WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk announced today that a listening session will take place at Haskell Indian Nations University on Monday, September 20, 2010. This youth listening session is a part of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and will be hosted by the Department of the Interior Office of Youth in the Great Outdoors and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
Representatives from the Department of the Interior will be on-site at Haskell Indian Nations University to facilitate the nationwide initiative intended to gather local ideas about conservation and the environment. For more information about this initiative please visit the following website at: http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/.
The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), which operates one of two federal school systems (the other is under the Department of Defense). The BIE funds 183 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on 64 federal Indian reservations in 23 states serving approximately 42,000 American Indian and Alaska Native students. The Bureau also services American Indian and Alaska Native post secondary students through higher education scholarships and support funding to 26 tribal colleges and universities, two technical colleges including the United Tribes Technical College, and it directly operates two institutions: Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M. and Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan.
WHO: Students at Haskell University, Haskell University staff, Acting President Chris Redman, Assistant Deputy Bureau Director of BIE Stephanie Birdwell, other representatives from BIE, and the Department of the Interior’s Office of Youth.
WHAT: America’s Great Outdoors Youth Listening Session.
WHEN: Monday, September 20th from 3-5pm (CDT).
WHERE: Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Auditorium 155 Indian Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66046
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NOTE: All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) and valid media credentials. Media inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to Stephen Prue of Haskell Indian Nations University at 785-764-6333.
