Source: COLLEGE OF MENOMINEE NATION submitted to
PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF NATIVE AMERICAN WORKFORCE IN MIDWESTERN TRIBAL/RURAL COMMUNITIES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1030724
Grant No.
2023-70440-40151
Cumulative Award Amt.
$9,000,000.00
Proposal No.
2022-11866
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 1, 2023
Project End Date
May 31, 2028
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[NEXTG]- NEXTGEN Program
Project Director
Sanapaw, G.
Recipient Organization
COLLEGE OF MENOMINEE NATION
PO BOX 179, N172 HWY 47/55
KESHENA,WI 54135
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The long-term goal of this project is to address the shortage of American Indian professionals by recruiting, educating, and retaining American Indians in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human science (FANH) disciplines. The most noticeable impact will be the increase in American Indians graduating in FANH to become the next generation of professionals in Tribal and rural communities in Wisconsin and beyond. This project is committed to serving the entire population of the Menominee Nation and Band of Lake Superior Chippewa people, including K-12 students and current students at CMN and LCOOU to enroll in FANH programs. In addition, community members will learn about FANH and potential career opportunities.This project aligns with the NEXTGEN program goals by increasing the number of professionals in FANH programs, promoting Federal FANH career opportunities, and will assist in closing the gaps in diversity by providing scholarships, experiential learning, and non-formal learning opportunities to American Indian students.In the end, the project will assess at least four academics, implement one new FANH academic program at CMN, create articulation and course sharing agreements between TCUs, recruit 15 students a year into FANH programs, host summer institute at 45 youth annually, reach at least 80 students through early college opportunities and provide experiential learning opportunities, and provide community members opportunities to increase awareness and knowledge in FANH.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60500013020100%
Knowledge Area
605 - Natural Resource and Environmental Economics;

Subject Of Investigation
0001 - Administration;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to address the shortage of American Indian professionals by recruiting, educating, and retaining American Indians in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human science (FANH) disciplines.This project has established the following outcome-based goals to guide the success of the project.During the project period, CMN and LCOOU will strengthen the pathways in FANH by redesigning, developing, delivering, and expanding educational opportunities to increase Tracking Number:GRANT1376987Funding 4 Opportunity Number:USDA-NIFA-ARPAED-009362 Received Date:Dec 13, 2022 06:19:59 PM EST 7 awareness in FANH programs for students and tribal members (Students scholarships, experiential learning)During the project period, CMN and LCOOU will promote and provide learning opportunities to engage primary, middle school and secondary students in FANH opportunities and career exploration (experiential learning, outreach and engagement)During the project period, CMN and LCOOU will address the employment gaps in FANH on and near their perspective reservations (outreach and engagement).
Project Methods
CMN has a process that reports results that improve educational opportunities and programs. This evaluation plan will identify qualitative indicators and simple quantitative scores from surveys of participating faculty, staff, and students to effectively evaluate the impact of this program. The annual evaluation will be conducted by an internal evaluation team, and the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC). WEC will provide a Technical Assistance Evaluation (TEA) provider to support the internal evaluation team who will be leading the comprehensive aspects of an outcome evaluation. WEC will bring traditional ecological knowledge, indigenous evaluation, and complexity systems evaluation expertise to the outcome evaluation work and the project generally. This will help plan and co-create an outcome evaluation in year one and in years two through five, WEC will assist to co-create instruments, meet monthly with the evaluation or project leadership regarding data collection and evaluation and will provide input and detailed technical feedback on key documents, reports, or presentations.

