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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2004)
JULY 15, 2004 Smoke Signals 5 Wednesday, June 9, 2004 Actions continued from page 4 sure such activities are done in a manner which protects the peace, health, safety, welfare and economic security of residents and visitors to Tribal Lands. Discussion followed. Motion carried 4-0-0. B GRTIIA Board Commissioners Appointments. Val Grout moved, Valorie Robertson seconded to adopt Resolution No. 081-04 appointing Clyde Stryker and Jack Rovics, Jr. to the Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Authority Board of Commissioners for terms expiring March 2007. Mo tion carried 4-0-0. Health Committee Appointments. Valorie Sheker-Robertson moved, Jan Reibach seconded to adopt Resolution No. 082-04 appointing Camille Mercier and Anna Marie Hannan as members of the Health Committee. Motion carried 4-0-0. OTHER BUSINESS B Education 2004 Scholarships Approvals. Val Grout moved, Ed Larsen seconded to adopt Resolution No. 083-04 approving the recom mended Education 2004-2005 Scholarship selections. Motion carried 4-0-0. B A Tribal member asked the status of a reply to her letter inquiring of the interview process regarding the Grand Ronde Gaming Commission Board of Commissioner position. Vice-Chairman Reyn Leno advised that this will have to be taken up when the rest of Council returns. In addi tion, the Tribal member inquired on the status of the Culture Committee's access to the Culture Resources Department. Cliff Adams, General Man ager, said the issue should be resolved the next couple of weeks. B A Tribal member wanted to know why she was asked to stay out of Tribal language classes. Cliff Adams advised her he would attempt again to get all parties together in a meeting to address the issue. B A Tribal member asked if each department had Policies and Procedures in place. Cliff Adams, General Manager, advised that the evaluations of the Policies and Procedures is currently going on and the findings should be done by the end of the year. B A Tribal member inquired about terminations from the Natural Re source Department. General Manager Cliff Adams responded. The Tribal member voiced his opinion that the Tribe should help its members be em ployed or trained for employment. Cliff Adams stated that the Tribe does have a rehireretrain policy in place and that the policy is currently being reviewed. 6:15 p.m. Jan Reibach moved, Ed Larsen seconded to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. OSU Opening To Tribal Communities lent collaborative partnership that can be an avenue for all Tribal people to access, which is what we're looking for," said Campbell. An aim is "the sharing of ideas and information in equal basis on projects that enrich Tribal communi ties," said Peters. One of the strate gies will use the university's College of Agriculture 'am bassadors' model to create NACI "am bassadors" in Tribal communities. The Ag model names students as ambas sadors who in turn visit high schools throughout the state to talk about the program at OSU and its benefits. The Institute hopes to foster simi lar opportunities through the university's other schools, too. In one ongoing project, OSU is offering Tribes instruction in research methods, said Peters. The Burns Paiutes have asked the Institute's help answering the ques tion: should the Tribe invest in The Coquilles have sought a cul tural resources consulting study from the program. Grand Ronde will host a journal ism institute during pow-wow this summer. Through this program, Indian peopu lization of th "NACI sets Tribal people intentions, t needs and mt ' f f ! . (.1 Pl ...... . .-.Mut,'... J 1 " ..w.'-- 1 r - g Learning Experience Danielle Fournier served as an intern in the Tribe's Public Information Office during her last semester at Oregon State University before graduation. Fournier got to see the Tribal newsroom up close and personal and said that it was a learning experience for her to see the difference between mainstream media and the Native press. Fournier, who accomplished a degree is Ethnic Studies , is an intregal part of the Native American Collabrative Institute at OSU. OSU continued from front page purpose which I enjoyed im mensely. What I got to witness was how much time was really spent deconstructing (negative) stereo types in the media." When Peters arrived at OSU, there was a feeling at the school that because it had relationships with one or two Tribes that "all were being served," he said. "But the university had never developed a comprehensive plan for engaging Tribes in partnership. I was hear ing from the (Native) communities, 'No, OSU is not out in the commu nities.'" His response to these voices was to open up "better lines of commu nication. I was concerned about the way children were being re cruited and served by Oregon State (University)." "I pulled together the choir," he said, referring to like-minded indi viduals both within and outside of the OSU community. The result: four years ago, OSU hosted the first Sacred Landscapes Conference. The program included only Native speakers who were en couraged "to come share their hearts, to speak thoughtfully," said Peters of the two-day event. Grand Ronde Tribal Elder and former Tribal Council Chairwoman Kathryn Harrison was one of the conference's first speakers. Last year, the most recent event drew 200 from Tribal and non Tribal communities, with a once-a-week-for-10-weeks format. So far, the Institute has worked with five of the nine Tribes and "is looking forward to working with all nine," said Peters. Here in Grand Ronde, April Campbell, Educational Specialist for the Tribe and local liaison for the Institute, reported that the In stitute is working together with Tribes to develop a cultural compe tency program for all age groups. "I think it's going to be an excel- cattle? "I can tell you that we've been involved for the last two-and-a-half years," said Art Tassie, Burns Paiute General Manager. "They have been extremely helpful with studies on economic development. They actually arranged to have a team of MBA candidates working on one of our economic develop ment projects and the work that they did probably would have cost about $100,000 if done by a pri vate company." affiliated with the OSU Journalism Department, high school students will pursue their journalistic inter ests while learning about Grand Ronde culture. "The federal government has no single, comprehensive policy about its dealing with Indian Tribes," said Peters. "The policy has always been one of remaking Indians in the vi sion of what people of European heritage heralded as civilized. The feds have scarcely recognized that have a full, rich civi ir own design, up a table at which come with their own leir own community et with the resources available at OSU in devising ap proaches that en rich the Tribal com munities by ad dressing Tribal needs on Tribal terms. That's the purpose of NACI." When Peters first approached OSU president Ed Ray about the Institute, he recalled Ray asking, "What can I do?" and Peters responded: "Don't go out to the Tribes with an agenda. Go out there to be friends. Everyone out there has heard the promises so many times." Though Tribes and OSU people both propose projects, Peters said that "OSU wants to create partnerships that invest the best , thinking on both sides to enrich Tribal communi ties." In the past, he said, too many of the projects "have been of our (OSU) invention." Spinoffs from the Institute are po tentially unlimited. One separate but related project, for example, is being spearheaded by OSU presi dent Ray, and will include develop ment of a "virtual OSU Tribal col lege," said Peters. "The key thing that I really enjoy is thru Kurt, I have access to every department there is," said Tassie. "My feeling is that he's truly inter ested in Native American people."
