My fellow Tribal members,
I am honored and humbled by the time you have allowed me to serve you as Tribal Council Secretary. It’s almost voting time again, and I want to let you all know I am accepting the nomination for the same position.
It was three years ago that I came to you for your support in helping bring a positive change to our Tribe.
I feel your Council has shown it’s strength during this pandemic. This is the hardest thing our tribal people have faced in our lifetime. I feel proud to be part of that leadership.
You have asked me to be your voice and eyes by being a transparent leader that offers you hand in our vision as a Tribe. I have done my best and will continue to do so.
I will have a video out soon to talk about the concerns and needs I would like your support with in order to bring them to Tribal Council in my next term.
I am currently a board member on the Olympic College Foundation. With that role, and being the Tribal Council representative for education, I see the need to develop a white page, of sorts, to recruit and train our young tribal members into the professional jobs we have to offer here at home. We all deserve a job with a real living wage. We need to let our high school seniors know how to achieve these goals and how to get themselves there. Our youth are our future. With that in mind, I have planted a seed with the Boys and Girls Club of America to have Squaxin Island Tribe become another Native club in their mix. We have top notch Education and Parks & Rec departments. This would be a great compliment to the relationship I would like to build with them.
We need to look farther into the future and find funds to build our gym. The Boys and Girls Club of America has 300 Native clubs from Alaska to Hawaii. I believe we can have the first of many clubs to come in Mason County.
We need an updated behavioral health and transitional housing program to strengthen our vulnerable adult program. The program needs the tools to better care for our people. We need to address our homeless and vulnerable adult living arrangements; we need to make sure all our families are dry and safe everyday.
I have seen and heard the need for our own senior living facility. Our Elders should not have to be broke to find adequate services from the state. We need to provide better service than our neighbors. Our treatment center is a perfect model for us to build this.
Tribal members could also benefit from a medium income housing subdivision on Tribal lands. Whether it be a flat rate rental program or a184 loan opportunity, we need to make sure all of our tribal people have affordable housing.
Once Covid-19 becomes more manageable, we can start meeting with our local governments. I look forward to help building our economic base in Olympia, Tumwater, and Shelton, working with all city councils to strengthen our relationships.
It is important for our economic well-being to continue building culturally appropriate sales and tax revenues in our retail zone by drawing visitors to our Kamilche area.
So I ask, once again, for your continued support in becoming your Council Secretary in May.
I look forward to seeing you all at whatever forum we have coming soon. Thank you, stay safe, and Bless you all.