Little Big Horn College is a tribal land-grant community college located on the Crow Nation in Crow Agency, Montana. The college campus is located on the banks of the Little Big Horn River in Montana. In 2021, the college initiated the Apsáalooke Hybrid Apprenticeship Program. The program is designed for young people between 14-24 years of age and offers a summer workforce youth program designed to foster leadership skills and personal development in Crow Indian culture. The student youth program spans six weeks in June through August and work experience is paid.
Each year, the program has received interest from students. This year the team received over 100 applications and were only able to place 20 students with existing funding. “We have a goal to get as many participants placed [as possible],” said Berthina Nomee, Workforce Navigator.
In May, Little Big Horn College was awarded $70,000 from the Workforce Grantmaking in Native Nations and Communities grant to help support the placement of 11 students this summer and an additional 11 next summer. They are one of eight grantees who were awarded a grant from the inaugural fund.
Nomee and her team are committed to preserving and protecting the Apsáalooke (Crow) language, history, and culture. This commitment is a guiding force in how they think about placement for their students, and how they design their programming. This year, the team placed students with entities like the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council in Billings, a local extension program where students experience cultural immersion through everyday programming, trading posts, and convenience stores, which are mainstays in rural communities like Crow Agency. The team has built relationships with local employers who are supportive of the youth program, including Wyola Community Center, Lodge Grass City Hall, Battlefield Express, Little Big Horn College, Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation, Yellowtail Market, Ok-A-beh Marina, and Chief Plenty Coups State Park.
Sometimes the project takes a service approach where they work on revitalizing Crow Agency tribal buildings, or take on outdoor work in the community. Students also camp in culturally significant places and have cultural immersion experiences near significant locations to their community like Cody, Wyoming.
“It’s about showing the youth leadership and work ethic, and not only from an approach of workforce, but also incorporating our culture,” said Nomee. Little Big Horn College also offers degrees, certificates, and programs to develop a professional workforce, as well as to strengthen personal development that brings prosperity and leadership to Crow Country.
Beyond workforce skills, the team incorporates life skills like money management. Nomee recalled a story one year where a student saved his paychecks but didn’t know they would expire. He had good intentions to save his money but didn’t know he could open a savings account, so the team was able to step in and help.
The team makes sure they are designing their programming in ways that matter to the community. “We do questionnaires at community events,” said Teanna Braine, youth coordinator, adding that the team also hosts an awards banquet to celebrate the young people’s work from the summer. The team prioritizes staying in touch with participants and helps guide them toward career tracks they are interested in. Sometimes this means a college track, and other times it means finding ways to help students to pursue trades.
They team recently hosted a cultural exchange program with Maori students from New Zealand. They visited cultural sites at the Bighorn Mountains and Big Meadow and heard traditional stories embedded with life lessons. Students made Elk Tooth dresses for the girls, where the young women were taught to dye elk teeth and use a sewing machine, and they helped students make hand drums and dresses for ceremonial dances.
“I like being able to pass knowledge onto the youth,” said Nomee. “We want students to have positive role models to where they will have that inspiration to go further than high school.”
Braine said there are struggles students experience within their homes, and the team helps them to navigate those real-life challenges.
“We are here to help them achieve something, to help them make their own money or find a job,” said Braine. “I enjoy working with them and supporting them in any way possible.”
To learn more about summer youth program at Little Big Horn College, you can visit: http://www.lbhc.edu/ or email Berthina Nomee at nomeeb@lbhc.edu.
