepares students to meet the requirements to become a Certified Interpretive Guide. The program may include courses in environmental science, Native American studies, cultural anthropology, biology/natural history, forestry, and others.

• Working with tribal leaders to create a Tribal Leadership Development program that would embed traditional knowledge in short courses on subjects like leadership, economic development, and small business entrepreneurship in the Hoopa Valley.

I am proud and honored to be the president of an institution fully committed to fostering a relationship with our tribal communities. This is a significant step toward honoring the college’s ethical, moral, and educational obligations.

Keith Flamer is the president of the College of the Redwoods.