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Energy Research and Development Administration - Training Program
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Energy Research and Development Administration - Training Program
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The original documents are located in Box 2, folder "Energy Research and Development
Administration - Training Program" of the Bradley H. Patterson Files at the
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
5
UNITED TRIBES EDUCATIONAL TECHNICAL CENTER
3315 SOUTH AIRPORT ROAD
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA 58501
PHONE 701-255-3285
00000
September 7, 1976
Dr. James Kellett
Office of University Programs
E. R. D. A.
400 1st Street N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20545
Dear Dr. Kellett:
In keeping with your telephone instructions to my staff member,
Mr. Douglas J. Myers, I am enclosing a preliminary proposal from the United
Tribes Educational Technical Center (UTETC) to your office. The proposal
seeks funds to initiate and operate a comprehensive training program in
six craft areas with the ultimate aim of placing unemployed Indian people
into plant operating jobs in the energy industry in North Dakota and Montana.
This preliminary proposal is fairly complete. I believe it speaks for
itself. I would like to call your attention to some particular points,
however. First, the energy industry in this area will be taking an
idiosyncratic approach to recruiting plant personnel; they will be recruited
from the labor force involved in constructing the plants. UTETC's proposed
training program reflects this fact; it is a two-step process. Rather than
train individuals directly for plant employment, the Center will provide
training in six skilled craft areas, and job placement into those construc-
tion companies involved in building the energy plants. As the proposal re-
veals, other ongoing UTETC activities will ensure transfer into plant
operating jobs as these become available.
Second, UTETC is uniquely qualified to work with Indian people. It
is the only Indian owned and operated vocational center in the country; its
program is comprehensive and tailored to the needs and past experience of
the reservation Indian population.
Third, there are a great many unemployed Indians and--as earlier UTETC
research indicates--there is high interest among them in obtaining energy
connected employment.
Fourth, major energy manpower shortages are expected in North Dakota
and Montana as a result of years of outmigration and the scale of energy
development envisioned: Training of an Indian labor force can help
alleviate this manpower shortage.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
Digitized from Box 2 of the Bradley H. Patterson Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
September 7, 1976
Dr. James Kellett
Page Two
I would appreciate receiving your reactions to this preliminary
proposal as soon as possible and also receive formal proposal guide-
lines as soon as these are available. Energy development is moving
rapidly in this area. The Indian people wish the opportunity to play a
role in this development.
Sincerely,
Theren M.Meas
Warren W. Means, Executive Director
United Tribes Educational Technical Center
L 10avel
Douglas P. Muus
Mike Ward
Douglas J. Myers, Director
Dean of Education, UTETC
Indian Lignite Manpower Program
UTETC
FORD LIBRARY &
Training Indian People For Energy Employment
(Preliminary Proposal)
Submitted by:
The United Tribes Educational Technical Center
To
The Office of University and Training Programs of the
Energy Research and Development Administration
(08) LIBRARY CTY
Training Indian People for Energy Employment
This preliminary proposal is submitted by the United Tribes Educa-
tional Technical Center (UTETC) to the Office of University and Train-
ing Programs of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA).
The proposal's immediate purpose is the initiation of a broader and more
intensive crafts training program at UTETC. Its long range purposes
are two-fold. To begin with, it aims at moving unemployed Indian people
into, first, construction employment in the developing energy industry
in North Dakota and Montana; eventually, into operational employment in
thermal generation and coal gasification plants in the two states.
The proposal's second long range purpose is to help alleviate the-
manpower shortages anticipated in connection with the developing energy
industry in North Dakota and Montana. Major shortages are expected;
and the only substantial pool of unemployed manpower available in the
two states is on the Indian reservations. The training project proposed
here, coupled with UTETC's ongoing job placement program, will make it
possible to provide considerable well-trained Indian manpower to the
energy industry.
The pages which follow sketch out the objectives, procedures,
benefits, and costs of the proposed training program. But first some
background.
