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NOVEMBER 15, 2016
Research continues on potential Tribally
owned telecommunications company
Community Meeting set for Monday, Dec. 5
Since reporting last May on the potential for Grand Ronde to have its
own telecommunications company, the Information Systems Department
and its telecommunications consultants, Converge Communications, have
made a lot of progress.
The company has spent the past few months researching all the issues,
such as the cost of building the network and the benefits to Grand Ronde
members.
We would now like to invite community members to learn more about
the project firsthand. We will be holding a community meeting at the
Tribal gym at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5. All community members are invited
to attend. A meal will be provided. Please RSVP to TPC@grandronde.org
so we can plan for enough food.
Since spring, members of the Telecommunications Planning Committee
(TPC) have held regular meetings attended by Tribal departments and
Tribal members. These meetings have been a great opportunity to share
issues of concern about telecommunication both for Tribal departments
and for the community at large.
A focus of this group has been to discuss what problems exist and what
improvements people would like to see for the future. The need for faster,
more reliable Internet speeds and the desire to have less expensive tele-
communications bills are major themes of the discussions.
Converge Communications has completed a technical survey of the
Grand Ronde community to see how much it would cost to provide fiber
optic Internet service for all homes in Grand Ronde, not just for Elder
and Tribal Housing. The IS department is also looking at improving the
Internet speeds for Tribal and Elder housing, which we know are too slow
for the requirements of our members.
Converge is also working on a detailed business plan to help Tribal Coun-
cil make an informed decision on whether to launch this Tribal venture.
The plan will be completed in December.
The IS Department has created a community survey to determine the
interest level of Tribal members for a Tribally owned telecommunications
company. If you live in the Grand Ronde community, we would very much
appreciate you completing the survey, which is available in print at the
Community Center and Housing Department, but you also can fill it out
online by visiting the Tribal website at www.grandronde.org and complet-
ing the survey electronically.
A number of Tribal nations have successfully launched their own
telecommunications companies to serve their Tribal communities and
have found that a modern telecommunication system has many benefits,
including economic development, telehealth, tele-education, home-based
businesses and the ability of the Tribe to do significant economic devel-
opment as any new business must have modern, high-speed broadband
Internet connections.
All these Tribal telecoms emphasize that above all, the most important
issue for them is that Tribal telecoms represent Tribal sovereignty and
self-determination. With the 33rd anniversary of the Grand Ronde Resto-
ration Act, creating our own Tribal telecommunications company could be
one more significant step to take control and ownership over our services
to the Tribal government and community.
St. Michael’s offers brunch
St. Michael’s Catholic Church offers an open house brunch every Sunday
following Mass. The brunch is free to the community. Brunch begins at
about 11:30 a.m. following the 10:30 a.m. Mass. Mass attendance is not
required for brunch attendance. For more information, contact Janelle
Justen at 503-550-0923.
AMERICAN INDIAN TEACHER PROGRAM
S moke S ignals
Grand Ronde
Housing Department
Housing Board seeks community input
The Grand Ronde Housing Board is inviting Tribal members
and Tribal housing residents to provide input to assist its mem-
bers in carrying out its advisory role to the Housing Department
and Tribal Council regarding policy guidance. The Housing Board
meets at 3 p.m. the third Thursday of each month in the Housing
Department conference room, 28450 Tyee Road. Its chair is Matt
Thomas. For more information, contact the Housing Department
at 503-879-2401.
Smoke Signals photo
reprint policy
See a photo you like in Smoke Signals?
Want a copy, or several copies?
Want to see if a photo that was taken but not printed in Smoke Signals
because of space limitations might be something you’d like hanging on
your living room wall? Tribal members can order 8-by-10-inch copies of
photos taken by Smoke Signals staff members regardless of if they were
published in the newspaper. Charge is $1 for each print ordered. Reprint
orders must be pre-paid with a check made out to Smoke Signals. A photo
reprint order form is available in the Publications Office of the Tribe’s
Governance Building in Grand Ronde, or can be mailed upon request.
All photos contained in Smoke Signals’ current archive are available
for purchase, but people interested in going through the archive must
make an appointment to review photos for possible purchase.
No rush orders are permitted and requestors must allow 30 days for
delivery. Requestors must be Tribal members. In addition, reprint re-
questors must agree that the reprint is for personal use only, and not
for use in an ad, or for commercial, political or promotional purposes.
Smoke Signals reserves the right to decline a reprint request. To re-
quest a reprint order form, write to Smoke Signals at 9615 Grand Ronde
Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347, or call Michelle Alaimo at 503-879-1961
or 800-422-0232.