enterprise story

LAPWAI, Idaho

Golden grasslands can seem to stretch forever in some parts of northern Idaho. But a field in Lapwai may provide more possibilities than potatoes for students of the Nez Perce tribe.

Next to a cemetery at the foot of one of Lapwai’s surrounding hills, lies an open lot that is the expected site of the Nez Perce Education, Training, and Business Development Center if the Economic Development Administration accepts the tribe’s latest grant proposal. The initial push for the production of the facility came from the Nez Perce Tribe Executive Committee.

“NPTEC wanted to do something about education - to make a more organized, comprehensive way to gain training and education,” said Terry Kinder, the grant writer for Project Work Group, the committee that is managing the development of the center.

The process began two years ago when Project Work Group submitted a grant to the EDA. The EDA accepted the committee’s initial proposal to research the economic feasibility of the project. The feasibility study was completed in June. Initially, the tribe’s main concern was the cost of the center but the study helped ease these anxieties and fostered “positive feelings that the project was feasible and the tribe accepted it,” Kinder said.

The Education, Training, and Business Development Center provides a different form of schooling than a typical college education. It is not a degree program and does not offer any form of state certification. Students take specialized classes that specifically pertain to their field. Kinder said the program focuses on introductory courses to give students an education than can “get their foot in the door.”

“It’s about becoming employable and providing a decent living for a family,” Kinder said. “There are way too many people on the reservation unemployed.”

The center is expected to have a wide range of skill-based classes, from viticulture training and machinery operation to bookkeeping and culinary arts. One of the goals of the center is to show students how to start their own business. Business students will take such classes as fiscal responsibility, spreadsheet design, bill paying, and online marketing.

Kinder said that she expects instructors to come from existing colleges including University of Idaho, Washington State University, Lewis-Clark State College, and Walla Walla Community College in Clarkston.

The center could someday provide a post high school education option for both tribal and nontribal students. But as of now, Lapwai High School Principal Mike Halverson estimates that as many as 70% of the town’s 150 high school students will move outside of Lapwai to get a college education. He said the other 30% stay in town to get jobs within the tribe. Kinder said many of the tribal members do not like to leave Lapwai or the reservation, and the new facility will enable students to “make a living and live where they want to live.”

“People want the education but don’t want to leave home,” Kinder said. “These are very family-oriented people.”

The value of family was taken into consideration when planning the location of the building. The proposed site is within walking distance of most of Lapwai. It will be next to the high school and an easy walk from the elementary school. Head Start, a child care/pre-school program, will also be moved into the facility. The idea is that students can drop their kids off either at school or at Head Start and then take classes.

Until recently, Head Start was held in an 85-year-old building that was once a tuberculosis sanitarium. When parts of the building had to be removed due to plumbing problems, mushrooms and black mold were discovered growing within the walls. The children were then evacuated because of health issues. Since the evacuation, Head Start has been operating out of a modular building located next to a 45 MPH freeway.

“Parents aren’t happy with the freeway so close and we can’t get the state to lower the speed limit,” Kinder said. “We need housing for our Head Start kids.”

The Education, Training, and Business Development Center would offer a permanent, centralized residence for Head Start.

“[The new location] would allow us to be closer to the main tribal offices and it’d be easier to communicate with other programs,” said Stacey Kash Kash, a family intervention specialist for Head Start.

At this point, the Project Work Group is waiting for another response from the EDA on their second grant proposal. Once the committee has heard from the EDA that construction will be funded, Kinder said the center could be completed in another two years.


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Contacts:

Terry Kinder
(In-Person)
Grant Writer
208-843-7324 ext. 5

Mike Halverson
Lapwai High School Principal
208-843-2241

Stacey Kash Kash
Family Intervention Specialist II
208-843-7330