Background
The United Tribes Educational Technical Center is a unique educa-
tional institution. Owned and operated by the five reservations of North
Dakota, it is the only Indian controlled residential vocational school
in the United States.
-1-
Although the student body of UTETC is drawn from twenty-four
reservations in eight states, students who come to this institution
share at least one point in common: they are all members of the so-called
"hard-core reservation unemployed". The vocational training program
presently offered at UTETC is geared specifically towards this popu-
lation, offering a variety of services not available at other vocational
institutions. These services range from alcoholism counseling to classes
in personal and social development; and are designed to assist the stu-
dents in making a gradual transition to life off the reservation; a
transition many of the graduates will have to make since employment
opportunities are limited on the reservations.
With the emergence of the energy crisis in the Fall of 1974 and
the consequent upsurge of interest in utilizing the massive coal
deposits in North Dakota and Montana, UTETC began exploring its notential
role in training Indian people for employment in the energy industry.
Many jobs are anticipated; the next twenty years should see the development
of eighteen to twenty gasification plants--each providing direct plant
employment to over 1,000 people--and even more thermal generation in-
stallations.
UTETC's approach to providing energy employment opportunities to
Indian people was divided into two phases: research and planning;
implementation. In the first phase UTETC staff worked with the North
Dakota State University Center for Economic Development to develop
the Indian Lignite Manpower Project, a proposal for which was funded by
the Economic Development Administration in 1975.
The Manpower Project had three objectives. Its first objective,
which has been attained, was to carry out a survey of the adult Indian
-2-
population on the reservations in North Dakota and eastern Montana.
Personal interviews were conducted with approximately 800 randomly
selected Indian adults on these reservations concerning:
(1) willingness to accept jobs in the energy industry--even if
these required relocating 150-200 miles away from the reservations;
(2) extent of previous experience and/or training in relevant
occupations;
(3) willingness to join a labor union if required;
(4) willingness to undergo additional training for employment
The results of the survey were very encouraging. 70 percent were
interested in working in the developing energy industry; over two-
thirds of this 70 percent were prepared to relocate 1 if necessary;
all of them were willing to undergo additional training.
The second and third objectives of the manpower project are still
underway. To look first at the second objective, its overriding purpose
is to gain the full committment of energy company and labor union officials
to securing Indians employment in all phases--including construction--
of the developing energy industry. To this end, continuing meetings
are being held with both groups in order to assure, (1) that qualified
Indian people will have no difficulties in obtaining union membership,
and, (2) that an employee recruiting structure will be developed
FORM ? FORD LIBRARY
capable of providing continuing information to Indian people regarding
1. The relocation required would differ from what Indians have experienced
in the past. Rather than going from North Dakota to, say, Chicago,
relocatees would be living from 100-200 miles from their home reservations
and thus would be able to return to the reservations as often as
weekly.
-3-
energy employment opportunities. In effect, the second objective calls
for developing an informal, permanent advisory committee made up of
corporate and union officials committed to placing Indian people in
energy employment as this opens up over the coming years.
The third objective of the manpower project is to determine the
kind and number of jobs opening up in the energy industry over the next
two to twenty-five years. Included here were not only operational
jobs, elg., in a gasification plant, but also the many job opportunities
becoming available in the construction phase of energy development.
To attain this objective, and this work is still underway, UTETC officials
have been working closely with the director of a special project in the
office of the North Dakota State Board for Vocational Education. This
project, which is funded by the Old West Regional Commission, has
surveyed the energy industry to determine what their occupational needs
will be in both the construction and operational phases of energy
development; and to ascertain the recruitment path to eventual operational
employment in the energy industry. The State Board project is completed
and a final report is expected within two or three weeks. The information
contained in the report, however, has already been made available to
UTETC since the director of the project, Mr. Ted Renner, is a member
of the Advisory Board of UTETC's Manpower Project. This information has
been utilized in developing this training proposal. The information
provides a picture of the manpower needs of the energy industry in
both its construction and operational phases in the two states; more
important, however, it provides information on energy company plans
-4-
for recruiting their plant operating force. It is these plans for
recruiting plant personnel which have dictated the special nature of
the training program proposed here. Put simply, the energy companies
will obtain their plant operating personnel directly from the plant
construction force. That is, those individuals employed in plant
construction will become part of an overall labor pool from which will
be selected operating personnel. For this reason, rather than attempting
to train Indian people for plant employment, UTETC will train people
for entrance into the skilled trades and crafts involved in constructing
energy plants; they will move into operational jobs later.
In short, what UTETC is proposing here might be characterized as
a two-step program. Funds are being sought from ERDA to train and place
Indian people into energy plant construction. These same people will
then be given the opportunity to move into permanent operational jobs
in these energy installations once they begin operating.
Present Proposal
As is apparent above, UTETC is now in a position to initiate a
training and employment placement program. The EDA funded Manpower
Project has established that there are large numbers of unemployed Indian
people interested in obtaining employment in the energy industry.
Both the energy companies and the unions have been cooperative and
supportive of the project's purpose. And, finally, information recieved
from the State Board's occupational needs project has provided a picture
of the types of skills needed as well as information on the pathway
to permanent jobs as operating personnel in the energy plants. To
reiterate, the latter is a two-step process. First, construction employment;
-5-
eventually, operational employment.
And this two-step process, as stated earlier, dictates the special
nature of the present proposal. UTETC is seeking funds to initiate
intensive training in six crafts areas:
1. Boilermakers (specialized welders)
2. Electricians
3. Iron Workers
4. Welders (general)
5. Pipe Fitters
6. Carpenters
These six areas are the major craft areas required for plant construction.
UTETC wishes to provide intensive apprenticeship training in all of these.
It already provides some training in the areas of welding, carpentry
and electrical work; this will be upgraded and intensified. New
intensive training tracks will be developed to produce apprentice
boilermakers, iron workers and pipe fitters.
Following the completion of training, UTETC's existing job placement
office will obtain construction employment for the program graduates.
Placement arrangements, of course, will be coordinated through the
special advisory committee of labor union and corporate officials.
Finally, in the years to come, UTETC's placement office and the
advisory committee will be responsible for ensuring that these construction
employees are given an opportunity to move into plant operating jobs
upon the completion of construction. (No difficulties are anticipated
here; a great part of the construction force are career construction
-6-
workers who will move to construction work in other areas. Thus,
there should not be high competition for plant operating jobs since
a great part of the construction labor pool from which they will be
selected will not be interested in these jobs.)
FORD
-7-
Training Program Objectives
The objectives of the training program proposed here are implicit
in what has been said earlier. To begin with, the overriding or general
objectives are to place unemployed Indian people in Montana and the
Dakotas into employment in the developing energy industry; and, in
this way, to help alleviate the manpower shortages developing in Montana
and North Dakota in connection with the energy industry. The first
of these two general objectives is of primary importance. Its attainment
will mark perhaps the first time significant numbers of Indian people
have been trained for and placed into well-paying, skilled labor employment.
Indian employment opportunities in the past, both on and off the reservations,
have consisted of various types of unskilled, minimum wage openings and,
as a result, they have had little impact on economic conditions among
Indian people.
The specific objectives of the present training program are as
follows:
1. To provide Indian people 1 year of intensive vocational training
in one or another of the six craft areas detailed earlier.
2. To provide this intensive vocational training to at least 70
people per year; presumably 11 or 12 people would be trained per year
in each of the six craft areas.
3. To provide these 70 people with UTETC's normal training program
in personal and social development; this is essential if these individuals
are to function successfully in a non-Indian environment following
graduation since many have never lived elsewhere than on the reservation.
-8-
Included in the personal and social development curriculum is everything
from budgeting to how to defrost a refrigerator to why parents should
join the Parent Teachers Association.
