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The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and the Native American Agriculture Fund recently announced an investment in a new agriculture business degree program.
The BIE is partnering with Haskell Indian Nations University, based in Lawrence, Kan.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna) made the announcement in remarks at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s Annual Legislative Summit in Washington D.C.
Courtesy Secretary Deb Haaland / Facebook
The education effort will be housed within Haskell’s business school and the program will cover things such as lending operation, risk management, regulatory compliance – and encompass comprehensive fundamental lending principals that will improve the relationships Native farmers and ranchers have with their financial institutions.
In a statement, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Ojibwe) said he’s excited to see Haskell implementing innovative programs to foster opportunities for the next generation of Native American farmers and ranchers.
He went on to say new program will help ensure that Indigenous farming students can build sustainable business models which support them, their families, and traditional food systems by bridging the gap between educational needs and agricultural financial literacy.
Officials say the partnership will focus on building bridges between educational needs and ongoing efforts to improve agricultural financing, which they say is critical to a long-term sustainable and resilient Native Food economy.
Courtesy Julia Kitka / LinkedIn
A major transition is ahead for the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN).
AFN leaders have announced plans for Julie Kitka to step aside as president before this fall’s convention.
Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA looks at how this changing of the guard will take place.
Next month, AFN will open up the application process, the first step in choosing the next person to lead state’s largest Native organization.
In an announcement, AFN leaders said it was President Kitka’s choice to leave this role.
Kitka was elected president in 1990, but her service to AFN goes back four decades.
From healthcare to fulfilling the goals of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Kitka has had a hand in almost every one of AFN’s major achievements.
Paul Ongtooguk (Inupiat), an Alaska Native historian, says it’s always tough for a legacy leader to decide when it’s time to leave.
“No one lands on that squarely that I’ve ever seen. There’s an enormous amount of appreciation that needs to be given for all the time and enormous effort that she’s put in, year after year.”
AFN’s board of directors has created a succession committee and hired The Foraker Group to help with the search and transition.
Foraker is an organization that helps non-profits grow and adapt to change.
AFN is also asking its members to fill out a survey to help choose a new president.
Ongtooguk says that is a good idea and it’s especially important for AFN leaders to hear from the younger generation, who may have ideas they would never even imagine.
“The way people think about that role and what it could be and should be for the future. It really does need to take a fresh bend in the river.”
The plan is to have the new president in place by October to lead the 2024 AFN Convention, the largest gathering of its kind in the state.
Kitka says she has no comment at this time, but will not leave the picture completely.
She says she will take up a new role at AFN, to be announced sometime in the near future.
AFN Co-Chair Joe Nelson said in a statement that it’s difficult to imagine an AFN without Julie Kitka at the helm, but AFN leaders are committed to a healthy transition.
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