Seattle Indian Center

Statewide, the Superintendent of Public Instruction reports the dropout rate for American Indian/Alaska Native youth is as high as 75%. Our educational programs stem the tide of this abysmal statistic.

The Education Department plays a dominant role in the mix of services at the Seattle Indian Center. We conduct a wide range of educational and life planning programs beginning with individuals as young as 13.

On-site, the Educational Clinic offers a high-school re-entry program featuring basic math through trigonometry, language arts, American Indian/Alaska Native literature, US and World history and Life Quest. Courses in Food Preparation/Nutrition, Teen AIDS Education and Health Awareness round out the curriculum designed to help dropouts re-join their peers in high school. Over 85% of our at-risk youth return to school to graduate.

The SID also has off-site educational clinics for teens that specifically prepares drop-outs for re-entry into the high school system.

Teens and adults of all ethnic groups may take classes aimed at helping them achieve a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) required by most employers. Adult learners seeking remediation of Basic Skills achieve those goals to qualify for the on-site JTPA office skills classes.

We emphasize off-site recruiting of special populations, homeless adults, those living in shelters and seeking aid in treatment centers. We conduct off-site Adult Basic Education and GED preparation to the incarcerated, to half-way house residents and the developmentally disabled. Since the Education Department formally began in 1972, we have helped over 7,000 graduates increase their skills and/or earn the GED.

Life Quest

Under a grant from the US Department of Education, the Seattle Indian Center developed Life Quest, human relations and life planning curriculum. This intervention tool teaches survival and daily living skills for both Indian and non-Indian high school age students.

Nationally recognized for its uniquely effective program, Life Quest has been sold to and is currently in use throughout 33 states and 7 Canadian provinces, for students of all ethnic backgrounds.