4. To assure that those trainees lacking high school diplomas
obtain a Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) prior to graduation from
the crafts training program.
5. To place graduates from the program into construction employment
in their area of skill following graduation. Involved here, of course,
is, in all instances, locating a job in plant construction for the
individual; in some instances, arranging for union membership.
6. To continue this program as long as it is justified by the energy
industry's manpower needs; present projections indicate a minimum of
10 years.
-9-
Training Program Design
Since its inception in 1969, UTETC has offered a wide spectrum of
vocational training programs, ranging from business/clerical to human
services to welding. Moreover, UTETC has been successful; indeed, it
is the first training center ever to have any significant impact on
hard core unemployed reservation people. The primary reason behind this
success is the comprehensive nature of UTETC's approach. Training is
not limited to vocational skills alone. Heavy emphasis is also placed
on personal and social development, and on the individual trainee
attaining at least the academic and literacy skills represented by the
GED.
All of this experience will, of course, be applied to designing
the programs proposed here. UTETC has a training program design section
headed by the Dean of Education and the Program Manager of vocational
programs (a former card carrying iron worker himself). Both of these
individuals are well qualified in training program design. Moreover,
they are able to call upon other resources both in and out of North Dakota
for assistance. Included among these outside resources are the departments
of vocational education at both North Dakota State University and the
University of North Dakota as well as the North Dakota State School of
Science, a large state institution of vocational training.
For all of the above reasons, no difficulty is anticipated in
developing solid training curricula for the six craft areas. UTETC
is capable and experienced. But for the present programs the Center
will go beyond its past efforts. A unique approach will be taken to
designing the six new programs. Help is being solicited from the craft
unions in question. In effect, these unions are being asked to assist
-10-
in developing an optimal one year course of intensive vocational training
in their specific fields, e.g., electrician.
Two reasons underlie this request. First, UTETC staff recognize
that practitioners in a given area, e.g., electrician, are fully conversant
with the current, and changing requirements of their craft. Second,
UTETC is working toward having its proposed year of training count
towards union apprenticeship requirements- rarely does vocational training
from any institution accomplish this goal--and how better to do this than
bring the unions into the process of designing the new programs?
FORD
-11-
Anticipated Benefits
The benefits accruing from the proposed training program have already
been discussed to an extent in the Background section of this preliminary
proposal. To sum them up, first a sizeable labor force will be provided
to meet the manpower shortages arising in connection with the developing
energy industry of North Dakota and Montana. These shortages will
be severe; the proposed program will allow them to be met, at least
in part, by a local labor force.
Second, an appreciable number of unemployed Indian people will be
given--perhaps for the first time--the opportunity to acquire both
legitimate employment skills and decent employment. Judging from
projected wage scales both the construction and operational jobs will
pay $1,000 or more per month; gains in human dignity and self respect
do not easily lend themselves to quantification but they too will be
present.
-12-
Funds Required
Preliminary cost figures indicate that approximately $385,000 will
be required to initiate the new training programs. Of this $385,000,
approximately $225,000 will be one time start-up costs.
The page which follows breaks this $385,000 request into the
following line items. First, a total of $128,240 is requested for
Personnel--including fringe benefits. These funds will be used to employ
a program director, four instructors, a recruiter and a secretary.
Only four rather than six instructors are required since UTETC is already
providing basic training in three of the six skilled crafts; a recruiter
is necessary in order to assure that the trainees are carefully screened
and selected in terms of UTETC's established criteria for successful
training, e.g., past social history.
Second, $150,000 is requested for Facilities Enlargement and
Remodeling. The present vocational facilities are simply not large
enough to accommodate the proposed new training programs, e.g., boilermaking;
or the enlarged enrollments and equipment additions anticipated in
ongoing programs, e.g., welding. Both increased space and the remodeling
of existing space will be required.
Third, a total of $72,000 is requested for New Equipment. Included
here is $18,000 in equipment costs for each of the three totally new
FORD
programs and $6,000 for upgrading each of the three existing programs.
