CATCHING THE DREAM
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Mission Statement
CATCHING THE DREAM MISSION STATEMENT The mission of Catching the Dream is to help improve the quality of life in Indian communities through the higher education of Indian people. We provide scholarship funds for students who demonstrate academic achievement; clearly defined goals, leadership, the determination to succeed and the desire to return to their communities and help others realize their dreams. We assist Indian schools to prepare students for success in college. Throughout the United States, Native American communities suffer from a lack of qualified professionals—teachers, engineers, doctors, communication specialists, business managers, social workers and technicians. Well-paying jobs exist in Indian communities, but few Indians are prepared to fill them. Hospitals, dental clinics, schools, engineering and agricultural projects remain understaffed and seriously unable to meet community needs. A prime reason for this lack of qualified professionals is the poor state of the Native American education today. The national rate for high school dropouts among Native American youth is 50%, more than twice that of the nation as a whole. Of the Indian students who complete high school, only 17% attend college, compared to 70% for the nation. The majority of that 17% attend public two-year community colleges. Few attend four-year colleges, and fewer than 1% attend the nation’s Ivy League colleges. Catching the Dream seeks to address these deficiencies. Our high priority areas of study are math, engineering, science, business, education, and computer science (MESBEC). These areas of study are critical to the future of Indian people and this nation. Native Americans are very underrepresented in these fields. However, we fund students in all fields of study. Catching the Dream is a national Native American education and scholarship center and our strategy is to: (1) Actively seek out Native American high school students with academic potential from all regions and tribes of the United States and help prepare them for college. (2) Encourage and assist Native American high schools to establish college preparatory programs. (3) Establish information sharing networks and national training sessions for teachers and administrators to strengthen their college preparatory programs. (4) Orient parents, grandparents and tribal leaders so that they can provide effective support for their college bound students. Catching the Dream works in collaboration with other groups concerned with improving Native American education. For example, we work cooperatively with two-year tribal colleges by helping qualified graduates further their education. We provide supplementary scholarship funding for those students who have received financial assistance from other sources. We ask students to apply for all sources of funding for which they are eligible. Once we select students, they are guaranteed funding for four years and beyond should they go on to graduate degrees. They never have to apply again. We ask students to contact us early in their senior year of high school or even as early as their freshman year. Catching the Dream has produced 918 graduates in its 32 year history. The employment rate of our graduates is 100%. The completion rate of our scholarship students is 85.2%. Over 85% of our graduates work for a tribe, an Indian school, or some other organization in Indian Country.
About This Cause
We are still providing services to Native students despite the coronavirus outbreak. We have produced 1,428 graduates. Our graduation rate is 80.2%, well above the national graduation rate for Indians, which is only 18%. We have been making scholarship grants to Native American students since 1986. Catching the Dream focuses on talented Indian people who would not otherwise be able to go to college. Fourteen scholarship organizations turned down one of our new medical doctors, for instance—everyone except Catching the Dream. Her name is Anpo Charging Thunder. She was 28 years old, married, with four children. No one would take a chance on her except us. But she finished her BS degree in three years, with honors! She also worked the whole time. Then she entered the University of Nebraska Medical School and finished in four years. She moved back home to the Pine Ridge Reservation to provide badly needed medical services. Shannon County at Pine Ridge is the poorest county in the whole U. S., according to the Census Bureau. We are in business to help tribes rebuild their societies and their economies. The employment rate of our graduates is close to 100%. Over 85% of CTD graduates work for a tribe, a school, or another organization in Indian Country. We had 187 graduates on scholarship this past year, and produced 67 graduates. We have helped to produce 149 business graduates, along with 52 doctors, 38 engineers, and 130 educators. We need to produce many more Indian professionals. Too many Indian people are sick and have inadequate health care. Too many (45%) are not working. Too many have inadequate education. We need trained Indian professionals in all these areas. Our leadership is making a huge difference in Indian Country. Our vision and leadership are helping to move Indian schools from the worst in the U. S. to some of the best. CTD is the only organization in the U. S. with an active program of grants to improve Indian schools. We have also led the development of Exemplary Programs in Indian Education (EPIE), which we launched 35 years ago. It has produced 40 Exemplary programs so far.