JerredReport
By
Jeanne A. Jerred
To all who may read this, Merry Christmas,
Happy New Year and I wish you and your families the best of
health and prosperity now and in the year to come.
I can’t seem to meet the deadline of the Tribal Tribune on a
regular basis and I hope you will find what I write here to be
of some interest.
This year has continued to be one of difficulty for Tribes
nation wide in our attempts to forestall detrimental legislation
and overcome short falls in federal funding levels.
Throughout the year I have worked with our DC Lobby firm on the
Hill for a number of issues including but not limited to: Lake
Roosevelt Management funding, Education reauthorizations,
National Indian Gaming policy and regulation changes and
requesting to get tribes direct access to Home Land Security
funds.
All of these issues are important and I could not do the quality
of work I do without the support and expert input of our staff
here at home.
In late November, I had the opportunity to attend a National
Indian Gaming meeting in Florida and address the Department of
Justice regarding proposed national gaming regulations. On
behalf of the Colville Tribe I informed Mr. Hefflefiger and Mr.
Tracy Toulou that for a true Government to Government
consultation to take place, they needed to contact our Chairman
Harvey Moses, Jr., and set a date when that consultation could
take place here. Also that the “grandfather clause” they were
proposing to be included in their draft policy, reminded me of
the other well known phrases “as long as the grass grows and the
river flows”. Tribal delegates there informed DOJ that we were
working with the National Indian Gaming Commission on these
issues and that DOJ should not become another layer of
Bureaucratic regulation especially since it is not necessary.
On December 5 & 6, I went to Palm Springs, CA to attend a
listening session with the Bureau of Head Start with Mr. Frank
Fuente, Acting Associate Commissioner. Our Head Start Program
manager Martina Whelshula and Education Department Head
Charlanne Quinto were also in attendance. There were policy
changes and funding level issues we were asked to comment on and
Tribal Leaders were specifically requested to give comment.
I asked if they had appointed Indians to their monitoring teams,
if not, why not? I asked if they would train the team members to
recognize each Tribe’s Sovereignty, Uniqueness, and Protocols.
Will they insure that the protocols of each tribe is adhered to?
If it had not been addressed I stated it should be mandatory.
On time lines and accuracy I stated they needed to provide a
smoother process for accessing funds so the Head Start Program
could have access to the funds at the beginning of the school
year instead of two or three months into the funding cycle.
We presented written testimony to them asking for involvement of
tribes in any drafting of any legislation with the potential to
impact tribe. Also stated that the funding level tribal set
aside needs to be no less than 4-1/2 percent as the unmet needs
are so great ‘status quo’ is not enough. The last piece of
information I wish to share with you is I was invited to be a
member of the National Tribal TANF Advisory Committee. This
recommendation came from the National Congress of American
Indians (NCAI) and the Colville Business Council approved of
that appointment in October. The purpose of the committee is to
proactively advocate for all Tribal TANF programs nationwide and
champion ongoing improvements in services provided to our TANF
clients.
Jeanne Jerred
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