Klamath Promise Neighborhood Supports 50 Clubs & Teams
- The Yurok Tribe
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
Yurok-led Initiative Elevates Educational Experience at Eight Local Schools
The Yurok Tribe’s Klamath Promise Neighborhoods (KPN) program recently contributed between $3,000 and $5,000 to 50 student clubs and sports teams at Del Norte High School.
“It is a privilege to play a positive role in the lives of so many Del Norte County students,” said Joseph L. James, the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “Through collaboration, we are building a lasting framework to ensure that all students achieve the bright future they deserve.”
“Over the past four years, the funding we've brought into the Del Norte community has played a vital role in healing long-standing divisions between tribal nations and the county,” added Yurok Tribal Council Member Phillip Williams, a key figure in the program. “I want to see every student thrive because Del Norte County is our home.”
Guided by the results of almost a year-long listening process led by local parent leaders, KPN invested $224,000 in Del Norte High School athletics and student-led initiatives, including the Medical Science, FFA, and Interact Clubs, as well as several girls’ and boys’ sports teams. Although there is overlap, these persistently under-resourced clubs and teams have 1,050 participants. The clubs and teams offer students opportunities to learn new skills, increase their sense of belonging and much more.
Through its partnership with True North Organizing Network, KPN employs an innovative and equitable approach to fund programs and projects throughout the Del Norte Unified School District (DNUSD). Here’s how it works. The KPN initiative allocated $100,000 per year, per school, for the duration of the grant to address the most urgent needs of all eight of its focus schools. Four schools began their process in Year 1 of the grant and four more began in Year 2. To facilitate this collaboration, the Yurok Tribe entered into an agreement with True North to establish Parent and Student Leadership Teams at each school site. In coordination with school administrators and staff, these teams conducted community listening sessions to ensure wide participation in determining how the allocated funds should be spent.
Working with True North as the convener, parents & student leaders and school administrators jointly make decisions on each expenditure.
“From the start, one of KPN’s biggest goals was to break down the barriers that prevented parents from engaging in the district’s decision-making process,” said KPN Director Josh Norris, a Yurok citizen who has three children in the district.
The participatory budgeting process offers numerous advantages. It fosters a greater connection between parents and their children’s schools. Administrators gain valuable insights and access to information that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
Klamath Promise Neighborhood
In 2021, the Yurok Tribe received a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program to build programs and support services for children in Del Norte County as they make their way from the cradle to a career.
The Klamath Promise Neighborhood united local tribes, schools, DNUSD and the county office of education, community organizations, higher education institutions, local government, and parent and resident groups to improve outcomes for children through a range of solutions anchored in strong schools.
KPN funded participatory budgets have supported a wide variety of initiatives across the chronically underfunded Del Norte County Unified School District.
For example, based on community surveys & a community voting process, KPN funded a Yurok language teacher for ‘O Me-nok Learning Center. The elementary school is also renovating its teaching kitchen and is investing funds to replace its current gym floor. To help improve retention, KPN covers ‘O Me-nok staff fuel costs for their commute to Klamath, where there is a major housing shortage. ‘O Me-nok’s teachers have stayed at the school since the fuel reimbursement program started three years ago.
Sunset High School’s process, administered by a student leadership team committed to listening to their peers, has led to investing in a new Van for student transportation for educational field trips as well as support for student attendance. These student leaders also revived the community garden at their site.
Through these funds, Smith River Elementary School took students on educational field trips, installed 2 new hydration stations and transitional kindergarten playground equipment and are preparing to make a large investment in improving the current soccer field and track to address safety concerns.
Crescent Elk recently hosted a volunteer clean-up day where parents, students, and staff came together to build picnic tables that were purchased with these funds. Listening to the community also revealed that there was wide agreement to provide funds for direct student support in classrooms and for field trips.
Bess Maxwell, Joe Hamilton, & Pine Grove began their community listening processes later in the KPN initiative, but are on the brink of being able to make their own investments in improving the classrooms, playgrounds, and educational experiences of the students that attend those schools in the coming year.
Finally, in an effort to provide more widespread educational experiences to all Del Norte students, most of the schools that are funded with these participatory budgets, all contributed part of their KPN funds to host a Community Wide Science Festival back in May of this year.
“After three years of dedicated effort to lay a strong foundation, we’ve found our stride in terms of advancing sustainable solutions and driving meaningful, lasting change for students across Del Norte County,” concluded Norris.
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Contact:
Yurok Tribe - Matt Mais
(707) 954-0976
