"Hope Through Caring"
Nespelem District Council Position #2
Increase Jobs & Revenue
New Business Ventures on and off Reservation.
Our tribe has nearly 10,000 tribal members with approximately ½ living off-reservation. Our reservation is in Okanogan and Ferry Counties, which have the highest unemployment & poverty rates in the state. I continue to explore economic opportunities for our Tribe. The tri-cities are one of the fastest growing areas in the state. Projections show that we can have a gaming operation equivalent to Northern Quest at Pasco.
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Spokane County has more Colville tribal members than any other tribe. I asked our staff to submit a H.U.D. application to expand into Spokane and Benton Counties (Pasco). We received notice our request was successful with a $1.5 million award for Spokane. The development has not been updated to us since the award. I had provided our Health Committee Chair with the guidelines to expand our IHS Contract Health Services Delivery Area (CHSDA) to Spokane County. If successful, we can provide contract health services to our tribal members in Spokane. We have Natural Resource offices that are paying high office rent in Spokane. We need to investigate Behavioral Health, Education, & other programs to establish a Satellite Government Center in Spokane, which will expand our reach and influence. I want to create opportunities for our people to follow their dreams, wherever they may take them, recognizing that could be either on or off the reservation.
Salmon Reintroduction
Our Longhouses, our Winter Dances, our Stories, our Songs and most importantly our Elders have always taught us to respect our traditional foods. Salmon was once a staple diet for all of our tribes, many historical accounts say that up to 70% of our Ancestors diet was Salmon.
Since I was elected to Council, I took every opportunity to address salmon passage above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams. I attended many meetings for the Columbia River Treaty, the Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Statement, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and other forums. I have testified both at Washington DC and Olympia to bring our fish home. I am excited to see the progress but the journey is still a long haul, I know my education and work experience can contribute to successful re-entry
Recovery and Healing
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Our world is experiencing the worst Drug Epidemic ever. We need to get to the root of this issue and realize that there may be many elements to develop. I know you join me in not wanting to go to another funeral especially of our youth.
​Respect and Transparency
During my time on council, I now realize that I needed to do better to communicate with everyone to let them know the issues that I was working on and to periodically provide updates. I also have heard that our members would like a way to provide feedback. If elected I will maintain a website, update my Facebook page and produce my own column in our Tribal Tribune.