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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2017)
12 S moke S ignals MARCH 1, 2017 Bike helmets available The Tribe’s Social Services Department has bicycle helmets avail- able for distribution. Those needing a helmet need to visit the department and sign a helmet application, as well as get fitted. For more information, contact Social Services at 503-879-2034. Staff researching what other Tribes have experienced AMERICAN INDIAN TEACHER PROGRAM COMMUNITY MEETING continued from front page SAVE THE DATE Hosted by the Oregon Indian Tribe of … The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Other Oregon partnering Tribes include: Coquille Indian Tribe ~ Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians ~ The Klamath Tribes ~ Burns Paiute ~ Tribe Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs ~ Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians ~ Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians April 19-20, 2017 Grand Ronde, Oregon at Spirit Mountain Casino Come and join other caregivers of native elders and relative caregivers of children from Northwest Indian communities in this two-day event. You will have the opportunity to attend valuable workshops that will enhance your caregiving skills and provide you with a break from your daily responsibilities. For more information, contact Darlene Aaron darlene.aaron@grandronde.org 503-879-2078 VENDORS- To register, please contact Suzy Deeds at 503-304-3429 Ad created by George Valdez Office are reviewing the Minors’ Trust Fund program,” states a prepared statement released by General Manager David Fullerton. “Over the next four months we will be reviewing how the program is operated and assessing whether the objectives for serving the member- ship are being achieved.” The Member Benefit Fund Ordi- nance says that the Minors’ Trust Fund is set aside “to assist in education, or other important pur- poses … to contribute to individual self-sufficiency, which is a stated value of the Tribe.” “One of the first priorities will be to determine whether there is a need to provide Tribal members more or easier-to-access profes- sional advice for financial and tax planning and how to best provide that,” the statement says. “Our staff is researching what other Tribes have experienced and how they operate similar trust funds and options for teaching financial planning in schools. “Council understands how im- portant the Minors’ Trust Fund program is to our members. We want to hear from you about how the program is operated and how it affects your life and future. … We will serve a nice meal and provide a safe space for Tribal members to talk about experiences, concerns and recommendations for how the minors’ trust is working.” In a separate interview, Fullerton said the idea for the community meeting began with Tribal Council wanting to initially survey mem- bers in their early 20s about how they have used their “21 Money.” “They wanted to either confirm or dispel the rumor that people use it irresponsibly,” Fullerton said. “It moved from there to what is really the best way to gather that information. Is it a survey or to have focus groups? The decision by council was to do focus groups and invite people to those meetings to have a conversation.” Tribal Council wants to examine what the Tribe is doing to help young Tribal members be more financially responsible, as well as re-assess the intent of the Minors’ Trust Fund money and is that in- tent being achieved, he added. Fullerton, who spent many years as the Social Services Department manager for the Tribe, said he has seen good and irresponsible things happen to Tribal youth when a lump sum of money suddenly be- comes available to them. Consid- ering he worked in Social Services, the cases tended to tip more toward the irresponsible, he added. Tribal youth today are receiving as much as $100,000 in “21 Mon- ey,” considering they are receiving funds that have been invested, added to and accrued interest for 18 years. Once Tribal members turn 18, they start receiving quarterly per capita distributions and can access their “21 Money” only under limited circumstances – education- al expenses and purchasing a house – before they reach 21 years of age. Fullerton said one option might be to offer increased financial lit- eracy education for Tribal youth as they are growing up. Previous efforts by the Tribe to offer volun- tary, web-based financial literacy classes were infrequently used and eventually discontinued, he said. In addition, Fullerton said, the Tribe will have to tackle how to make any classes or programs that might be adopted available to Trib- al members who do not live in the Grand Ronde area. Planning Director Rick George said his research into what oth- er Tribes are doing found that about a dozen Tribes have recently re-evaluated how they manage their programs that are similar to the Minors’ Trust Fund. “They have worked to provide better service and protection for their Tribal members,” George said. “They have worked to provide more tools to successfully handle receiving that much money at a young age.” George said that one Tribe has included intense financial literacy classes at its high school and Tribal youth must meet certain bench- marks to receive their funds. Those who fail to meet the benchmarks see the age at which they can re- ceive their money moved until they are 25 or 30 under the assumption that the older they are the more responsible they will be with the money. The community meetings are for enrolled Tribal members and fam- ilies 18 years of age or older. “These conversations will po- tentially drive policy decisions,” Fullerton said. “What level of re- sponsibility do we have as a Tribe in preparing people to hand over that money?” Three additional meetings will be held in Eugene, Salem and Portland in April and May. Tribal Council approved moving $8,000 from contingency to pay for hosting the sessions. For more information, call 503- 879-2275 or 503-879-2165.