Cal Poly Humboldt
IN-1: Innovation 1

Humboldt State University’s Center for Indian Community Development (CICD) was established in 1966 to provide services to American Indian communities. Its staff, materials, and resources are dedicated to this mission and to developing beneficial partnerships between Humboldt State University (HSU) and its Tribal constituents. CICD was designed to provide support through a broad spectrum of services, approaches and resources. CICD’s projects and activities range from one-time events which take only a few weeks of attention or multi-phase, multi-year commitments. The Center’s clients include federally recognized and un-recognized tribal nations, Native American agencies and organizations, American Indian individuals and State and federal agencies. CICD has collaborated with its clients on hundreds of regional, state-wide, and national projects. Through direct outreach to Indian Country, HSU faculty and students gain practical experience in addressing and facilitating significant services. CICD’s services have been as varied as the needs and interests of Indian Country. They have included: •American Indian languages and material development. •Ethnographic and linguistic research and coordination for linguistic and ethnographic projects. •Grant writing and grants administration. •Development of materials and resources such as books, audio and video resources, language curricula, and Tribal archives. •Representation of American Indian communities’ interests in public forums and assisting in negotiations between the Tribal governments and federal, state, and local governmental agencies. •Planning, coordination, and production of conferences, workshops, seminars, educational courses, and meetings. •Technical assistance. •Providing a conduit for Humboldt State University resources including faculty, services, and materials to Tribes, American Indian communities and organizations. •Presentations and training including grantsmanship, curriculum development, Native American history, federal Indian law, linguistics, and cultural traditions. •Research and development for general services such as needs assessments, distance learning opportunities, program development, and support for American Indian activities and projects.

CICD products and accomplishments have had lasting impact. For example, CCID was instrumental in pursuing federal dollars in the early 1990s for the construction of the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s essential Fire Suppression facility. The Center acted as publisher, editor and distributor for the 1st and only Tolowa Language Dictionary, Georgiana Trull's Yurok Language Conversation Book, and the Hoopa Dictionary as well as the “Now You’re Speaking…” series all of which remain in circulation and high use. CICD has provided teacher training, grantsmanship workshops, curricula development, given legislative testimony, and credit-bearing university level course. CICD’s role in the revitalization of California Indian languages has been pivotal. Beginning in the early 1960s, the Center worked closely with California Indian language speakers to develop utilize and teach Native languages writing systems, curricula and publications. In 2004 CICD produced, published and distributed Building and Buying Green in Indian Country: A Practical Guide for California Tribes at the request of the State Integrated Waste Management Board. This book is still in circulation and is more important than ever. In January 2013, the northern most adobe building located on the Hoopa Reservation was listed on the federal registry of historic places. This 140 year old adobe was originally built as part of a US military base under General Ulysses Grant. The still intact building saw many uses over the past century and is a concrete reminder of the Tribe’s history. CICD directly coordinated the efforts between the Hoopa Valley Tribe, contract archaeologists, culture bearers and university faculty over the last five years to achieve this listing. CICD provides very direct and practical educational experiences to students and faculty while at the same time promoting a large vision of “community development”. It facilitates relationships between a university community and the people it lives among while providing significant services to the Indian community. Through CICD, HSU is highlighted as a willing partner, a regional resource and hopefully a promising educational destination. With complete access to the heart of California Indian Country and 11 federally recognized Tribes, CICD provides regular opportunity for the HSU campus community and others to learn from Native American communities, individuals and cultures and to apply that knowledge. All of the CICD resources are dedicated to HSU’s mission and vision of outreach to Indian Country. CICD has continued to address community issues important to the University. A HSU core value (Office of the President, 2010) recognizes that “Native American culture is the unique ecosystem and special communities of our region”. The Center has always been a highly flexible resource to fulfill the CSU system’s vision that each University serve its local regional constituents. CICD provides the means and context for the campus to address a central aspect of its stated mission and vision: “outreach to Native American communities including unique opportunities for Native American educational programs and for educating non-native people about those rich cultural heritages”; promotion of cultural literacy, not just diversity, with an inside-out approach that starts with SELF, not “them” within the campus culture and facilitate strengthening of existing linkages with a particular focus on Native American communities.