NOC earns NASNTI supplemental grant

TONKAWA — Northern Oklahoma College received more than $36,000 for cultural preservation and financial literacy projects from the U.S. Department of Education’s Native American Serving Nontribal Institutions program.

The funding is in addition to the five-year $1.75 million grant awarded to NOC in 2016.

The supplemental funding will support the “Empowerment Series” including, financial literacy training for students, co-sponsorship of Renfro Lectureship, diversity and inclusion training and materials for NOC faculty/staff, additional diversity speakers, and art exhibitions and artist presentations in the Cultural Engagement Center.

Brandy Hinesley-Chambers, Grant Coordinator for NOC, stated, “Due to the exceptionally managed NASNTI grant for the first two years, NOC was given the opportunity to add to its projects. The ‘Empowerment Series’ will provide nationally-renowned, high-caliber speakers and artists that will offer our students educational opportunities rarely found in our rural communities.”

The Title III NASNTI grant is issues by the Department of Education to support higher education institutions whose student body includes at least 10 percent of members of federally recognized tribal governments.