To honor the land and history of Colorado Springs’ indigenous people, Pikes Peak State College brass began developing a land acknowledgment statement for the school over the past year, but quickly came to realize they could do more.

“Frankly, I didn’t feel like standing up at events like our graduation, for example, and making a statement with no action,” Pikes Peak State College President Lance Bolton said. “It felt hollow. And words are easy and cheap, but action is meaningful.”

The action would eventually take shape as a new scholarship specifically to ease the path to higher education for today’s local Native American communities.

The First Nations Promise Program announced Thursday is a last-dollar grant that will cover any and all expenses for members of all 574 federally recognized American Indian tribes who live in El Paso, Teller or Elbert counties.

Funding for the grant comes from both The Dakota Foundation and the Daniels Fund, with the former committing $50,000 annually over the next five years and a total $250,000 commitment from the latter.

“I want to thank Dr. Lance Bolton and his team at Pikes Peak State College for this wonderful vision and for coming to Dakota with the opportunity to provide that essential catalytic capital to get this program off the ground,” Dakota Foundation President and CEO Kelsey Nolan said during a press conference announcing the program.

The scholarship is the result of recent talks with local Native American advocacy and public education groups across the region and state to understand how to best serve the needs of this community while also applying what the college has done in recent years with other scholarship programs.

The First Nations Promise comes as the latest program by the school to increase the matriculation and ease the process and financial strain for the region’s minority populations. Previous promise programs for Harrison District 2 and Colorado Springs District 11 have guaranteed funded enrollments for all graduates to the college.

Bolton said that, to date, these programs have increased college attendance for Harrison graduates by 50% and college retention since they have been in place.

“And we realized, with some adjustments, that this could be adapted for the Native American community members we sought to help,” he said.

Along with the financial aid, the program will also introduce a new full-time success coach at the school specifically for its native students.

For current students like Wynonna Tsosie, a member of the Navajo tribe working toward a cybersecurity degree, the funds mark a new commitment for a group that still looks to collectively benefit from higher education.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” she said. “I’m 32 and I’m hoping to get my bachelor’s degree. And with resources, that helps cut down the time for other students so that they can focus and reach their goal and come back home and help us (all).”

Upon earning her degree, Tsosie hopes to get a job working in information technology for the federal Indian Health Service to protect fellow tribal members from data breaches.

The scholarship will cover any remaining tuition costs after all federal, state or institutional financial aid have been applied. Other requirements include completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form every year, maintaining financial aid eligibility, and authorizing the use of the Colorado Opportunity Fund each semester.

The 2020 Census reports that there are more than 100,000 people who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native alone or in combination with races living in Colorado. Of that number, 7,519 live in El Paso County.

Amounting to only 1.4% of the county’s total population, it is second only to Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders as the smallest minority population.

After identifying lower average rates of education attainment from this same population, the college’s early expectation for the program is to increase the college’s native student population from about 100 to around 150 in the first year.

Now that the scholarship and connections with local native communities are in place, PPSC hopes to continue their engagement with these groups going forward with a future symposium featuring native speakers.

“The ultimate goal is to really create an avenue and opportunity for more students to attend college and to be successful in that endeavor,” Bolton said.