Rolo: Tribal colleges turn out entrepreneurs

Thursday, May 24, 2007  

"At the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, a group of college entrepreneurs are preparing to enter the global market by launching an American Indian news service — and without ever having to step foot off the reservation.

“You don’t need to leave the reservation to have global or regional impact because of the technology,” says Glorianna Cordova, a founding member of the new Red Wire news service. Cordova, who along with her four business partners, attends Oglala Lakota College in Pine Ridge, where she is studying digital video and new media production.

If they are successful in executing their business plan, Red Wire will provide subscribers from around the world an Internet-based source of news by and about American Indians. After decades of being defined by the mainstream media’s view of what is news in Indian Country, Cordova and her classmates are convinced they have found a niche by adding a Native perspective.

The reservation-based business is just an example of the role that the American Indian Higher Education Consortium says tribal colleges can play in helping to develop local Native economy."

Get the Story:
Mark Anthony Rolo: Bringing the Global Market to Native Lands (Diverse Issues in Higher Education 5/24)

Relevant Links:
American Indian College Fund - http://collegefund.org
American Indian Higher Education Consortium - http://www.aihec.org
Tribal Colleges and Universities - http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/list/whtc/edlite-index.html

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