The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced renewal of contracts totaling more than $150,000 with six manufacturers to provide on-the-job training for 236 American Indians. The trainees will learn industrial skills ranging from diamond polishing to electronics assembly.
On-the-job training is part of the Bureau's Employment Assistance Program which aids reservation Indians in finding jobs. Training provided under contracts with cooperating employers has proved particularly effective in preparing eligible Indians who wish to work on or near their reservations, the Bureau said.
The six companies renewing training contracts for the period ending June 30, 1966 are:
Harry Winston, Inc., Chandler, Ariz. - A $53,300 contract to train 59 Pimas from the Gila River and Salt River Reservations as diamond sawyers, girdlers and polishers;
Mitchell Furniture Industries, Inc., Durant, Okla. - To train 16 Indians - mainly Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Cherokees - in furniture manufacturing occupations under a $14,220 contract;
Northern Cedarcraft Products, Inc., Redby, Minn. - A $4,700 contract to train 38 Chippewas from Red Lake Reservation in processing cedar logs for a wide variety of fencing products;
Sequoyah Mills, Inc., in Caddo County, Okla. - A $43,925 contract to train 50 Indians in carpeting plant occupations. Groups represented among the trainees include: Pawnees, Arapahoes, Choctaws, Kiowas, Comanches, Delawares, and Cherokees;
Systems Engineering Electronics, Inc., Wewoka, Okla. - A $25,225 contract to train 41 Creeks, Seminoles, and Chickasaws in plastic sub-assembly work, electronic printed circuit board fabrication and assembly, and electrical harness fabrication;
Venride, Inc., New Town, N. D. - A $16,555 contract to train 32 Arikaras, Gros Ventres, and Mandans in various occupations connected with the manufacture and assembly of children's rides and fabric glass products.
