Projects

Since 2013, FIELDS has implemented several projects, including the following:

Utah Four Corners Workforce and Skills Development Project

The Utah Four Corners Workforce and Skills Development (U4C) Project expands on an existing economic and skilled workforce development project that connects residents of San Juan County, Utah and the surrounding region to economic and career opportunities that will employ youth and adults of the region, build the local and regional economy, and directly address the high rate of intergenerational poverty that has challenged many area residents for generations. This project is bringing together education, business, industry, and municipal leaders in San Juan County and on the Navajo Nation to provide an innovative approach to engage youth and adults in personal and skill development that meets local economic opportunities.

FIELDS delivers programs to all 11th grade at Whitehorse High School, FIELDS Electro-mechanical Technology Program to students on an online/hybrid platform, culminating in paid industry internships for students in the current school year.

This project expands the engagement of business, skills development specialists, higher education, private sector partners and government leaders to open doors, drastically reduce personal and systemic barriers and help individuals achieve personal success, self-reliance, and prosperity. In the U4C FIELDS expands current efforts to:

  • Work with local economic development drivers, business and industry to identify opportunities for local skilled employment
  • Provide and facilitate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and entrepreneurship education and training
  • Work with schools, workforce, and skills development specialists, a variety of higher education institutions, and community development agencies to assist participating youth and adult learners
  • Build Mobile Training Laboratories for the delivery of Electro-mechanical technology education to high school and adult students, including incumbent workforce training supporting local industry
  • Build a Workforce and Skills Development Centre in Montezuma Creek to support delivery of these programs, support services, and training.

Fueling Economic Growth

The Utah Four Corners Workforce and Skills Development (U4C) Project is a critical economic- and capacity-development project for the residents of the Utah Navajo Strip and the surrounding region. The mobile training laboratories that are key elements of Phase 1 provide the capability to take this training to multiple communities across the Utah Navajo Strip and adjacent communities. The Electro-mechanical Technology Program that FIELDS established at Whitehorse High School, in partnership with local industry, is planning to expand to serve other northern communities in the Navajo Nation, filling several critical capacity-development functions, building, and strengthening the economy and create greater sustainability for region. This program helps meet the high demand for technical talent in the petroleum and minerals industry, including training future technicians and skilled operators for Elk Petroleum, Energy Fuels, and other employers. As Energy Fuels transitions to focus on rare earth metals production, the FIELDS U4C Project will help meet the company’s very strong demand for Electro-mechanical technology talent. Energy Fuels has contributed technical support, equipment, paid student internships, and made critical contributions, as has the Navajo Transitional Energy Company and others.

The U4C Project serves other industries that will help build sustainability and fuel the growth of the economy of communities in the Utah Navajo Strip region. First, the project will provide capacity to capitalize on the economic and community development opportunities created by the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act of 2020 (NUWRSA). The FIELDS Electro-mechanical Program delivers training in fluid mechanics technology, electrical controls, and mechanical systems that provides learners with the skills to operate and maintain the systems required to pump, distribute, measure, and utilize the substantial water resources provided for in NUWRSA. Second, the program delivers skills training that builds the capability to install, operate, and maintain the solar, wind, and other renewable energy technology systems that will play a key role in the energy strategy of the Navajo Nation. Third, the U4C Project provides training in skills directly transferable to cleanup operations of abandoned uranium mines in the region. Fourth, the software development certificate program provides the skills to capitalize on the recent and future installation of fiber optic internet, providing opportunities for future tele-commuting employment.

Education and Career Pathway Development programs planned for expansion in the region through the U4C Project play a key role in individual education and career success and regional economic and community development.

Utah

The following video discusses the impact of mentoring on student success and shows FIELDS mentor training on the Navajo Reservation in Southeastern Utah:

Farmington, New Mexico

Facing an increasing high school dropout rate among Native American students, the school district in Farmington, New Mexico reached out to FIELDS to request help with mentoring at-risk students. FIELDS has implemented its SOAR peer-to-peer mentoring program that has had a significant impact in the lives of Native American high school students at risk of dropping out of school as shown in the following video:

FIELDS developed and designed a hybrid tribal energy management program for San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico that has become the leading program of its kind in the country.

Four Corners Region in the American Southwest

FIELDS has been providing innovative education solutions in the American Southwest since 2016.

Shoshone-Bannock - Fort Hall Indian Reservation

In this project, which was undertaken in response to a youth suicide epidemic, education and community leaders in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Southeastern Idaho engaged with FIELDS to provide mentoring, life skills, and “Jump Start” trades and technology education programs to the students at the Shoshone-Bannock School on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. The following short video describes the impact of this initiative over the two years and includes tribal leadership, student, parent, teacher, and media perspectives regarding the program.

The FIELDS of Dreams as and Electromechanical Technology were delivered in conjunction with the education curriculum of the school.

Lloydminster Region of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada

The Onion Lake Cree Nation, the largest petroleum producing First Nation in Canada, requested that FIELDS assist in developing the human capital of the Nation. Their goals were to employ residents in the skilled labour force required by the petroleum industry, increase secondary education completion and increase successful postsecondary education completion. FIELDS deployed several elementary, junior high school and high school intervention strategies. Over five years, FIELDS delivered its services to help The Onion Lake Cree Nation (OLCN) and other Indigenous learners in the Lloydminster region build a bridge to education, training, and career success leading to self-reliance, wellness, and prosperity. One example of impact in this initiative is FIELDS intervening at the request of tribal education leaders in a Bachelor of Science in nursing program delivered in OLCN by the University of Saskatchewan. In this initiative, most students were failing in the foundational math and science courses in the program and FIELDS provided mentoring and academic support services that contributed to the success of a group of nursing students who have now been prepared to embark on professional careers in nursing.

Another example of the impact of this initiative is the Oilfield Truck Operator Program at Lakeland College in which one or two Indigenous students typically graduate per year. The college asked FIELDS to assist in the delivery of the college’s curriculum in this program and deliver FIELDS’ intensive mentoring and academic support services to increase student success in this program. This mentoring and implementation of student support services resulted in 14 of 15 Indigenous students enrolled in the program successfully completing it.

FIELDS has also implemented extensive adult and youth academic and life skills mentoring to other Indigenous students in the region as well. These initiatives are described in the following video: