PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has received a federal grant worth more than $3.6 million to fund a project to prepare tribal youth for the jobs of tomorrow.
Receipt of the grant was announced Friday during a press conference at the Pembroke Boys and Girls Club.
Tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. led off by thanking Public Schools of Robeson County Superintendent Shanita Wooten, Robeson Community College President Kimberly Gold, and Dr. Robin Gary Cummings, chancellor of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, for being partners in Project 3C, Connecting Community, College and Career through STEM. The project is designed to guide students in middle school and high school toward careers in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math, and the project partners will be asked to to improve college preparedness of American Indian youth and tribal community engagement in the Lumbee Tribal Service Area.
It will take the efforts of the Lumbee people, the school system, RCC and UNCP to make the project successful, Godwin said.
“It begins now and will go until 2022,” said Rita Locklear, project director and one of the grant application’s co-writers.
The tribe already has received the first installment of the grant money, Locklear said. Tribal leaders were told Sept. 28 that the money was coming, and the money was received Tuesday.
The money already received will be used to hire project staff and to fund projects in the current fiscal year, which started Monday.
“This year, one focus will be on seventh- and eighth-grade teachers,” Locklear said.
Project 3C programs will target teachers to help them guide students toward STEM-related careers.
“Many of the programs we’ll be providing will be families, not just students,” Locklear said.
Family members will be introduced to STEM education and to the careers to which this education can lead children, she said. Family members will be encouraged to help make their children aware of the importance of STEM education and how it can improve their lives and to motivate their children to aspire to seek STEM-related education and careers.
“One of our goals is to bridge that gap between aspiration and success,” Locklear said.
Project 3C programs will not be limited to the public schools and the standard public school academic calendar, Locklear said. There will be after-school programs, weekend activities, and summer programs.
Students in Hoke and Scotland counties will also be served by Project 3C.
“It’s about the children,” Godwin said.
Seventy percent of today’s children will find employment in jobs that haven’t been created yet, Chancellor Cummings said. It is the task of all the Project 3C partners to prepare them for these jobs.
“We have children here in this county who have the ability to achieve whatever they want to achieve, and we should work together to make sure they achieve their goals,” Cummings said. “And if we don’t, then shame on us.”
Robeson Community College is proud to be a Project 3C partner, President Gold said. The college stands ready to help guide students toward and prepare them for jobs in the technology fields.
“We have to align their interests with the jobs that have yet to be created,” Gold said.
The Public Schools of Robeson County is ready to help the project succeed, Superintendent Wooten said. The county’s public schools has the potential to help students find the jobs of the future.
“I think it’s all about exposing our kids to opportunities,” she said.
Project 3C’s three main goals are to:
— Create a STEM College for 878 American Indian elementary, middle, and high school students in the Lumbee Tribal Service Area that will provide them with integrated year-round STEM and career-focused academic, career, and cultural enrichment activities essential for continuing their education and entering the workforce.
— Promote STEM awareness and college and career exploration to 400 American Indian students and their parents and family members through hands-on activities and community events.
— Remove pedagogical, academic, curricular, and financial barriers to American Indian student success in STEM courses for 2,200 American Indian high school students.
“We’re going to succeed,” Chairman Godwin said.
