INDIANS LEARN JOB SKILLS WITH BIA
A total of 11,000 Indian men and women have received special job-skill training, either in accredited institutions or on-the-job, since the Bureau of Indian Affairs adult vocational training program for Indians began in 1958. Currently, trainees are learning skills in more than 100 different occupational categories.
The program pays all costs of vocational training, travel, and living expenses for the trainee and his family for periods up to two years. Information, job counseling and placement services for Indians who seek jobs outside their reservation areas is provided through BIA employment assistance offices in seven major cities--Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose and Oakland.
YAKIMAS RECEIVE AWARD FOR AHTANUM AREA
A $61,991 award to the Yakima Tribe of Indians of Washington was recently granted by the Indian Claims Commission.
The award represents payment for the Ahtanum Area, a 17,669-acre piece of land which was excluded by error when the reservation's northern boundary was originally surveyed.
The Yakima Reservation was created by treaty in June 1855.
MOBILE HOME PARK ON SEMINOLE LAND
Some visitors to south Florida will be setting up housekeeping on the Seminole Reservation this corning winter.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has signed a long term lease with the Dania Development Company for a 40-acre tract of reservation land which will soon become a park for mobile homes.
The development company plans to construct the park in three sections, with the first section opening September 1 in time for the winter tourist season.
NEW RECREATION AREA ON CHEYENNE RIVER RESERVATION
A new recreation area, to be known as Forest City, soon will spring up on the west bank of the Oahe Reservoir in South Dakota. The development will be the result of cooperative efforts of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Cheyenne River Tribe, the Army Corps of Engineers and the State of South Dakota.
The Tribe is negotiating with private developers to establish a motel and other tourist facilities on tribal lands. Plans for Forest City include a retail outlet for Indian arts and crafts. The Corps of Engineers is currently installing public picnic facilities and planting 14 acres of trees.
ARTS AND CRAFTS TRAINING FOR INDIANS
Crafts specialists and sales shop managers from Indian reservation areas met in Washington in June to learn about possibilities for training native craftsmen under Federal legislation to improve economic opportunities nationwide.
The three-day meeting was sponsored by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, a group of art notables serving as an advisory council to Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. Discussions explored the function of arts and crafts in stimulating economies in Indian areas. Those attending the conference heard from Government training and development specialists whose agencies administer economic aid programs under the Economic Opportunity Act, the Manpower Development and Training Act, the Area Redevelopment Act and the Small Business Act.
Training projects for craftsmen and artists are already under way in Alaska in cooperation with the U. S. Office of Education and the Labor Department's Office of Manpower, Automation, and Training.
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHEDULES ANNUAL SAFETY CONFERENCE
The 1965 Annual Safety Conference of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will be held October 25-29 in Chicago, Illinois, in conjunction with the 53rd National Safety Congress and the Department of the Interior's 10th Annual Safety Programming Conference. All area offices and other field installations will participate.
The Conference will highlight ways to implement President Johnson's "Mission Safety-70" program, a new effort to reduce Federal work injuries and costs a total of 30 percent by 1970.
