NEW INDUSTRY FOR NORTHERN CHEYENNE -- It may be mid-summer, but it looks like Christmas on Montana's Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
Fourteen tribal members are working to fill a large order for Christmas trees which are fashioned from pine cones and are scheduled for delivery to a San Francisco candy company.
Northern Cheyenne Originals, Inc., a new industry at Lame Deer, Mont., produces the trees in heights from 1 to 5 feet from Ponderosa pine cones gathered on the reservation. A variety of other items, including Christmas wreaths, corsages, costume jewelry and table decorations, is made from local jackpine, lodgepole pine, and spruce cones.
The young company is the joint venture of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and Jack Rouse, a Montana businessman. Negotiations were conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which plans to contract with the company for an on-the-job training program for Indian workers.
Says Rouse: "The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has created a favorable climate in which small industries can thrive, and there is a good labor pool on the reservation."
NATIVE ALASKANS TRAINED AS HEAD START TEACHERS -- Fifty Alaska Natives, none of whom had previous teaching experience, recently completed an 8-week training program at the University of Alaska to become Head Start teachers in their villages this fall.
Last year the number of teachers trained for Head Start in Alaska proved insufficient to meet demands of village councils seeking to establish local programs. Head Start is a program for underprivileged preschoolers conducted under the Economic Opportunity Act.
The special group of 50 was selected for training through elections in the villages. Although educational backgrounds range from fourth grade level to some college experience, all were selected by their neighbors as suitable persons to work with young children. The intensive training course just completed included instruction in arts and crafts, nutrition and other subjects needed by Head Start teachers.
Periodic follow-up visits will be made to every village by teaching supervisors to assist the teacher-trainees in acquiring competence on the job.
INDIAN CENTER AT GONZAGA UNIVERSITY -- A Pacific Northwest Indian Center is being established on the campus of Gonzaga University, Spokane, Wash. An independent corporation, it seeks to promote Indian studies and develop Indian leadership throughout the country.
Plans call for construction of a five-story museum and research building with permanent exhibits of objects related to Indian culture. The authenticity of the museum collection will be the responsibility of a board of Indian technical advisors. Clothing, food products, medicines, weapons, horse trappings, and other articles of daily life will be featured in the exhibit.
WORK PROJECT ON FORT APACHE -- A recent $99,000 authorization from the Office of Economic Opportunity is helping the Fort Apache Tribe in Arizona provide jobs for 60 chronically unemployed tribal members by putting them to work on projects to beautify reservation playgrounds, campground areas, cemeteries, and villages.
NAVAJO ARTS AND CRAFTS -- The Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild, established in 1941 to promote the sale of quality work by Navajo craftsmen, has increased the number of its Arizona sales outlets to six. In addition to the main store at Window Rock and branches at Cameron and Betatakin Ruin National Monument, there are three new shops at Chinle, Teec Nos Pos and Kayenta.
The Guild's expansion program effectively increases the opportunities for visitors to various sections of the huge reservation to purchase Navajo silver work and rugs and to view Indian craftsmen at work.
COCHITI DAY SCHOOL NOW PUBLIC -- Cochiti Day School at Pena Blanca, N.M., will be transferred from Federal to local control with the opening of the; school term in September. This is a further step by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to facilitate public school education for Indians. The school had served about 40 Pueblo grade-schoolers when it was federally controlled.
INDIAN ON-THE-JOB TRAINING CONTRACTS -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs in recent months has renewed contracts with several companies to continue on-the-job training for Indian employees. These are:
Black River Dairy Products, Inc. Eau Claire, Wis., to train 17 Chippewas in quick frozen food manufacturing processes: $4,975.
Systems Engineering Electronics, Inc., Wewoka, Okla., to train 58 area Indians in plastic sub-assembly work, electronic printed circuit board fabrication and assembly and electrical harness fabrication: $51,650.
Canoncito, Trading Post, Inc., Canoncito, N.M., to continue training 20 Navajo silversmiths: $21,550.
Durant Electronics, Inc., Durant, Okla., to continue training 53 area Indians in plastic industry processes: $10,200.
Habitant Shops, Inc., Bay City, Mich., to provide continued training for 49 area Indians in processing cedar logs into fencing: $10,425.
Mt. Taylor Millwork, Inc., Grants, N.M., to continue training 30 Indians in a multi-machine operation for manufacturing molding from pine: $16,960.
BUREAU CONTRACTS FOR BAY AREA INDIAN PROGRAM -- A $15,400 contract with the United Bay Area Council of American Indians Affairs, Inc., Oakland, Calif. has been negotiated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Council will provide recreational programs facilities for Indian youths residing in the San Francisco Bay area.
In recent years the Bureau's Employment Assistance Program has attracted many Indian families to the Oakland area, where breadwinners receive necessary paid training for jobs in various industries. Under Employment Assistance, the Bureau aids family members in adjusting to urban life and settling into new surroundings. The Council's youth program will serve children from these recently relocated families.
INDIAN HOUSING--Some recent developments in Indian housing include:
- Ground breaking for the first of 50 units of low rent public housing for some 200 Chippewa Indians on the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota. This is the first of several projects to add hundreds of units of new public housing for Minnesota Indians.
- The Saginaw Chippewa Housing Authority, Mt. Pleasant, Mich., is developing plans for constructing 20 units of low-rent housing approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Twelve units are intended for family occupancy and 8 for elderly Indians.
- The Bay Mills Housing Authority of Michigan's Bay Mills Indian Community has been granted 10 units of mutual help housing. This program, created for Indians, permits would-be home owners to gain equity in their dwellings through contributions of land and labor, rather than cash.
- Nevada's Walker River Reservation will begin building 20 mutual help homes with a $199,224 loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Indian residents can have rental payments to the Tribal Housing Authority applied toward eventual purchase.
