Technology Improvement

In 2008, 7th Generation started a program to provide computer technology to Native American schools in need. The objective is to provide technology to schools serving Native American students so they can have the opportunity to compete on the same skill level as other students at their grade level and graduate from high school prepared for the technology-based challenges in the current work environment.

In 2009, we received 20 desktop computers with monitors from the National Cristina Foundation and donated them to the Loneman Day School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Oglala, South Dakota. The Loneman Day School serves students from kindergarten through the 9th grade. The Pine Ridge Reservation is home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and is situated in southwestern South Dakota on the Nebraska state line. It includes over 11,000 square miles with diverse geographic regions which include wide open grassy plains, rolling pine covered hills, and barren badlands. It is also one of the poorest Indian reservations in the United States. The unemployment rate is estimated at 80% and the school drop-out rate is over 70%. The schools on the reservation are in the bottom of school funding by the U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These are some of the compelling reasons that 7th Generation chose to work with the Loneman School in upgrading their student computer lab.

In 2008, in partnership with Upper Mohawk, Inc., we awarded 17 computers to the Dennehotso Boarding School, in Dennehotso, Arizona on the Navajo reservation. This school is unique in its remoteness and needs for upgraded computing resources for the students, which made it a prime candidate for a donation from 7th Generation. The Dennehotso Boarding school had no computer lab and had not had an IT upgrade or addition since 2000.