On-the-job training for 480 American Indians is set to begin under contracts recently completed with nine industries, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Philleo Nash announced today. The companies are located in New Mexico, North Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin, Montana, and Oklahoma.
Under Bureau agreements negotiated during the current fiscal year, a total of 717 Indian workers will receive on-the-job training--an increase of 10 percent over the total for the entire preceding year. Six contracts in Oklahoma, Minnesota and North Dakota were announced last month.
Funds for training are provided under a special Bureau program of adult vocational education. Training contracts parallel Bureau efforts to stimulate industrial activity in Indian areas.
The new trainees will learn such varied occupations as jewelry assembly and extrusion of plastic pipe.
Companies involved in contracts just completed are:
H. W. Gossard Co., Bristow, Oklahoma - a $7,770 contract for the training of 20 Indians, mainly Creeks, in the manufacture of women's garments.
Ashland Precision Products Corp., Ashland, Wisconsin--a contract for $12,075 to train 16 Indians from the Bad River Reservation.
Guild Arts and Crafts, Inc., Ashland, Montana--a contract for $5,700 to train 25 Northern Cheyennes of the Tongue River Reservation in jewelry making.
Cardinal Plastics, Inc., Gallup, New Mexico--a $6,200 contract for training of nine Navajos in the extrusion of plastic pipe.
Navajo Forest Products Industries, Window Rock, Arizona--renewal of a contract for 18 Navajos to receive training in manufacture of lumber and related products on the Navajo Reservation, at a cost of $18,100.
Kaiser Aluminum &Chemical Sales, Inc., Gallup, New Mexico--12 Navajos to be trained in aluminum culvert fabrication on tribal lands near Gallup. This is a contract renewal, valued at $4,325.
The Vassar Corp., Cherokee, North Carolina--modification of an earlier contract to increase the number of trainees to 267, thereby also increasing the amount of the contract to $160,600. This involves training of Cherokees in manufacture and assembly of modern hair accessories.
Burnell &Co., Inc., Valencia County, New Mexico--a renewal of a $83,375 contract covering training of 102 Laguna Pueblo Indians on the reservation in manufacture of electronic parts.
Saddlecraft, Inc., Cherokee, North Carolina--a $5,215 contract for training of 12 Cherokees in the manufacture of leathercraft items.
