FLAGSTAFF — Coconino Community College will begin offering Adult Education courses to the Havasupai Tribe in the Grand Canyon so tribal members can receive GEDs.
The CCC District Governing Board unanimously approved an agreement with the tribe Wednesday, Sept. 28, during their regular meeting. The agreement specifies that CCC will offer the Havasupai Tribe Adult Education instruction services via computer at the Head Start facility in the remote Supai Village deep in the Grand Canyon.
“This was a process five years in the making,” said Greg Cross, CCC Adult Education Program Director. “We’re ready to go forward with it.”
Cross added that the director of the Head Start program for the tribe noticed that many of the parents of the children being brought to the Head Start site didn’t have a high school education and needed it.
According to the agreement, the tribe will be responsible for recruiting and referring eligible students to the program and will cover the cost of student fees. The tribe will also pay the expenses of one distance learning instructor to make two annual visits to the Head Start site, which hosts CCC distance learning computer equipment. CCC will be responsible for providing AE distance learning services year-round, including assessments and testing, and it will conduct annual GED graduation and reception ceremonies in Flagstaff.
The agreement lasts for one year and may be extended for additional one-year terms if both parties agree to do so.
For more information about the CCC Adult Education program, visit https://www.coconino.edu/adult-education
CCC reaches out to the more rural portions of the County including Williams, the Grand Canyon/Tusayan, Page/Lake Powell, Fredonia, Tuba City and other remote areas on the Navajo, Hopi and Supai Tribal Lands. Instructional sites offer classes through online, in-person and Interactive Television classes to meet the needs of students in these rural and remote areas. Nearly 25 percent of CCC’s students are Native American learners.