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OCTOBER 15, 2021
Smoke Signals
Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG)
U.S. Department of Housing & Urban
Development Program
Community Development Statement
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Grand Ronde Child Care Center Project
Following HUD’s Notice of Funding Availability, the Tribe solicited for
ICDBG project suggestions from Tribal departments. This was followed
by discussions and updates with the General Manager and Tribal
Council. Council reviewed five eligible ICDBG project suggestions and
construction of a Child Care Center was selected by Tribal Council.
ICDBG is a competitive grant program whose funds are intended
to meet an essential community development need and to benefit the
neediest segment of the population. The proposed construction of
this Child Care Center will primarily serve children from low-moderate
income households.
To comment on the proposed application, please contact Kim Rogers,
Planning & Grants Manager, at 503-879-2250 or send your comments
to him at 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347 or kim.
rogers@grandronde.org.
Council will review comments collected to date at its Oct. 12, 2021,
Legislative Action Committee meeting and again at its Oct. 13, 2021,
Council meeting at which time Council will consider authorizing this
application. Council will also consider comments provided by Grand
Ronde community members in determining whether to make any modi-
fications to the application. The resulting application will be available for
review. The ICDBG grant application is due on Oct. 25, 2021.
The Tribe’s Early Childhood Education Center was built in 2001 and
has to turn away children and families in need of service based on not
having space to serve them. ack of child care is a major barrier to fam-
ily members obtaining training and achieving employment and self-suf-
ficiency. The proposed project will construct a 3,500-square-foot Child
Care Center with three classrooms (infant through age 2). The estimat-
ed development cost is $2.1 million with $1.9 million for the structure
and $200,000 for parking and utilities. The ICDBG application will be for
$750,000, plus $250,000 in Tribal matching funds planned to come from
the Tribe’s Indian Housing Block Grant funding, plus $500,000 from a
planned amendment of the Tribe’s Child Care Development Fund grant,
and an expected $400,000 in grant funding from foundations. Added
building operation and maintenance costs are expected to be $20,000
a year. Adding staffing costs are expected to be primarily funded by
increased Early Head Start and Child Care Development funding.
TRIBAL VETERANS
SERVICE OFFICE
VETERANS CORNER, October 2021:
E-mail CTGRTribalVSO@grandronde.org
to register for events and training!
All CTGR veterans send us your e-mail address so we can include
you on the monthly CTGR Veterans Newsletter Distribution List
and periodic e-mail information updates.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 2021 until completed
Coffee & Chat with the TVSO
The original plan was to take you out to coffee and meet with
you face to face. Due to the pandemic, that isn’t possible
and I do not want to risk anyone’s health and safety. Because
I still want to connect with you, I will be reaching out to you
via phone call to speak with you about your benefits or other
related veteran topics. In return for your time the TVSO will send
you a gift card as a token of appreciation.
The Tribal Veterans Service Officer will call all Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde veterans to review Veteran Benefits
the veteran might be eligible for. Reviewing and applying for
benefits can mean more money in your pocket and/or more
benefits that you qualify to use. In some cases, spouses can also
benefit in case of the veterans passing. Let’s chat!
Oct. 28, 2021 2 p.m. (Virtual)
A Community Wellness Gathering: Living in Balance
Register on Zoom. Use Meeting ID: 810 8041 1541
Passcode: 241701
The last in our series of Behavioral Health trainings for 2021.
Please join us! The Native Wellness Institute will facilitate a
community virtual gathering to laugh, learn and connect with
one another in a good way. We’ll visit about living in balance,
how our cultural teachings can give us strength and share with
each other what makes us feel good. We’ll uplift each other and
leave feeling better than when we arrived.
Nov. 11, 2021 at 12:00 p.m.
Veterans Day Drive Through Luncheon
Honoring Tribal and community veterans on Veterans Day.
