The Grid Alternatives and the American Indian College Fund formed a partnership to give support for scholarships for the students in the Tribal College and University to strengthen them in terms of learning opportunities that are project-based, educational achievement, and pathways in career development in renewable energy. For more information regarding the scholarships and scholarship applications, just contact the American Indian College Fund.
This is also to advertise to students the opportunities that can be found in renewable energy. In the future, most energy sources will be transitioned to renewable energy sources. With that in mind, learning and gaining experience in the said field would be of great help to the developers of renewable energy as there will be more workforce available that is capable and experienced, and to the tribal communities as it can be seen as a job opportunity.
The partnership came about because of the various needs that the College Fund and Grid identified. It is common knowledge that students interested in learning renewable energy in the Tribal College and University find it difficult to pursue their interests because of financial difficulties and lack of other resources. Because of this, a lot of them either give up on pursuing the field or try other fields.
More than that, it is also very challenging for students to engage in project-based learning because there are fewer opportunities, and most of their training is only done in the classroom. Furthermore, the National Tribal program launched by GRID is struggling to recruit Native Americans to join their staff because most of them lack the knowledge and experience in the solar industry.
With everything accounted for, this partnership of the Grid Alternatives and the American Indian College Fund draws on their strengths to coincide student learning and the development of career opportunities in the field of renewable energy and all the other related fields with candidates that are able, willing, and qualified from tribal communities across the United States.
With more and more students applying for renewable energy courses, the partnership hopes that more and more people from the native American tribes will be qualified to work in renewable energy jobs in the following years to come. This will help diversify the jobs available and help several people from the tribal communities have a stable income source.
Additionally, with Native Americans gaining knowledge on renewable energy sources, the communities will also be able to reap more benefits in the renewable energy infrastructures.