Smoke signals., March 15, 2007, Page 4, Image 4

4 MARCH 15,2007
Smoke Signals
Where are they now: A Glimpse At The Success Of The 2003-2004 Hatfield Fellow
By Angie Sears, Tribal Mentee
Hryan Mercier, a 33 year-old
Grand Ronde Tribal member, went
to work on Capitol Hill as a Hat
field Fellow in 2003 and has since
made a career out of representing
Indian Country at a state and fed
eral level.
Prior to entering the Fellowship,
Mercier attended the University of
Oregon where he received a Bach
elor of Science degree in Business
Management. During his senior
year, he went to Germany as an
exchange student where he stud
ied economics and played semi-pro
soccer.
After completing his undergradu
ate studies, Mercier enrolled in
a graduate program at Freiburg
University where he received a
Master's certificate in Economics.
Next, Mercier moved on to Spain
to study human rights and law at
the University of Charles II and
before he knew it his one year ex
change program had turned into a
seven year stay.
Mercier first entered D.C. in the
summer of 2003 as a Morris K.
Udall intern in Senator Gordon
Smith's office. The internship was
quite a success. In fact, Senator
Smith wrote a letter of recom
mendation for Mercier as part of
his application for the Hatfield
Fellowship. They had high hopes
that if chosen for the fellowship,
Mercier could return to Smith's
office and continue to gain invalu
able experience from Smith and
his staff.
When Mercier was chosen as the
Hatfield Fellow and placed back in
Smith's office, he was able to fall
right back into the work he had
been doing earlier that year.
"I had the advantage of previ
ously developing a portfolio and
working in Indian Affairs. Senator
Smith had been awarded a seat
on the Indian Affairs Committee
in early 2003, so when I came in,
I helped him develop his portfolio
and get him engaged. I helped in
getting him up to speed on some
of the issues that affect Oregon
Tribes, and then for the rest of the
year I handled that portfolio," said
Mercier. "I also helped out on some
of the finance committee and com
merce committee tasks, but 85-90
percent of my time was spent on
Indian Affairs."
Mercier's most valued experience
was in the first piece of legislation
he had passed with Senator Smith,
which was the Congressional Reso
lution recognizing the 20-year Res
toration of the Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde.
"I was allowed to draft that ... the
Senator agreed to expedite the pas
sage of the Bill, and I got to go down
on the Floor when he did it. We got
it through within 24 hours, which is
almost unheard of. So we were actu
ally able to coincide the resolution
with the date of our Restoration and
the date of our 20-year Restoration
Celebration that we held in Grand
Ronde. And that was the first piece
of legislation that I had passed,"
Mercier said. "That was probably
my proudest moment."
In addition to learning the ins
and outs of the legislative process,
c d
i h
Tribal member Bryan Mercier
he values the contacts he developed
while working in Washington and
credits actually knowing who the
technical and legislative experts
are as the key to getting things
done.
Mercier, a life-long democrat with
somewhat progressive views, val
ued his experiences working with
Senator Smith. He held a great
level of admiration for Smith as a
representative of Oregon, and as a
person who genuinely cared about
helping Indian people.
"Bryan Mercier was well liked. He
was smart, very hard working, and
dedicated to the tasks that were
put before him. He did a lot of work
with the Tribal Forest Protection
Act, and with our natural resources
legislative staff focusing on forestry
issues. Every turn, he proved to be
very knowledgeable and capable.
He was an asset to Senator Smith
and his staff," said R.C. Hammond,
spokesman for Senator Smith. "Ev
eryone liked him a lot."
Upon completion of the Fellow
ship, Mercier began working for
the National Congress of American
Indians (NCAI) where he was a
community development associ
ate. He worked on developing task
force initiatives for NCAI and had
the opportunity to work with for
mer Hatfield Fellow, Alyssa Macy.
The two former Fellows worked
together on the 2004 Native Vote
campaign.
