Montana
Montana Indian Technology and Cultural Heritage (TeCH) Learning Centers
Type of Grant: TOP
Year(s) of Grant: 1996-1999 and 2001-2004
Amount of Grant: 1st Grant--$300,000; 2nd Grant--$809,365
Non-Federal Support: 1st Grant $347,715, 2nd Grant--$811,431
Project Partners: Burns Telecom Center, Chief Dull Knife College, Pretty Eagle School, Fort Belknap College, Stone Child College
Contact: Terry Driscoll
Phone: (406) 994-6490
Email: driscoll@montana.edu
The Montana Indian Technology and Cultural Heritage (TeCH) Learning Centers, with support from TOP, seek to demonstrate how information technology can be used to support and preserve Native cultures. Building on the foundation of the original TOP grant in 1996 to the Montana State University's Burns Telecommunications Center, which trained fellows from Montana's Indian Reservations in creating, maintaining and using computer networks, the TeCH project will pass this knowledge on to tribal elders and young people, teaching both to use multi-media technology to preserve the culture of their tribe.
The TeCH program will use technology to make preservation of Native language and tradition easier. The project will establish a community based learning center at each of four reservation school sites, a satellite computer center in the community senior center, and a kiosk in each of the Cultural Centers of Learning Lodges. High-end equipment is being installed at each site, including multimedia capable computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, digital video cameras and multimedia development software.
After spending 60 years studying and collecting the history of his people, James Turning Bear was introduced to a new method of preservation-web pages and CD-Rom. In 1999, with a professor from Fort Peck community college and one of her students, he traveled to the Burns Telecommunications Center to insure that future generations would know what traditional language sounded like as well as to record the history of his people by using technology.
Montana
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Flathead Indian Reservation
Type of Grant: CTC
Year of Grant: 2001-2002
Grant Amount: $281,532
Non-Federal Funding: $122,831
Project Partners: Salish Kootenai College - SK Housing Authority - CSKT DHRD Department, Tribal Administration and the Ronan - Pablo School district #30
Contact Name: Teresa Wall-McDonald
Phone: (406) 675-2700
Email: teresawm@cskt.org
Through a CTC grant to the Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD) of the Confederated Tribes, a mobile computer lab-the COOL (Computer Operations at Outreach Locations) Bus-is serving rural Indian housing sites. It has 7-10 stations and can be driven to housing sites for use by residents, thus enabling residents without transportation to access the training in their housing community.
The CTC grant has enabled DHRD to hire staff and provide computer services to disadvantaged and at risk populations on the Salish and Kootenai reservation. They hope that access to computers will enrich the community, where the unemployment rate is 41% and of those with jobs, 40-48% still qualify for energy assistance, childcare, food stamps and Medicare.
One DHRD staff member, a mother of four, felt that before the program she did not have the skills to effectively compete in the job market. Completion of the training program has made her more competitive for jobs with a higher wage.
