TACE Presenter

Celeste Oxendine Hunt, M.S.,
Lumbee Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation (LTVR) Services, NC

Celeste Oxendine Hunt is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and resides in Pembroke, NC. The Lumbee Tribe is the largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi with over 55,000 tribal members. Ms. Hunt received her B.A. in 1993 from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She worked for several years with the local Department of Social Services as a social worker before going into the field of vocational rehabilitation. She worked for the North Carolina Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (NCDVRS) for 10 years as a rehabilitation counselor.

Working as a counselor with NCDVRS, she returned to school to complete her master's degree in rehabilitation counseling and completed her degree in July of 2007 form Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA. As a master's program project, she wrote a tribal vocational rehabilitation grant for her tribe, the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina. She submitted the proposal to Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) U.S. Department of Education in June 2007. This was a successful effort and was awarded an estimated 2 million dollars Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation grant through RSA which will run from October 2007 through September 2012.

Ms Hunt is currently the Director for the Lumbee Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program. This newly formed VR agency is currently in its second fiscal-year of the grant and has been able to successfully achieve its goals to improve the quality of life and obtain successful employment outcomes for Lumbee Indians with disabilities in North Carolina.