Progress 06/01/23 to 05/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary purpose in year one of the NEXTGEN, From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food Agriculture Professionals Program, is to servecurrent students at College of Menominee Nation (CMN) andLac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOU) and K-12 students of the Menominee Nation and Band of Lake Superior Chippewa people. This program works to increase the number of professionals in FANH programs and assist in closing the gaps in diversity by providing scholarships, experiential learning, and non-formal learning opportunities to American Indian students. This grant also includes a community component that is two-fold. This grant will also focus on training the local workforce to address employmentneeds in partnership with the Menominee Tribal Enterprises. These trainings will focus on positions within the Natural Resource field and as a result of multiple meetings with the employer. The second part of the community work is targeting the twelve tribal nations in Wisconsin with mini-grants to help them further projects that increase awareness and knowledge in FANH. Changes/Problems:The biggest challenge we encountered with this grant was employee turnover. LCOOU experienced turnover with staff for this grant but has been working diligently to fill them. The positions are staffed, and we are working together to bring the new staff up to date on all areas. CMN experienced a turnover with the Project Director for this grant, causing some delays with the project. This position is staffed with an experienced individual, and the work starts to progress again. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Pre-College Coach and the Career and Placement Coordinatorattended the Achieving The Dream Summit in 2024. This summit brings together community colleges and tribal colleges nationwide to address inequities in students' educational and workforce outcomes. This conference gave this staff member access to network and learn with other institutes of higher education. These staff members are more innovative in their approach to working with students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?College of Menominee Nation has created a webpage on their website to promote the mini-grant process. We hope to grow this page by sharing more of our accomplishments with interns, student workers, career fairs, and other community work. The Marketing and Communication Manager has also shared information regarding NEXTGEN on all social media accounts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?CMN and LCOOU will continue to have monthly partnership meetings to bring everyone together to discuss accomplishments and challenges. The teams are making progress, so they will continue with their work towards their objectives. The higher education team will have an articulation agreement between the two tribal colleges, some online/ hybrid courses developed that can be shared between the two campuses, and a potential course-sharing platform identified. The youth team will expand the curriculum they are offering at all schools on the Menominee reservation and share with LCOOU for their use. The youth team created a calendar of activities, which will continue to be updated and shared with communities. The advisory team will start the meetings with the advisory board for the Natural Resource and Sustainable Agriculture programs. The work will continue to review these programs to ensure they meetindustry needs. This will also influence the training and work we do with Menominee Tribal Enterprises. The mini-grant proposals will enter year two with the potential to reach more tribal communities. The evaluator will also start their collection of data for year two.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The partners and sub-awardees within this grant meet monthly to update each other on progress and discuss any problems they may encounter. At the beginning of the grant year, the group met to discuss priorities for the grant and divided into teams to start the work and create work plans. The three groups are developed and assigned to work towards the objectives within each goal The Higher Education objectives within goal one, Youth programs team and goal two objectives and The advisory team is to work with goal three objectives. The Higher Education team has been reviewing course descriptions and syllabi to develop an articulation agreement between CMN and LCOOU. This agreement will provide a seamless transfer of students for the Natural Resource and Sustainable Agriculture Science programs. This team is also researching new forestry programs and searching for a consultant to help complete a new academic program review for CMN. This new academic program review will show the viability of a new program. The team has also researched course-sharing platforms and is working with the American Indian Higher Education Consortiumto present to other TCUs. The Youth Group has made great progress towards goal two. Within their meetings, they focused on giving an overview of collaborative opportunities to support the human sciences component of NextGen, seeking feedback and input on community interests and needs, how the Native American Center for HealthProfessions (NACHP)can provide support for AI/AN students interested in healthcare professions, and developing a meeting schedule for continued planning. The Pre-College Coach developed a curriculum for a FANH course that will be taught to local fifth-grade students during summer school.NACHPand CMN partnered on a campus visit that hosted 16 Menominee high school students and three chaperones in November 2023 at the UW-Madison campus. The high school students participating in this visit engaged with college students. They were able to discuss college life and majors to increase theirknowledge and awareness about different health careers. These high school students are now discussing health careers with mentors and advisors to explore more options. This group continues to grow with its activities and awareness of FANH for the youth, creating more opportunities for high school students to become interested in FANH majors. The advisory team has developed a list of employers in the area for Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture programs at CMN and LCOOU. The group recruits individuals from these employers to serve on an advisory board. This group of potential employers has also been invited to a career fair scheduled for June 2024. This career fair collaborateswith other departments at CMN and will raise awareness of FANH careers in the community. The discussion at these career fairs gives CMN feedback on current programs and graduates to find areas of improvement. CMN is able to use this information to strategically plan and improve current FANH offerings at CMN The workforce development part of the grant is progressing. CMN has started the mini-grant process with the community. Through this mini-grant program, we seek to foster initiatives focused on natural resources, sustainable foods, and nutrition, thereby contributing to food sovereignty and development within tribal communities. The goal is to reach all twelve tribal nations within Wisconsin. There has been progress with the the sub-awardee Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) in determining training needs for their workforce.MTE is a local employer that employs students in the Natural Resources industry.

Publications