- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has donated to three tribal colleges in Montana.
Scott, who previously donated $20 million to the American Indian Graduate Center and $5 million to the Institute of American Indian Arts, announced in December that she had donated $4.2 billion over four months to 384 organizations across the country.
“In July, I asked a team of advisors to help me accelerate my 2020 giving through immediate support to people suffering the economic effects of the (COVID-19) crisis,” Scott wrote in a Medium post making the announcement. “They took a data-driven approach to identifying organizations with strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital.”
The donations were made out to Chief Dull Knife College, Salish Kootenai College and Blackfeet Community College.
Richard Littlebear, president of Chief Dull Knife College, told the Great Falls Tribune that Scott donated $1 million to the school.
Sandra Boham, president of Salish Kootenai College, told the newspaper that she would not disclose the donation amount. She said the funds will help the college provide affordable housing and professional development training for students.
In a statement, Blackfeet Community College leaders said the school “is truly indebted to Scott’s generosity and will ensure that these funds honor her values of racial equity and economic mobility. This is truly a transformative gift that will have a high impact on educational opportunities for the Blackfeet reservation and surrounding populations. Scott’s historic donation is the largest philanthropic gift that the college has ever received.”
According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center report. tribal colleges receive most of their revenue from federal funding, which gives $8,000 for each Native American beneficiary student.
More Stories Like This
Native American High School Graduate Sues School District for Forceful Removal of Sacred Eagle Plume at GraduationLittle Priest Tribal College Awarded a National Science Foundation Grant
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Donates $2.7 million to Sherman Indian High School for Career Pathways Program
New York Public Schools Banned from Using Native American Mascots
Harvard Kennedy School to Expand Work with Native Nations
Native News is free to read.
We hope you enjoyed the story you've just read. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. Most readers donate between $10 and $25 to help us cover the costs of salaries, travel and maintaining our digital platforms. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to join the Founder's Circle. All donations help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
