Cd'A Tribe announces education donations

COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene Tribe has announced it is donating more than $1.1 million to educational efforts throughout the state.

The Tribe has been supporting education for more than two decades. Chairman Chief Allan said in a press release that the Tribe is happy to be able to help give students a well-rounded, diverse educational experience.

"We believe education is about the whole person," Allan said. "Every kid needs a healthy outlet and an opportunity to explore different subjects to find their strengths and passions. Allowing children the opportunity to participate in arts and music is just as important to some students as sports or reading and math."

Over the past few years, many of the donation requests have shifted to focus on technological updates, which allows classrooms to keep up with the changing world. More than $96,000 of this year's donations will help to purchase iPads, Kindles, laptops and classroom projection systems.

Another area of focus, according to the press release, includes $77,200 to arts and culture education efforts across the state, with the Tribe citing a decrease in overall funding for the arts as its primary motivator.

Locally, the Tribe's donations include the Coeur d'Alene School District, Gizmo, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, the Post Falls Food Bank's Backpack Program, the United Way of Kootenai County's Ready for Kindergarten Program and many others.

This latest round of donations also marks the fulfillment of the $1 million pledge to the Salvation Army Kroc Center.

"Coeur d'Alene Tribal leadership made a commitment to education in 1992 when it volunteered to return 5 percent of its net gaming revenues to the financial support of education as part of its gaming compact with the state," the release states. "The Tribe is committed to fulfilling that promise each year and in the years since then, the Tribe's cumulative lifetime donations to education have surpassed $22.8 million."

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe is accepting applications for 2016 funding through Sept. 30, 2015. If you have any questions regarding the Tribe's education donations or would like to receive an application, please contact the Tribe's public relations director, Heather Keen at (208) 686-2023 or hkeen@cdatribe-nsn.gov.