6 FEBRUARY 1, 2002
Smoke Signals
Community Fund Comes Home to Grand Ronde
Continued from front page mmmmm
Yamhill.
There are seven grant categories educa
tion, health, public safety, problem gambling,
arts and culture, environmental preservation
and historic preservation.
The Community Fund has a Board of Trust
ees made up of seven individuals that makes the
final decision of what grants will be honored.
The seven board members are: Ed Pearsall, Jan
Reibach and June Sell-Sherer, of the Grand
Ronde Tribal Council, Kate Brown, Oregon State
Senator, Ron Dodge, Polk County Commissioner,
Sho Dozono, President and CEO of Azumano
Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Kristine Olson, former
United States Attorney for the District of Oregon
and Adam Henny, Interim Marketing Director
of Spirit Mountain Casino.
Blackwell is the daughter of Jess and Candy
Robertson. She has three sisters, Diana
Robertson, Mychal Leno and Debby Larsen, and
a brother, Brandon Robertson. She recently
married Darren Blackwell. The two combined
have five children - Teresa, 18, Ashley, 13,
Megan, 11, Miranda, 9 and Ryan, 8.
Blackwell attended Willamina High School and
received her G.E.D. when she was just 17. The
reason for this is because she had her daughter,
Teresa at the time.
"It was hard to go to school with a child back
then," said Blackwell. "They didn't have any
programs for childcare there."
Blackwell then attended Chemeketa Commu
nity College in Salem where she received an
Associate's degree in Early Childhood Education.
She was the first Head Start teacher for Grand
Ronde in 1992.
In 1999, she received a Bachelor's Degree in
Public Policy and Administration from
Western Oregon University (WOU).
Upon graduation, she returned to work at
Spirit Mountain Casino. Altogether, Blackwell
has spent six years working for the Casino. She
started out as a slots supervisor and then worked
as the SuperPlay director. While pursuing her
degree at WOU, she worked for the casino Mar
keting Department.
Blackwell's current job duties include working
with the Tribal Council and the Community
Fund Board of Trustees, assisting them in the
screening process and administration of the
grants program.
"I research the grant proposals and help Tribal
Council with recommendations," said Blackwell.
Working closely with the Tribal Council was
the main reason for relocating the Community
Fund headquarters
The applications go through a three-step pro
cess: Blackwell looks over the applications first
and writes recommendations based on the Tribal
Council and board members' priorities; then the
process heads to the Tribal Council to approve
or modify the recommendation; after that, the
final decision is made by the Board of Trustees.
The New Year brings some changes for
Blackwell and the Community Fund.
"We are going to have smaller grants avail
able for smaller organizations," said Blackwell.
"They will be able to apply for grants up $5,000
or $10,000 without going through the same te-
SPIPvtT MOUNTAIN
dious applica
tion process as
a grant re
quest for
$100,000. I
will also be "
looking at de- COMMUNITY FUND
veloping priorities for the seven grant categories."
In the year 2000, a total of 51 grants were
distributed through the Community Fund, to
taling a little more that $3.9 million. In year
2001, the number of grants awarded totaled 62.
Blackwell said one of the rewarding parts of
her job is the thanks she receives after grants
are awarded.
"A while back we awarded an education grant
to a school to help out with programs," said
Blackwell. "A bunch of third graders all wrote
letters thanking me for helping their school.
Working with the fund also gives me a chance
to learn about the seven grant categories and
what Oregon is doing in each field. I get expo
sure to things that I probably wouldn't have
taken the time to look at before."
The Community Fund has helped many wor
thy programs and improved the image of the
Tribe.
"The Community Fund was established dur
ing 1997 compact negotiations between the Tribe
and the Governor," said Blackwell. "By offering
to share casino profits, Tribal leaders fulfilled a
promise made long-ago that we would become
self-sufficient and someday would be in the po
sition to help others achieve the same." B
Willamina Health Clinic receives support from Community Fund
Grant will allow the purchase of much needed medical equipment.
