Message from the Tribal Chair

Dear fellow Tribal members:

As 2013 begins winding down, I would like to take a moment to share a few things with you that Tribal Council has been working on over the last few months.

Tribal Council has been and will continue to be deeply invested in protecting the rights and benefits of our Tribal members and our youth. As 2014 approaches, we've kept this in mind and I think each and every one of you will be pleased with the proposed 2014 budget. As always, I encourage you to provide comments to let Tribal Council know what you think our priorities should be next year. I look forward to providing you with a detailed budget summary in a future issue of the Tilixam Wawa.

Tribal Cemetery Ordinance and Plot Plan

Over the next few months, Tribal Council will be working closely with staff to develop a Tribal Cemetery Ordinance. The ordinance will seek to establish the boundaries of the Tribe's historical cemetery and current and future burial grounds. The ordinance also will seek to govern the interment of eligible deceased persons in our cemetery. Once a draft ordinance has been agreed upon, we will present it to the membership for input. I would like to encourage everyone ahead of time to comment on the draft ordinance when it comes out since it will be important for generations to come.

Enrollment Audit - Update

While the audit has not been an easy thing for our Tribal Council or our Tribal membership, I would like to provide you with a brief update regarding the recent dual enrollment disenrollments. In total, Tribal Council disenrolled 13 and remanded 17 cases back to the Enrollment Committee for further consideration. I would like to point out that our staff is working diligently to resolve as many issues as possible to help ease the burden of proof for members who may have incomplete files or information. Seventy-eight files were flagged with dual enrollment findings; of those, 13 were deceased, 42 had hearings, 23 were cleared by staff and 10 were cleared during the hearing process. While the process has not been easy, I am encouraged by the number of members working diligently with staff to resolve any issues and/or findings. We greatly appreciate your patience as we make our way through the audit process and would like to thank our staff and Tribal members for their assistance.

Tribal History Curriculum

I am pleased to announce the development of Tribal history curriculum thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Education Department and Tribal member Cheyanne Fasana. Our Education Department has worked tirelessly to develop the Grand Ronde Tribal History Curriculum Pilot Project. The project was drafted and designed by our staff to be taught to fourth-grade students in Oregon to educate them on local Native American Tribes. Cheyanne Fasana, as part of a school project, developed and instructed a curriculum for kindergarten and fifth- and sixth-graders. More often than not, students are taught inaccurate information about Native Americans and often learn about Tribes thousands of miles away. Our goal is to deliver this curriculum to classrooms to help raise awareness and teach accurate curriculum to students in our local schools. I'm extremely proud of Cheyanne and our Education Department, and am excited to see how this curriculum positively affects the lives of our students and those around them.

Tribal Mascot Legislation

For months the Tribe worked closely with state legislators to pass Senate Bill 215, which would have allowed schools to keep Native American team names and mascots if they worked hand-in-hand with their local Tribes to educate students and community members. While the legislation passed both legislative chambers, Gov. John Kitzhaber ultimately vetoed the legislation, which will allow the Native American mascot ban to remain in effect. We will continue to work closely with our local school districts, elected leaders and the governor to educate our children and find a solution that works for everyone.

Tribal Employment Rights Office [TERO]

In October, the Tribe hired its first TERO director and we'll soon be gearing up to implement our TERO policy. The ordinance and our new TERO director will help lay the groundwork for increasing Tribal employment and will be a new resource for our Tribal members. The department will act like an employment hiring agency and also will help enforce preference in employment. My hope is that the department will help empower Tribal members and further our sovereignty through our own self-determination.

Tribal Planner

The Tribe recently brought on a Tribal planner to help us revisit and revise our 2010 Strategic Plan to bring it up to date. With a Tribal planning position in play, the Tribe will be able to develop initiatives to help us achieve some of these goals.

Per Capita

As we entered into the calendar year 2014 budgeting process, we made it clear that we needed to be responsive to our membership. In doing so, we looked at ways to ensure a 25-percent per capita distribution to our membership and were able to include it in the preliminary 2014 budget. As we continue to expand our portfolio and invest in new economic development opportunities, we hope to continue to revisit these kinds of issues and improve the number of services and benefits we provide to our membership.

30^th Restoration Celebration

This year marks our 30^th year of Restoration. As chairman and as a Tribal Council member for more than 17 years, I have had the privilege of watching our Tribe grow leaps and bounds since we were restored in 1983. I hope you join me on Nov. 22-23, 2013, at Spirit Mountain Casino as we celebrate 30 years of Restoration and all of the contributions and accomplishments of our Tribe and our Tribal members. We never want to forget those who have helped us get this far. 

Thank you for allowing me to serve as one of your elected leaders. I hope these updates help keep you informed and I look forward to writing more as we enter the New Year.

Sincerely,

Reynold L. Leno

Tribal Council Chairman