In 1977 a group of urban American Indian organizations got together to protest the leveling of rental housing for urban renewal; then they learned that a community college was going up to replace that housing, right in the middle of the Indian community. Realizing the opportunities for jobs, education, and training, the community leaders decided to approach the college with a research proposal. That proposal surveyed the education and employment needs of the surrounding Indian people. In 1977 there were only six Indians with college degrees in that community. There were no lawyers, no doctors, no professors. Over half of the community lacked even a high school diploma. That proposal and the state funding that followed created the first American Indian Support Program (AISP) within a public community college in that state. This article describes the problems encountered by the AISP, the accomplishments of the students, and the end of the program after twenty-three years.