FARGO, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota State University is unveiling a new resource center to help Native Americans in the Northern Plains improve public health programs.

The American Indian Public Health Resource Center will help tribes with health promotion and policy, disease prevention, technical assistance, and grant writing.

The center in Fargo will be part of NDSU’s master of public health program, which features the only American Indian specialization in the country.

Center director Don Warne says the Indian population in the Northern Plains has some of the worst health disparities in the country and the program should help “even the playing field.”

The center is being funded by a $1.4 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and $720,000 for the North Dakota Higher Education Challenge Fund.