Morongo Band’s tutoring effort gets honor

The tribe’s program is among 14 nationally that have been selected as finalists in the Harvard Project

By Michelle DeArmond
The Press-Enterprise

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians' tutoring program is being honored today in Sacramento, where judges with a Harvard University project will present multi-thousand-dollar awards to the honorees.

The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development is recognizing 14 finalists from across the nation as part of the annual Honoring Nations program, which highlights good tribal government.

Morongo officials will make a brief presentation this morning to the judges at the Sacramento Convention Center. The honorees will return for an evening ceremony where they will receive awards of $2,000 or $10,000.

Karyl Martin, director of education services for the Morongo Tutoring Program, said she hopes to convey to the judges "the passion that we feel for our students -- what the Morongo Reservation has done in making education the highest priority.

"These are the students that are going to come back and govern this reservation in the future," she said. "Education is very important."

The tribe's 15-year-old tutoring program helps Morongo children improve reading skills, develop good study habits and improve their academic skills to meet state guidelines. Martin said the program has helped to boost test scores and to bring down high school dropout rates.

The Morongo tribe's program serves 175 to 180 students annually through after-school and summer-school programs on the reservation and with tutors who go to Banning Unified schools and work with Morongo children there, Martin said.

Officials plan to use the award money to help spread the word to other tribes about how the tutoring program works, she said.

The Morongo tribe, whose reservation is near Cabazon, is the only California tribe being honored this year.

There were 86 applicants for this year's awards, which recognize programs that focus on education, health care, resource management, culture and other topics.

Other finalists selected this year have programs that deal with child care, methamphetamine abuse and the recycling of solid waste.