Determining Eligibility for Scholarships & Grants through The CIRI Foundation

"Am I eligible for funding?" This is one of the questions most frequently asked of The CIRI Foundation.

How is one determined to be eligible? Individuals who are eligible for scholarship, grant, and fellowship programs from The CIRI Foundation must be Alaska Native original enrollees of CIRI or the original enrollee's lineal descendant. Lineal descendants are defined as natural or adopted children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.

Alaska Native original enrollees, and their lineal descendants, of the following groups are eligible for their village scholarship and education grant programs as follows:

Kenai Natives Association - KNA Scholarship and Grant Program

Ninilchik Native Association - NNAI Scholarship and Grant Program (must request an NNAI application form from The CIRI Foundation)

Salamatof Native Association - SNAI Scholarship/Grant Program (spouses are also eligible)

Tyonek Native Corporation - TNC Scholarship and Grant Program (members of the Native Village of Tyonek are also eligible)

Documentation that proves eligibility is required for first-time applicants. Most descendants of original enrollees will have to submit copies of official documents that prove their direct lineal relationship to an original enrollee of CIRI. For example, if one parent was an original enrollee to CIRI, a birth certificate linking the descendant to that parent would need to be submitted. Examples of documents that might need to be submitted include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, or adoption decrees.

Because proof of eligibility is required as part of an application for scholarship or grant funding, it is a good idea to plan ahead. It can take time to gather the required documentation, such as tracking down copies with relatives or actually requesting copies of documents from the Bureau of Vital Statistics. The CIRI Foundation staff is available to assist applicants with determining what documents will be required and how to obtain them.

Detailed information on The CIRI Foundation Scholarship and Grant Program may be found at www.ciri.com/tcf/ under Scholarship and Grant Application Form and Guidelines. For more information, contact The CIRI Foundation at (907) 263-5582 or toll-free at 800-764-3382.

Listeners, businesses, and supporters have made KNBA 90.3 FM's 2002 fall membership drive a success. During each KNBA membership drive, volunteers from throughout the community visit the KNBA studios to answer phones, take donations, and share their commitment to KNBA on the air. These and other volunteer tasks make each membership drive a success, according to Amber Clayman, Koahnic Broadcast Corp. media and marketing coordinator.

"Members really do make it possible for KNBA to continue to bring listeners the great variety of programs heard on KNBA - Alaska's Native Voice. Programs like National Native News, Native America Calling, Earthsongs and World Café need the support of listeners," said Clayman.

Those who want to make a donation and become a member of KNBA, but missed the drive, can still do so by calling membership director Angela Gonzalez at (907) 258-8923 or on-line at www.knba.org.

Koahnic Broadcast Corp., one of the country's leading national Native media enterprises, operates three divisions: KNBA 90.3 FM, the country's only urban, Native-controlled public radio station; national radio programming, including National Native News, Earthsongs, and Native America Calling; and the KBC Training Center.

KNBA 90.3 FM can be heard on-line at www.knba.org.

King found working with Alaska's People to be trouble-free and uncomplicated and says McCord and the Alaska's People staff were extremely helpful and straightforward.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for Alaska's People to be able to assist clients like Lisa King to obtain employment," said Teresa Nelson, director of Alaska's People, a division of Cook Inlet Tribal Council.

Alaska's People can assist shareholders in many aspects of employment. Examples of services offered by Alaska's People include job referral, training referral, and resume assistance. Alaska's People employee specialists are skilled professionals with contacts in several areas of employment throughout Alaska. For more information on Alaska's People, call (907) 263-7013 or toll-free at 1-888-553-1213. Check out the Alaska's People web site at www.alaskaspeople.com.

In the September 2002 Shareholder Update, the students listed below were identified as having received their scholarship funds from The CIRI Foundation General Endowment. The students below were actually awarded funds from the Carl Marrs named scholarship. The Carl Marrs Scholarship was first awarded as a Special Excellence Annual Scholarship of $18,000 in 2001. Because there were no applicants at this award criteria level this year, the foundation's Education Awards Committee chose to allocate the Carl Marrs scholarship funds toward nine General Semester Awards of $2,000 each. This was done to accommodate a significantly increased number of applicants for the June 1, 2002 deadline.

The following received general semester awards of $2,000 each:

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