Part three – Shape the Future

Hello nyka tillikum. A few weeks I started my 3-part series on my Platform of Honoring the Past, Serving the Present and Shaping the Future for:

Elder Care

Education & Youth

Financial Sustainability & 

Preserving Culture and Spirituality, all embedded in community.

And this is the last video of that series: “Shaping the Future” and I’m going to wrap it up with 3 points of discussion: 

  1. Tribal Youth, Our Future Leaders;
  2. Enrollment & Membership; and
  3. Financial Sustainability & Economic Development, 

So Jumping right in to the 4 Talking Points for Tribal Youth, Our Future Leaders

  • 1- We need a Youth Recreational Center in Grand Ronde to improve the health & well-being of our youth in Grand Ronde & continue to build upon our prevention efforts with timely access to mental health supports, needed now more than ever.
  • 2- I’ve served on the Education committee for the tribe for a number of years and one of our initiatives in partnership with the Educ. dept and ODE is improving timely access to our students’ data and progress in schools across the State, not just locally. We need to work on MOUs for release of info from parents as a part of the registration process and have timely access to student progress and educational needs. I don’t have to tell you that drop out rates for native students is extremely high and graduation rates very low. We can help bridge that gap to support parents and students to help them succeed. 
  • 3-Research and Develop “Healing Centered” mentorship program opportunities (with elders/youth & peers) centered around community & cultural activities which could also be tied to the Recreational Center outcomes as well.
  • And last on this subject: Explore and create Community Apprenticeship Opportunity programs and partnerships with local businesses for youth that are not college bound. Connecting youth to career opportunities and exploring unique pathways for youth in the trades as a part of that by partnering with TERO, Education, Community businesses and the like. 

The Next point of discussion for Shaping the Future is a very complex one and a hot topic: Enrollment & Membership:

  • I’ve had quite a few people ask me about my position on Resolving the 1999 Amendment that created split families with “Parent On the Roll” and let me be very clear that I am 100% in support of any and all efforts to heal split families. One, as you know, it requires a Constitution amendment and not “bundling” issues may help clear up any confusion for future elections. We also know from the audit that was conducted that there are many issues with blood quantum that need to be fixed. I attended 3 of the 4 recent Enrollment and Membership meetings & the suggestions about lineal descent resonates with me the most but I am committed to working with the 8 other council members to find that solution sooner than later. And to the families that are struggling who should be enrolled and can’t be right now, I would just encourage you to not give up. Lastly on Enrollment for the first of 3 talking points, for the record, I also do not believe in disenrollment aside from being dual enrolled.
  • 2nd bullet point: I think Amending the BIA requirement to only require members to have to register one time for every Secretarial election vs every time, could help increase participation and eliminate confusion.
  • The last bullet point on Enrollment: I think we should create a Tribal Member Ad Hoc committee for outreach efforts to educate non-engaged members on the importance of voting. (for example, possible have a table at Pow Wow with educational material, Signature Verification forms and the ability to register on the spot & make resources available for assistance to members who live out of the area with the ability to have Q&A dialogue.

And last but certainly not least for this segment: Financial Sustainability & Economic Development has 4 talking points:

  • 1- Building community resilience through economic empowerment for individual entrepreneurs, such as creating small business loan programs, incentives for entrepreneurs and developing a Small Business Resource center. I’ve owned my own small business for 20 years in Photography, which has become more of a hobby and now I’m passing that torch on and teaching my daughter. But I graduated from the ONABEN certification program held in Portland at the time 25 years ago and we can partner with ONABEN in many ways to benefit tribal member entrepreneurs. 
  • 2- The “focus on the next 7 generations” by our visionaries is very important; however, also being for “this generation” is critical and serving the needs of the members in the moment is important. To me, not all investments will have a financial ROI; while it’s important to save for the future, I think it’s also important to give people the hand up that they need to make ends meet. Sometimes the return on investment is investing in people and the outcome is peace of mind, living your best life, having joy & creating a sense of community. My personal opinion, I think the Grand Ronde store is an example of a missed opportunity for a tribal family to own a small business in Grand Ronde and contribute to a thriving and vibrant community. It was once a goal to have tribal members return to Grand Ronde and for that to happen we need to have more opportunities for small business ventures. 
  • Which leads directly into the 2nd to the last bullet: Addressing the Housing Crisis: I know the current Council has approved new home ownership housing that is moving forward for 20 new homes in the first phase and that’s wonderful but we continue to have a lot of unmet need beyond those 20 units for market rate housing options.
  • We also need to think long-term for building a Retirement Center community & Assisted Living options for our aging population and fill that unmet need for elder care as well.Which can also serve as an economic development opportunity for tribal members to own, lease or work for those care facilities.

Well, friends, that is a wrap! 

You may have heard me reference “talking points” a few times throughout the video and that’s because I’m holding an Open Zoom meeting on Wednesday, August 18th from 6-7 pm and I would love to continue the conversation on any of these topics or anything else you would like to ask me about. You can find it on my events tab on my facebook page or you can also click the link below on August 18 at 6pm.

AUGUST 18 @ 6pm – ONLINE ZOOM MEETING – Click here to join!

Thank you, stay well.