Transcripts

CATHERINE WINTER: Margaret Moore used to be a teacher with Heart of the Earth's Corrections program. She went to the state's prisons to teach American-Indian inmates computer literacy and Indian history. But last month, the school had to shut down its prison program and lay off the staff because the federal government didn't renew funding. Moore is on unemployment now, but she thinks the prison program is so important that she still volunteers her time.

MARGARET MOORE: Native Americans have always been low man on the totem pole, so to speak. And when you look at it from that perspective and then go into the prisons, they are truly the forgotten ones.

CATHERINE WINTER: Native Americans make up a disproportionate percentage of the people in prison. Moore says she's sad to see the program end because she believes the project has made a difference in the lives of Indian prisoners.

MARGARET MOORE: You can't save the world, right? But if you can even reach one or two in each institution, it's worth it. I know a number of people who have gotten out now, and they're doing great. And these are people that have spent a majority of their life in prison. It is made that much difference, yet they come along and cut all the funding.

CATHERINE WINTER: Other Indian education programs also have not received new federal funding this year, a work training program called the American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center, or OIC, has had to lay off staff and stop offering day care. The director of adult basic education for the American Indian OIC, Dale Means, says Indians have higher levels of unemployment and poverty than other minorities. He says in the past two years, his program provided services for 550 people.

DALE MEANS: It's the first positive experience they've had with education in most cases. And what we're providing for this community is taking these people off the welfare rolls and putting them on the payrolls. And the education president obviously isn't committed to that.

CATHERINE WINTER: The American Indian OIC and Heart of the Earth are suing the federal government, saying the Department of Education is illegally withholding the money. Vernon Bellecourt is coordinator of Heart of the Earth's Corrections program.

VERNON BELLECOURT: It seems at a time when Indian people, who are the floormat of this country, began to get on their feet in hopes of climbing the ladder to success that George Bush, the education president, is cutting us, cutting our legs off at the knees.

CATHERINE WINTER: A spokesman for the Federal Department of Education says the department. Has a limited amount of money and had to choose among a number of Indian Education programs. He says the department has not yet decided whether to fund Heart of the Earth's elementary school. In the past, the school has gotten a third of its support from the federal government, and the principal says, it's hard to get ready for the start of school in September without knowing whether the money will come through this year. The spokesman for the Department of Education says, a decision on whether to renew the grant for the elementary school will be made by the end of the month. I'm Catherine Winter, Minnesota Public Radio.