After working with NCAI for a
short period, Mercier received a job
offer from the U.S. Forest Service
as a policy analyst for the Office
of Tribal Relations. This was a
newly created position for the for
est service, which gave Mercier an
opportunity to help build the office
from the ground up.
"When I was on the Hill I had
actually drafted legislation that
affected the creation of this office,"
he said. "So I had an opportunity to
implement legislation that I had a
small hand in passing."
Mercier spent two years going
through the growing pains of devel
oping a new office in what he con
sidered a very traditional agency.
"The Forestry Service has a very
strong culture that has
not always been on a
good level with Indi
an Country. Trying to
change that culture was
a big task, and it's one
that I don't feel was ac
complished when I left
the position three weeks
ago; however, we were
able to accomplish the
task of internally educat
ing the Forest Service
about Trust responsi
bilities, and the cultur
ally appropriate ways
of working with Native
American Tribes on a
basis. That's some
thing that hasn't been
done at that level in the
Forestry Service before,"
said Mercier.
One of his proudest
achievements in that
position was the creation
of a capacity building
curriculum for Native American
Firefighters that was designed to
help them transform into small
business owners. The plan was
to teach them to do reforestation
work and contract work for the For
est Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) and for their own Tribes as
a way to continue working during
the off season.
"Almost half of our nations fire
fighting force are Native Americans.
Firefighters are seasonal and spend
much of the year unemployed, and
that's a big problem," said Mercier.
"In the two years that I was there,
I was able to jumpstart a program
where the Forest Service allocated
funds to train these folks to do for
estry work. It's a great program."
Today, Mercier works for the
Department of Treasury in the
Community Development Finan
cial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.
The Agency helps build financial
services in Indian Country. The
department set aside $5 million
in an appropriations bill to build
banks, credit unions, and revolv
ing loan funds for institutions
that provide lending to Native
Americans.
Mercier credits the Fellowship for
his experiences and for advancing
his career up to 10 years. "Work
ing in Congress with the bright
est, most motivated, and efficient
people in the country tends to rub
off on you. You really learn how to
be a stellar employee," he said.
He also credits the program for
giving Native people an opportu
nity to gain valuable congressional
experience that they would not
otherwise have an opportunity to
receive, and wishes other Tribes
would create programs like the
Hatfield Fellowship.
"It grows our leaders. The series
about past Hatfield Fellows proves
that it works. Alyssa Macy, Bodie
Shaw, and Pete Wakeland, they've
all gone on to do great things. I
consider myself to be someone who
will continue to do good things, and
I know the new Hatfield Fellow,
Dennis Worden, will as well. We
would never have had this oppor
tunity if it wasn't for the Hatfield
Fellowship," said Mercier. "It was
the best professional experience of
my life." B
Native American Applicants
Sought For Hatfield Fellowship
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde announce
that applications for the Mark O. Hatfield Congres
sional Fellowship are now available. Each year, a
' Hatfield Fellow serves as an intern for a member of
Oregon's Congressional delegation.
The Hatfield Fellow is selected from adult Native
American applicants, who are enrolled members of a
federally recognized Tribe in Oregon. If there are no
qualified applicants from Oregon, enrolled members
of federally recognized Tribes in Washington, Idaho,
and Montana will be considered.
The candidate will intern in Washington, D.C. for
nine months and will receive a monthly stipend, relo
cation and travel expenses, and tuition for the Ameri
can Political Science Association orientation;
Deadline for applications is 5 p.m. April 20, 2007.
Applicants will then be notified if they qualify for
interviews. Late applications will not be accepted.
Application packets may be obtained by contacting
Louis King at Spirit Mountain Community Fund 503-879-1462,
email at louis.kinggrandronde.org, or by
mail at 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR
97347.
The Fellowship honors Mark Hatfield for his ac
complishments as a United States Senator, a former
Governor of Oregon, and for his mentorship of many
leaders in their own communities.
Deadline is Friday, April 20, 2007.