Grand Ronde West Valley Health Center,
Inc. will receive a $25,000 grant from the Spirit
Mountain Community Fund. The grant will be
used to purchase much needed medical equip
ment. The equipment is essential in providing
basic health services in an underserved area.
The health center serves residents in and
around the Willamina area. Many of those cli
ents would not receive care due to a lack of in
surance and transportation difficulties. Over the
last 15 years the clinic has operated with the
assistance of different agencies, but as doctors
left and removed their equipment and records
the clinic lost valuable resources. Now the clinic
operates as an independent non-profit agency
and the new equipment will remain with the
clinic regardless of the health care provider.
"There's tremendous need in the Willamina
area for a clinic like this," said Gary Brooks,
D.M.D. and a health care board member. "We've
enlisted the support of the Willamina Business
Group, The West Valley Kiwanis Club and the
Willamina Pharmacy. We've also been recipi
ents of some very generous in-kind donations
from the community. This gift from Spirit Moun
tain really puts us over the top for providing
needed health care."
"Spirit Mountain Community Fund under
stands the difficulty our more rural communi
ties have in obtaining and retaining quality
medical treatment, as well as affording up to date
equipment," said Angela Blackwell, Community
Fund Administrator. "We are very happy to give
the West Coast Valley Health Center a well de
served boost in this area. They've demonstrated
their professionalism and concern for the com
munity over the last 15 years. This is our op
portunity to assist that effort."
Spirit Mountain Grant Expands Food Storage at Shelter
St. Joseph Shelter and Mission Benedict re
ceived a major boost in their ongoing efforts to
feed the hungry through an $18,000 grant from
the Spirit Mountain Community Fund. The
grant will enable the Shelter to purchase a large
walk-in freezer, a small walk-in freezer and a
small walk-in cooler. The new units will greatly
expand the Shelter's food storage capacity.
According to Shelter Director Sr. Adele
Mansfield, the additional freezer-cooler space is
essential.
"We receive a great deal of food that is donated
either directly to us or comes through Marion Polk
Food Share," said Sr. Adele. "However, we've been
severely limited in what we can store and use as
needed over time. The units we're purchasing
through the grant will enable us to be more effi
cient in using donated food and more effective in
meeting the needs of those who are hungry."
More than 85,000 pounds of food was distrib
uted to the needy last year through food boxes
from the Mission.
The freezer and cooler units are being installed
in the warehouse built this spring at the Shelter.
Grant Helps Lincoln County Head Start move on construction of new facility
New facility will serve 40 children in a full day, year round program.
Grand Ronde Spirit Mountain Community
Fund recently announced a $60,000 grant to the
Head Start program of Lincoln County. The
money, in addition to funds from local contribu
tors, the Oregon Office of Economic and Com
munity Development, the Collins Foundation,
the Ford Family Foundations, and Head Starts'
own funds, will allow construction of a perma
nent Head Start Child and Family Care facility
in Lincoln City.
The facility will allow Head Start to provide
improved, stable services and support for chil
dren and adult clients, and will avoid costly
moves as they outgrow leased spaced. This is
tremendously important, as the program has
been forced to move five times in the past five
years.
Lincoln County's child population faces tre
mendous risk and safety issues. The child abuse
rate is the second highest per capita in the state.
Additionally, the child death rate in Lincoln City
is more than twice the state average. Studies
show that child abuse and neglect have serious
negative effects on a child's physical, psychologi
cal, cognitive and behavioral development.
Those impacts range from minor to severe and
include physical injuries, brain damage, devel
opment delays and many other serious difficul
ties.
"The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are
committed to making a difference in our commu
nities. Supporting a much needed Head Start
facility in Lincoln County is one way we can honor
that commitment," said June Sell-Sherer of the
Spirit Mountain Community Fund board.
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde cre
ated Spirit Mountain Community Fund in 1997
as a way for Tribal members to practice their age
old traditions of sharing and giving back. The
Spirit Mountain Community Fund has given
more than $14 million in grants to non-profit or
ganizations in western Oregon since its creation.