Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Realizes Another Benefit of NCCI Training

Halfway House and Veteran’s Building are Used as Practical Class Projects

By Pat Smutz, Communications Director, NW LECET

EAGLE BUTTE, SD -- Another onsite partnership class is underway, and this time it is on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s reservation. Trainees are learning remodeling, rehabilitation and renovation skills in a 300 hour training program that will incur major improvements to a Halfway House and a Veteran’s building.

The Native Construction Careers Initiative (NCCI) program is demonstrating once again that their partnership approach with the tribes that need professional construction training works when all parties agree to work together to alleviate the major unemployment problems that plague most reservations.

“We have brought the NCCI partnership model to a level that increases the chance for the individual’s success in getting into a sustainable construction career dramatically” said Conrad Edwards, CEO of the Council for Tribal Employment Rights (CTER) and Co-Founder of NCCI. “The need for this type of training is out there on almost all reservations, and when a tribal government passes a resolution stating it wants NCCI,CTER, and LIUNA, or another construction union, to help them attack their unemployment we’re there for them.”

The first of the three 100-hour training modules, will be focused on the men’s halfway house and the second and third modules will concentrate on doing a major renovation on the tribes Veteran’s building. The tribe is supplying all the materials and supplies for the class practical projects.

“We always have to have a practical project for the class and believe me when I tell you that there is never a shortage of projects that need to be done on any reservation” said Kevin Buckles the NCCI/CTER Field coordinator. “I always tell the tribe that we can do a number of things but we have to be creative in coming up with the training money and the construction materials and supplies. When it comes to federal training dollars, you can’t always go back to the same well so we’re looking elsewhere and we’re finding it.”