State gives OLC $100,000

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer | Wednesday, December 13, 2006

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PIERRE — Oglala Lakota College will get a $100,000 state grant to help enhance a program that teaches students carpentry and other construction skills, Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday.

The tribal college on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, will use the money to buy materials, equipment and tools to build homes for use on the reservation.

Marilyn Kockrow, who oversees the college’s general construction program, said the program’s 28 students will seek to build one or two houses each semester. Those houses will then be sold to reservation residents who can afford them, and the proceeds will be used by students to build other houses, she said.

“This is just something that for me was a dream come true,” Kockrow said in a ceremony in the governor’s office.

The Pine Ridge reservation has a shortage of housing and trained construction workers, Kockrow said. The new program will not only provide much-needed homes, but also will train students who want to work in construction or even start their own construction companies, she said.

Students in the program now build bookshelves and learn about maintenance, but the new program will give them experience in carpentry, plumbing, electrical wiring, concrete work and other aspects of construction, Kockrow said.

“You can learn a lot from a book, but there’s nothing like hands-on,” Kockrow said.

The college plans to buy home kits that students will use to build houses. People who buy the completed homes must supply the land and hookups for water, sewer and electricity. Money from house sales should keep the program going from year to year, Kockrow said.

Rounds said the Oglala Lakota College program matches well with his goals for improving economic development and education.

“This project will help to fill a need for skilled construction workers and could result in some homegrown construction entrepreneurs,” the governor said.

The grant comes from the Future Fund, which is supported by a fee charged to businesses that pay the unemployment insurance tax. Money from the Future Fund is used to support economic development or work-force training aimed at boosting the economy and creating jobs.