Dr. Lorenda T. Sanchez (Northern Paiute), a well-deserved recipient of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the Trustees of the California State University in 2020, has actively dedicated more than five decades to the administration of Indian job training efforts and enhancing the lives of Native Americans. She began her initial job training administrative experience in August of 1972 with the Public Employment Program, Neighborhood Youth Corps, and Operation Mainstream Program funded under the U.S. Department of Labor. Through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act Program to the current Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Program, due to her inspired leadership, more than 100,000 individuals have benefited from these programs and thereby, significantly impacting the lives of their respective families in decidedly positive ways. Service to the community and improving the conditions that exist throughout Indian Country have always remained Dr. Sanchez’s top priorities.

 Since late 1977, Dr. Sanchez has devotedly served as the Executive Director of the California Indian Manpower Consortium, Inc. This highly regarded Consortium, comprised of American Indian tribes and Native organizations, is the largest Native American social and human service organization in the United States, encompassing a geographic service area of 104 reservations and 39 counties throughout California, the entire State of Illinois, and three counties in Iowa. Through a combination of adult and youth workforce development; childcare; services to Indian elders; community services; and global, tribal, and Native entrepreneurial development, she continues to focus her diligent efforts on addressing these needs of Native American people.

Dr. Sanchez has served on local, state, regional and national boards to staunchly advocate for programs and services to address the employment, training, social and economic needs of the Native American population and communities. Most notable are the Native American Employment and Training Council (advisory council to the Secretary of Labor) for 22 years, serving 18 years as the Chair; National Indian and Native American Employment and Training Conference Executive Committee (1992-present), Sacramento Native American Health Center Board, and the State of California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) Native American Advisory Committee. Dr. Sanchez is also a lifetime member of the National Congress of American Indians and National Association of Workforce Professionals