National advisory education organizations join forces to improve Native American education

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), and the National Indian School Board Association (NISBA), signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) October 29, establishing a formal “Partnership for the Advancement of Native Education,” and guiding their work together on common national issues and activities regarding the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The MOA was signed by the Presidents of each organization at a signing ceremony held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, during the First General Assembly of the Annual Convention of the NIEA.

The historic MOA is the first such formal agreement bringing together all of these organizations. As stated in the MOA, the purposes are “to establish a formal partnership, improve communications, and enhance the cooperative relationship among the parties.” The intents of the MOA are “to develop, support, and promote unity among the parties on common national education issues and activities that affect American Indians and Alaska Natives,” and “to establish, facilitate, and support among the parties timely and effective communications and interactions regarding common national education issues and activities that affect American Indians and Alaska Natives.”

Under the MOA, each organization pledges to designate a representative who will be responsible for and authorized to make official communications about the MOA; to timely identify and communicate to all other parties common national American Indian and Alaska Native education issues and activities; to regularly and timely dialogue, plan, and collaborate with each of her on developing and presenting official positions on these issues and activities with the goal of reaching consensus wherever possible; and, wherever possible, to refer to consensus reached in its official communications and correspondence.

Throughout their histories, the organizations that are parties to the new Partnership for the Advancement of Native Education have worked with each other on various matters. They have also discussed the idea of an inter-organizational Partnership, but until now they have not acted upon that idea. Recent events such as the two Executive Orders signed by President Clinton — No. 13021 on Tribal Colleges and Universities and No. 13096 on American Indian and Alaska Native Education —have helped American Indian and Alaska Native education mare of a national priority. That has increased the responsibilities of the organizations in holding the federal government accountable and in communicating and planning with their memberships and with each other. The growth of the organizations and their heightened roles lead them to actualize the Partnership.

NIEA was formed in 1969 and today has about 3000 members, most of whom are Native administrators, educators, parents, and students. “Indian education today has many aspects,” says NIEA President Gloria Sly (Cherokee). “It involves many federal agencies, many programs, schools, and hundreds of thousands of students from pre-school to higher education and adult education.” President Sly continued, “NIEA welcomes the direct assistance of and working relationship with the other organizations. With this Partnership we will be better able to serve all of our members and constituents.

AIHEC President David Gipp (Hunkpapa Lakota) agrees. “The Partnership basically formalizes what is already in place./’ He explains, /’From the start everyone agreed to it in principle. What we needed was the MOA, because we agreed that is the best way to sustain our commitment for the future.” He adds that, The Partnership is consistent with all of our individual organizations’ missions and goals.” AIHEC was founded in 1972 and today consists of thirty-three member tribal college and universities in the United States and Canada which serve over 26,000 students and 250 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.

NISBA was formed in 1982 and today has a membership of about 100 schools operated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs which serve almost 50,000 American Indian and Alaska

Native students. “We already work with each other on so many matters,” says NISBA President Ted Lonefight, (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara), “but this Partnership will really help us help each other. NISBA fully supports it.”

NCAI President Susan Masten (Yurok), notes that “NCAI is proud to work directly in partnership with the organizations that have done so much for American Indian and Alaska Native education. Education is a priority of NCAI, and we will be able to do mare in that area with the benefit of the Partnership.” NCAI was founded in 1944, and is the oldest and largest organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments, representing mare than 250 federally recognized tribes.

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