Fourth, $18,000, or $3,000 per program, is requested for Work
Supplies, e.g., welding rods, for each of the six programs.
Fifth, general support costs total slightly under $15,000. Primary
-13-
among these is travel and per diem at $8,000--almost all of this travel being
in connection with student recruitment. However, added administration
costs will total approximately $5,000; these costs include handling all
applications, transcripts and pay records for the incoming trainees.
Finally, let two points be noted. First, this budget is, as the
title indicates, a preliminary estimate--although the final figures
are not expected to differ greatly.
Second, in the formal proposal, all budget line items, e.g.,
equipment, will be broken down into their specific components, e.g.,
particular pieces of equipment, and justifications provided.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-14-
Estimated Budget
Personnel:
Director
$ 20,000.00
4 Instructors
72,000.00
(@ $18,000)
Recruiter
16,000.00
Secretary
6,500.00
Fringe Benefits
13,740.00
(@ 12%)
Total Personnel
$128,240.00
Facilities Enlargement and Remodeling
$150,000.00
New Equipment
$ 72,000.00
Work Supplies
$ 18,000.00
General Supplies
$ 2,000.00
Communications
$ 1,500.00
Travel and Per Diem
$ 8,000.00
Administration
$ 5,000.00
(Records, etc...)
TOTAL
$384,740.00
-15-
Need fur Funds
As should be apparent in the preceding pages, UTETC is keenly
interested in developing a comprehensive training program capable of
placing Indian people into, first, energy plant construction jobs and,
second, plant operating jobs. It was this interest which led to the
development of the original EDA funded Manpower Project; the successful
outcome of that project has only heightened UTETC interest in developing
a comprehensive energy employment training program.
But to develop this comprehensive training program, UTETC will require
outside help. The Center's budget is strained to the limit. This
budget is only $1,500,000 and with it UTETC is operating the ten vocational
programs in place presently, the personal and social development division,
a GED program, complete support services, e.g., housing and a cafeteria,
job placement and follow-up. There is no possibility of mounting these
new training programs within the present $1,500,000 budget.
It is for this reason that UTETC is requesting help from ERDA.
The Training Center is able to provide a great part of the necessary support
resources for the craft training programs outlined here, e.g., instruction
in personal and social development. But it must have help to implement
the purely vocational part of the proposed new training programs.
Additional training space is needed, equipment is needed, and personnel
are needed. Part of these costs, of course--as mentioned earlier--
are non-recurring. Following the first year, UTETC will be able to operate
all six of the new programs for about $160,000 annually, or just under
$2,300 in ERDA money per graduate.
-16-
UNITED TRIBES EDUCATIONAL TECHNICAL CENTER
3315 SOUTH AIRPORT ROAD
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA 58501 PHONE 701-255-3285
UNITED TRIBES EDUCATIONAL TECHNICAL CENTER
RESOLUTION NO. 76-80-UT
WHEREAS, United Tribes Educational Technical Center is a North Dakota
non-profit Corporation whose Board of Directors is composed
of representatives of each of the five North Dakota
reservations, and
WHEREAS, the primary function of UTETC is the operation of a voca-
tional training school for Indians with the long-range goal
of preparing Indians for obtaining and retaining meaningful
employment, and
WHEREAS, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)
is accepting pre-proposals for grants for the purpose of
training persons to work in energy industry related jobs;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of Directors goes on
record as authorizing the Corporation to submit a pre-
proposal to the Energy Research and Development Administra-
tion for a grant which will enable UTETC to train individuals
for the lignite industry.
CERTIFICATION
I, the undersigned President of the United Tribes Educa-
tional Technical Center Board of Directors do hereby certify that
the said Corporation is composed of ten (10) members of whom 10
were present at a duly called and a lawful meeting for which a quorum
was convened and present to hereby adopt the foregoing resolution
on this
8 day of September
, 1976.
SEAL
Carl
President, UTETC Board of Directors