AbstractNative American Indian students are not identified or served at the same rate as their majority counterparts. Javits Grants are part of a small federal program providing funding for direct service research and demonstration projects. The purpose of the grants is to resolve the problems in identifying and meeting the needs of underrepresented gifted populations. Herein is a description of Project LEAP, which was designed to identify and meet the needs of rural high school students who have gifts, talents, or high potential. The project was funded for three years. The information provided in this discussion was collected through on‐site interviews with all project staff and written reports from students at the end of each project year. The project was planned with four conceptual goals: community collaboration, partnership with parents, culturally relevant identification, and appropriate curriculum. Two themes emerged from an analysis of the interview and project documentation data regarding the implementation of the four Project goals: (a) the rural linkages that existed and were forged and (b) the authenticity infused into all project activities to discover and nurture gifts, talents, or high potential. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.