The Cherokee Preservation Foundation has announced eighteen grants totaling more than $2.4 million to improve the quality of life for members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina.

Recipients include the Graham Revitalization Economic Action Team, which will  use its grant to preserve, expand, and use river cane on the Robbinsville High School campus and develop an outdoor classroom with interpretive signage about the plant; the EBCI Division of Commerce, which was awarded a grant in support of its marketing efforts on behalf of the Greater Cherokee Tourism Council for 2015; and the Western Region Education Service Alliance, which will use its grant to implement the STEM-E framework in Cherokee Central and western North Carolina school districts.

Recipients of grants awarded in support of efforts to engage youth include Cherokee Central Schools, which will use the funds to improve and expand Cherokee language instruction during the school year and at its Language and Culture Summer School; the EBCI Cooperative Extension Center, which, in partnership with the foundation and EARTH University, will work to provide local youth with an international indigenous cultural experience through an eco-study tour in Costa Rica; and the Cherokee Youth Council, which will use the funds to continue its youth leadership development activities.