This document begins by dispelling several misperceptions about American Indians that are especially pernicious to older American Indians living in cities, and then goes on to discuss what is known about urban American Indian elders and the implications for planning and service delivery for Area Agencies on Aging and contractor agencies. It notes…

This paper reports results of a survey of 47 homeless adults, interviewed in Ada County, Idaho. Most respondents were male, white, currently single, with no religious preference. The mean number of years of formal education was 11.6. Seventeen percent of the sample were American Indians. Ninety-three percent were unemployed. Twenty-five percent of…

This paper reports on a pilot project in curriculum integration, funded by the Ethnic Heritage Studies Program, and is intended to explore ways of coordinating public school instruction with Indian heritage education. Classroom teachers in a suburban school district participated in six workshops with Indian parents, students, and heritage…

This paper examines how American Indians construct and describe their own cultural identities. In particular, it focuses on cultural group identity from the perspective of three American Indians living in an urban setting, and on the ways that cultural identity can be communicated and enacted. Two American Indian women and one American Indian man,…

This report summarizes a joint session held by the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education to hear testimony on issues in urban American Indian education. Issues and problems were in the areas of: (1) the position of Native Americans as a very small minority in large urban schools; (2) lack of…

Approximately 40 percent of America's Indians live in urban environments; of these, about 12,000 live in Seattle, Washington. With no representation in local government, and lacking the power and cultural sophistication to make the political process work for them, many Indian emigres have developed an almost institutionalized distrust of and…

A 3-year intervention project focused on preventing substance abuse, violence, gang violence, and truancy among K-12 students at the Chief Leschi School in Tacoma, Washington, a tribally controlled, urban school for high risk and adjudicated Native youth. This paper reports the elementary school results. The Positive Reinforcement in Drug…

The American environment is a culturally splintered and future-related society, representative of the freedoms, stresses, and acute needs created by a modern life style. The contemporary Native American renaissance in America is a direct response to the technological urban lifestyle that dominates the quality of American life. This resurgence is…

An ethnographic study reports on the practices of a sixth grade American Indian teacher at an urban charter middle school for American Indians. The study used classroom observations, interviews, and informal conversations over a 3-week period to determine and understand the personal and institutional influences on her instructional practices. The…

In order to design programs that will work well with Indian students, the Indian Education Section of the urban Minneapolis Public Schools is seeking accurate data about its 1,800 American Indian students through a conceptual research model that focuses on demographics, background and socialization variables, and school performance. Among the…

Non American Indians categorize many urban Indians by their behavioral and emotional modes of adaptation to their social situations. Three images of Indians have developed: the savage, the child, and the noble of the forest (the stoic Indian). The images of the savage and the child come into play when the Indian encounters the dominant society…

With its large and heterogeneous Indian population, the Los Angeles area offers an excellent opportunity to study patterns in the origin, growth, and structure of Indian voluntary associations, and the leisure time institutions. Since the 1920's more than 100 Indian voluntary associations formed in the area. Established groups influenced the…

The Tribal American Consulting Corporation designed a preschool program for American Indians in Los Angeles, California, which had two major goals: (1) to develop competence and attendant self esteem in both children and parents; and (2) to enable children to succeed in public school. Three curriculum models were used, based upon Indian culture,…

Because the circumstances and problems of the urban American Indian are unique and are not being met by public education and service agencies, urban Indians across the nation have joined together within their communities and taken steps to help address their special social, educational, cultural, economic, and political needs. The establishment of…

"Going home again," a financially secure return to the homeland in old age, is easily accomplished by, and constitutes an economically efficient strategy for, urban American Indian elders if they have maintained their ethnic identity. Emphasis on ethnicity varies with life stage: full immersion in early life, eclipsed ethnicity in middle…