CHEROKEE, NC, March
23, 2006—Cherokee Preservation
Foundation (CPFdn) announced today
that it has made two grants totaling
$1.9 million to improve learning opportunities
for Cherokee youth. A $900,000 grant
will enable Cherokee Central Schools
(CCS) to develop and prepare for a
college-preparatory curriculum utilizing
new learning models and technology,
and a $1 million grant will facilitate
the implementation of broadband technology
in the school systems of the EBCI and
Jackson, Swain, Macon, Clay, Graham
and Cherokee counties.
As planning on
the new school campus has progressed,
a New School Committee
established by the School Board with
previous funding from CPFdn has been
exploring ways the school system
can give Cherokee youth the best education
possible to prepare students for
college
or entering the workforce. Ultimately
the committee applied for and received
a planning grant from the New Technology
Foundation, through the North Carolina
New Schools Project (NCNS) to explore
the option of implementing a technology-themed
high school.
The new $900,000 grant
CPFdn has awarded to CCS helps build
on the NCNS grant
by enabling the revision of the current
K-12 curriculum, implementing benchmark
assessments to measure student progress,
and providing training and resources
for teachers, students and parents.
This
new curriculum, which will be phased
in over time, will begin with
reading, writing and math education.
Ultimately, it will also include
Cherokee culture and language, visual
and performing
arts, health and physical education,
computer science and technology,
economic and consumer education, social
studies,
foreign language, value oriented
character development, and science
education.
The grant will enable CCS to inform
students and parents about the changes
that are taking place and the benefits
they will produce.
The grant will make
it possible for CCS to support the
new curriculum and
new learning styles that will be
employed to teach it by giving desktop
computers
to each ninth grade student and laptops
to each teacher to aid in the learning
process.
CCS schools and public
schools in the six-county area will
have broadband
access to the Internet as a result
of another CPFdn grant. CPFdn has
awarded a $1 million grant for the
creation
of Western North Carolina Education
Network (WNC EdNet), which will connect
regional education entities with
each other and with the outside world.
The
system will complement and enhance
the New Schools project by providing
a long-term technology support network,
and by giving Cherokee students the
opportunity to interact with others
beyond their immediate school.
“
CCS and its School Board and New School
Committee are working hard to give
Cherokee students the opportunity to
learn in a new and exciting way and
excel in their future endeavors,” said
Susan Jenkins, CPFdn’s executive
director. “Cherokee Preservation
Foundation is pleased to support their
efforts to ensure not only that CCS
students have the same academic opportunities
as students at neighboring schools,
but that they are will be able to connect
with their community and culture through
a more culture-based curriculum and
more outlets for cultural expression.”
CPFdn
Has Made 41 New Grants
Overall during the Spring
2006 grant cycle just completed,
CPFdn announced
41 new cultural preservation, economic
development and environmental protection
grants totaling nearly $7 million.
As a result, since CPFdn began
making grants in 2002, it has made
more
than 300 grants in the region totaling
nearly
$25 million.
About Cherokee Preservation
Foundation
Cherokee Preservation
Foundation was established on November
14,
2000, as
part of the Second Amendment
to the Tribal-State Compact between
the
EBCI and the State of North
Carolina. It
is an independent nonprofit
foundation funded by the EBCI from
gaming
revenues generated by the Tribe.
CPFdn is
not part of or associated with
any for-profit
gaming entity.
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