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.