Troth Yeddha’ project receives $3 million five-year grant

Submitted by Clara Johnson
Phone: (907) 474-5441
12/16/04

The Interior-Aleutians Campus, under the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Rural Alaska, has been awarded a second $2.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Program.

I-AC also received a $500,000 supplemental grant through the Title III program bringing the award to $3 million. The award comes on the heels of a $2.5 million, five-year Title III grant that concluded in September of this year. As a federally designated Alaska Native-serving institution, I-AC will use the funds to provide student services, develop and improve academic programs and develop partnerships with private sector organizations.

The grant proposal title is Bridge to Troth Yeddha’ ¥Ë1ò2" Stories of Learning. "Troth Yeddha’" means wild potato hill and is the Athabascan name for where UAF is now located. The Athabascan people who gathered potatoes on the hill also used it as a meeting place to exchange ideas and knowledge.

"These grants are very significant to our campus and our students," said Clara Johnson, I-AC director. "Title III funds have allowed us to focus on student services, increase our enrollment and develop new academic programs designed to be highly relevant to our rural students, who have very different needs and lifestyles than UAF’s urban students."

In addition, I-AC received a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for $800,000 over a three-year period for a project entitled Partners in Progress: Construction Trade Training and Experience for Rural Alaska Villages. This project, an I-AC partnership with the Interior Regional Housing Authority and the Tanacross Village Council, will provide construction trades technology classes leading to practicum projects and ultimately that will help build homes and support other projects to meet the construction needs of rural Alaska villages while addressing local issues related to high construction costs and unemployment.

"Throughout the College of Rural Alaska our community campuses are applying for and receiving substantial grants," Johnson said. "Here at I-AC we’ve been able to develop some appropriate and needed programs in the areas of construction, paraprofessional programs and tribal management. Our students are successful and that’s what we’re all about."

I-AC has the largest service area of any CRA campus, serving 57 communities scattered over 200,000 square miles. This decentralized campus provides educational services from six village-based centers located in Fort Yukon, Nenana, Tok, Galena, McGrath and Unalaska. I-AC is committed to offering certificates and degrees that meet rural Alaska workforce needs.