Open House at RLNC's New Minneapolis Site on June 2

(Red Lake, May 25, 2022) - Red Lake Nation College (RLNC) is hosting an Open House at its new downtown Minneapolis site, located at 900 3rd Street South, on Thurs., June 2, 2022, from 3 to 5 PM. Special guests will include Tribal, state, and local officials, as well as community members.

The event is intended to provide a sneak peek at the Tribal College's plans for renovations that will transform the three old buildings into a modern, open, and innovative campus. The $10 million project was approved by the Minneapolis Planning Commission in December 2021. Although RLNC is already utilizing some of the office space on site, renovations are expected to continue for the next year. The college hopes to open its new doors to students and faculty in Fall 2023.

According to Chief Dan King, RLNC President and Hereditary Chief of the Red Lake Nation, the Minneapolis site will expand the current College's mission to provide excellent higher education with an Indigenous perspective to Tribal members and others in the Twin Cities. Of the 15,000+ Red Lake Tribal members, about half live on the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, while a sizable number reside in the Twin Cities metro area, which has one of the largest urban populations of Native people in the U.S.

"We have a real shortage of tribal members with the education to be leaders in our Tribal communities," said King. "We need more Native professionals to go into business, social work, teaching, medicine, and law. RLNC helps students to overcome barriers so they can stay in school, earn their degrees, and become leaders who bring positive change to their communities, tribes, and nation."

Thursday's Open House will include remarks by Chief King, Chairman Darrell Seki, local city and state officials as well as a presentation by Full Circle Indigenous Planning +, the Native American-owned and operated planning and design firm leading the project.

Red Lake Nation College (RLNC) -- A Great Place to Start! This two-year tribal college is located on the beautiful shores of Red Lake in Northern Minnesota. It's state-of-the-art facilities, combined with Ojibwe language and culture, and globally-relevant courses, offer a unique combination of Native innovation and tradition that prepares students of all backgrounds for the twenty-first century job market. RLNC is accredited with the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Red Lake Nation College Minneapolis Site Development

Executive Summary

In fall of 2021, Red Lake Nation College (RLNC), through the generosity of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, purchased three buildings at 900,910 and 912 South 3 rd Street in downtown Minneapolis to begin development of the new Minneapolis Distance Education Site.

The properties, located in the heart of what is considered the arts and entertainment district of Minneapolis, will serve as one of the only federally recognized Tribal College sites in a major U.S. city. This purchase also represents a significant financial investment in a major metropolitan city by a federally recognized tribe to provide higher education opportunities and access to tribal citizens centralized in urban areas.

RLNC's Minneapolis expansion to online learning and site development is a natural extension of its strategic initiatives and mission to deliver excellent higher education and increase the reach of Tribal Colleges to create a pathway for transfer and career development. The new site will harness the combination of academic programs, extension activities for community involvement, workforce training and certificates, as well as opportunities for post-secondary courses for Native American students in high school.

Academic courses will be delivered primarily from RLNC's main campus to virtually adapted classrooms, which embrace a Hyflex model of learning, which were achieved and strengthened by RLNC out of necessity during the pandemic.

Background and Understanding

Red Lake Nation College (RLNC) is a two-year institution fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Education. The College is located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, MN. It began operations in 2001 and currently has an enrollment of approximately 250 students. RLNC is planning to expand to a new downtown Minneapolis site at 900,910 and 912 South 3rd Street, utilizing existing multi-story office buildings that will be converted to classrooms, student services, office, and related student facilities.

RLNC offers a very unique form of higher education, in that our two-year program of general education requirements comes infused with Ojibwe language and Native culture. We strive to build up Indigenous people and provide a strong sense of pride in our language and heritage. This enables them to carry this knowledge forward into the world and share our Native

perspective. RLNC's marketing slogan, "A great place to start!" emphasizes our goal of helping individuals earn a two-year degree and preparing them to continue in higher education to a Bachelor's or postgraduate degree, and then to return to, or otherwise help, their Tribes.

The College also has plans to engage in several workforce development projects, partnering with businesses and organizations who need help finding, training, and retaining a diverse workforce.

Highlights and Benefits of Red Lake Nation College Minneapolis Distance Education Site

The development and operation of Red Lake Nation College will bring many benefits to the City of Minneapolis residents, including a greatly underserved Native population of over 50,000 people, such as:

● Our mission is to provide excellent higher education grounded in Native language and culture.

● We are in the people business – "building people up." We build up their academic skills, self-confidence, pride in themselves, and pride in their Native language and culture.

● We are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Education.

● Currently, we offer online courses to 48 Minneapolis based students and are actively recruiting for Fall 2022, where we are projecting to enroll 250 to 300 Minneapolis based students by August 2022.

● We have articulation agreements with all Minnesota State four-year institutions, which enables RLNC students to easily transfer. Our entire academic program is aligned with Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC).

● We need more educated Tribal Members to lead our Tribe into the future. There is an "education canyon," to bridge for our Tribe, not a mere education gap. In 2021, the percentage of U.S. adults age 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or higher was 41.9% for the non-Hispanic White population. For the Red Lake Nation, the four-year degree attainment was just 5.5%.

( http://www.minneapolisfed.org/indiancountry/resources/reservation-profiles/red-lake-reservation )

● We are one of 38 Federally Recognized Tribal Colleges in the US. We are permanently developing our college for the long-term. Our Tribe thinks in terms of seven generations, or 140 years.

● Our key operating concepts are to provide a safe, healthy and positive learning environment for students.

● We project that within two academic years, we will have more students at our Minneapolis Campus, than our Red Lake Campus, or 161 students.

● Our RLNC Minneapolis operating capacity is 325 students.

● All Student Support Services available in Red Lake will also be available for our Minneapolis Campus students. All of our students have access to free services, including academic and professional counseling, disability services, career and transfer

services, tutoring and mentoring services, and emergency aid.

● We are currently operating with our existing employees, serving in dual roles for our Minneapolis Campus. This will continue until student enrollment attains a level that can sustain additional full time employees. RLNC currently employs 48 staff and faculty. Projected enrollment will bring an estimated 50 jobs to the Minneapolis area.

● Our operational timeline:

o RLNC offices opened at 900 S. 3 rd St. in January 2022.

o Construction will begin at the Minneapolis site in August 2022.

o Grand Opening for the Minneapolis site is planned for Fall 2023.

● We have open enrollment, which means that we accept all students with a High School Diploma or a GED.

● Over 70% of our students are "first generation" college students, the first in their family to attend college.

● We primarily serve historically underserved Native communities, people of color, and low income families.

● RLNC will be the first Tribal College operating in Minneapolis and the first of any Tribal College operating in a major urban center in the US.

● We are among the best values for any college and one of the most affordable at only $169/credit.

● The latest technology and resources will be used to prepare students for employment in today's workforce.