Begins at noon until supplies run out. Come get a boxed lunch, a
Future housing site
Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez
Workers from Scholten Construction Inc. of Willamina have started
moving earth at the 86.5-acre Rink 2 property off McPherson Road and
east of Grand Meadows in Grand Ronde. The site has been designated
for the Tribe’s new home ownership property recently named tipsu-ili’I
(grassland in Chinuk Wawa). The home ownership project is starting with
20 residential lots on which Tribal members can build homes with 75-
year leases. Tribal Council approved the $612,000 professional services
agreement with Scholten Construction during its Aug. 25 meeting. The
Tribe held a blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the property on
Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Fee assistance available
Enrolled Tribal members can request assistance with test fees (i.e.
GRE, SAT, LSAT, ACT) and admissions application fees.
Contact Higher Education for more information at 1-800-422-0232,
ext. 2275.
Ramona Quenelle, Tribal Veterans Service Officer, (TVSO)US Navy Veteran (IT2 SW)
Phone: 503-879-1484 | CTGRTribalVSO@grandronde.org
CTGR Social Services Department, Attn: Tribal Veterans Service Officer
9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347
VETERANS CRISIS LINE, CALL 1-800-273-8255 AND PRESS 1 OR TEXT 838255
T-shirt and some goodies from the Tribal Veterans Service Office
and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Behavioral Health
Department. #ctgrhonorsveterans
SAVE THE DATE CALENDAR:
Month of November
Veterans Wellness & Mental Health & Suicide Awareness Walk
(Virtual)
Contact the CTGR TVSO to sign up and to give us your T-shirt size.
Walk or run 2.2 miles sometime during the month of November
2021.
Veterans and veteran family members are welcome to
participate in our first walk to bring awareness to veteran
mental health and suicide. Each participant will receive a
T-shirt in return for completing the walk/run. If participants
choose to, they are welcome to post a selfie on the CTGR
TVSO page and/or send a photo to the CTGR TVSO with the
hashtags: #ctgrvetmentalhealthwalk2021, #iamaveteran or,
#ctgrhonorsveterans
Dec. 2021 (Date/Time TBD)
Veterans End of the Year Event
VIETNAM VETERANS - AGENT ORANGE EXPOSURE?
The list of conditions presumed to be caused by Agent Orange
exposure has recently expanded. Whether you were on land, air
or sea, you may be entitled to compensation from the VA.
Blue Water Navy: Agent Orange Presumptive Exposure in the
Republic of Vietnam.
1. Are you a Vietnam veteran (includes military, naval or air
service) who served in the Republic of Vietnam between Jan. 9,
1962, and May 7, 1975?
2. Did you serve aboard a vessel operating not more than 12
nautical miles seaward from the demarcation line of the waters
of Vietnam and Cambodia?
3. Do you have one or more of the Agent Orange presumptive
conditions listed below: IHD, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease,
respiratory cancers, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s
disease, multiple myeloma, soft tissue sarcomas, prostate
cancer, bladder cancer, hyper thyroidism, etc.
Contact the Tribal Veterans Service Office for more
information.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SOUTHWEST ASIA THEATER OF OPERATIONS?
The Department of Veterans Affairs began processing
disability claims Aug. 2, 2021 for asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis on
a presumptive basis based on presumed particulate matter
exposures during military service in Southwest Asia and certain
other areas – if these conditions manifested within 10 years of a
qualifying period of military service. Contact the Tribal Veterans
Service Office to determine if your dates of service and location
of service fall within the qualifying dates.
IRAQ or AFGHANISTAN?
Did you serve in Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, New
Dawn, Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom? The Open Burn
Pit Registry allows eligible veterans and service members to
document environmental exposures, such as smoke from burn
pits, oil-well fires or pollution during deployment, as well as record
health concerns, through an online questionnaire.
www.grandronde.org/services/social-services/veterans-services | www.benefits.va.gov/vso | www.facebook.com/CTGRTVSO
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