Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
The announcement was made by Secretary Tom Vilsack at the 2024 White House Tribal Youth Forum held late last week.
“These USDA investments reinforce our commitment to empowering Tribal Nations by cultivating tomorrow’s agriculture sector professionals and building a USDA workforce more representative of America,” said Vilsack. “It is important that USDA continues to uplift Tribal communities and provides pathways of representation by working with universities and colleges to improve the lives of Native American students and communities through higher education.”
The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) New Beginning for Tribal Students (NBTS) program was created to help increase the retention and graduation rate of Tribal students attending 1994, 1862, and 1890 land-grant universities. The 15 funded awardees are: Cankdeska Cikana Community College; Colorado State University; Montana State University; Oregon State University; Regents of the University of Idaho; Salish Kootenai College; South Dakota State University; University of Alaska Fairbanks-Kuskokwim Campus; University of Alaska Fairbanks-Northwest Campus; University of Arkansas; University of Maine; University of Nevada Reno; University of Wyoming; and Utah State University (two awards).
