DEPARTMENT OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

The Catawba Cultural Preservation Project

The Catawba Cultural Preservation Project Receives $346,000 from the SC Competitive Grants Program
The Catawba Cultural Preservation Project has received three grants totaling $346,000 to help fund a tourism initiative, further enhance their youth cultural immersion program and to create a youth alcohol and substance abuse prevention through cultural intervention program for the Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina.
 
The CCPP, established in 1989, serves its mission to preserve, promote, protect and maintain the rich cultural heritage of the Catawba Indians.
The grants will go toward the following projects:
 
· $39,000 for development of the CCPP’s interpretive trail and outdoor amphitheatre designed to put the center on the tourism map of York County.  Mr. Bennish Brown, Executive Director of Rock Hill/York County Convention and Visitors Bureau, through the Villages of York County Tourism Initiative, made supportive phone calls on the projects behalf.
 
· $202,000 to continue and expand the Catawba Cultural Youth Immersion Program for all of 2007/08 designed to instill pride and cultural values in children ages pre-school through high school.
 
· $105,000 will fund a youth alcohol and substance abuse prevention through cultural intervention program for all school age children of the Reservation.  
 
 
The grant money was funded by the SC General Assembly through its Competitive Grants Program.
 
“As native people we are a strong, proud people who find it difficult to look outside our community for help,” says Dr. Wenonah Haire, Executive Director of the CCPP. However, Senator Wes Hayes, Representatives Shirley Hinson (House Majority Whip) and Mick Mulvaney learned of the CCPP needs and efforts and personally made the calls to the Budget and Control Board to insure that staff would give serious deliberations to their grant requests.
 
A quasi entity of the Catawba Indian Nation, the CCPP currently receives no financial assistance from the Tribal Government for its programs and services. “The tribe is just unable to assist us, financially, due to their budget constraints,” according to Dr. Haire.
 
The Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina is the only federally recognized tribe in the state with many trials and tribulations common to Native people.

According to Dr. Haire and Kathy Brown, Assistant Administrator “Our people struggle to maintain the strong cultural values that have been instilled in us from our elders and ancestors, while trying to progress into the future.  We hold dear to our hearts, our traditions and want to carry these traditions into the future for our children, grandchildren and many more generations of Catawba. This investment in our future by the people of SC will benefit not only our people but our region for years to come.”
 
Efforts have been renewed with the assistance of Dr. John Crotts of the College of Charleston to fund construction of an additional CCPP facility to be known as the Catawba Cultural Programs and Performing Arts Center. A $1 million grant proposal has been submitted to a wealthier Minnesota tribe. Envisioned in 1995/96, the facility never has become a reality due to funding deficits.  Staff are currently working in a building that was constructed in the 1930’s which was one of the last schoolhouses the Catawba attended before they were allowed to attend public school.  
 
The proposed Catawba Cultural Programs and Performing Arts Center will allow staff to bring under one roof cultural immersion/education, archives and tourism development efforts.  Construction of the facility is planned to involve Catawba young adults, staff and volunteers, insuring that the $1 million grant will go to actual construction costs while teaching our youth viable work skills.