OPA

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his appointment of Aurene Martin as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. Martin, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, came to the Interior Department in October 2001 as Counselor to Assistant Secretary McCaleb. Her appointment was effective on May 28, 2002.

“Aurene Martin is an invaluable member of my team,” said McCaleb. “She has extensive experience working in Indian affairs and I am confident that in her new role she will provide greater opportunities for improving trust and other BIA services for the Tribes and the American Indian and Alaska Native people.”

Before joining the Interior Department, Ms. Martin had served as Republican senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs since January 1999, where she covered Indian health care, gaming and self-determination issues and appropriations. From October 1998 to January 1999 she was Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC).

From June 1993 through October 1998, she worked for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and left as Senior Staff Attorney. While there she worked on all aspects of tribal representation including Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) litigation, gaming, and self-determination and tribal government issues.

Ms. Martin was born in Shawano, Wisconsin, and was raised on the Menominee Indian Reservation. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she majored in History, Italian and History of Culture. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. Ms. Martin also received her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1993. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar and has been active in its Indian law section, including serving as an officer of the section.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of tribal governments, American Indians, and Alaska Natives. The Assistant Secretary, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is also responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who are members of the 559 federally recognized tribes.

Note to Editors: A photo of Aurene Martin may be viewed via the Interior Department’s web site at www.doi.gov.

WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Gale Norton will meet with American Indian leaders in Bismarck, N. D., June18, 2002, as part of ongoing consultations to review plans for improving the Department of the Interior's management of Indian trust assets. Members of the Joint Tribal Leaders/DOI Task Force on Trust Reform recently presented Secretary Norton a report on the group's efforts to evaluate proposals from tribal groups on ways to improve Interior's management of Indian trust funds and assets. The report identified several recommendations and options for management improvement.

WHO: Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton Tribal Task Force on Trust Reform

WHAT: Consultations with Tribal Leaders on Reform of Interior's Trust Asset Management

WHEN: Tuesday, June 18, 2002, 7 p.m. (Local time)

WHERE: The Radisson Inn, Bismarck, N. D.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) popular family literacy program, FACE, will be expanded to seven BIA-funded schools in the 2003-2004 school year. The Family and Child Education program, which is administered by the Bureau’s Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), provides early childhood and adult education programs to American Indian families at home and in school. The FACE program has served over 15,000 infants, children and adults since its start in 1991.

“The ability to read and comprehend information is vital to a lifetime of learning,” said Assistant Secretary Martin. “The FACE program is creating a new generation of readers in Indian communities across the country and bringing new hope to adult students who want to improve their lives through education.”

The seven schools are: Beclabito Day School, Shiprock, N.M.; Mescalero Apache School, Mescalero, N.M.; Oneida Nation Elementary School, Oneida, Wisc.; Santa Rosa Boarding School, Sells, Ariz.; Seba Dalkai Boarding School, Winslow, Ariz.; St. Francis Indian School, St. Francis, S.D.; and Tiospa Zina Tribal School, Agency Village, S.D. The addition of these schools expands from 32 to 39 the number of BIA-funded schools providing family literacy services through the FACE program.

FACE provides early or pre-literacy experiences for infants and families in the home as well as early childhood and adult education programs in school. An important facet of the program is its support of parental involvement in a child’s reading experience. Since 1991, over 8,000 children from ages birth to five have been served by the FACE program. [In December 2002, FACE enrolled all children from birth to age 5 in the Imagination Library program sponsored by the Dollywood Foundation in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Through this national reading program, all FACE children will receive a new age-appropriate book each month for a possible total of 60 books.]

FACE also provides opportunities for adults to complete their secondary level education and obtain workplace skills such as computer training. Since 1991, over 500 adults have earned their high school or general equivalency diploma (GED) and approximately 2,000 adults have found employment by participating in FACE.

Schools are selected through an application process and on-site visits to gauge each school’s commitment and ability to supporting a FACE program. Once selected, a school receives ongoing training and technical assistance to ensure that it will successfully implement the FACE model.

The BIA school system has 185 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on 63 reservations in 23 states and serving approximately 48,000 students. In School Year 2001- 2002, the BIA directly operated one-third of its elementary and secondary schools. The remaining two-thirds are tribally-operated under BIA contract or grant.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of the 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes.

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WASHINGTON – Interior Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb will address the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2002 Mid-Year Conference on June 18 in Bismarck, N.D. His speech “The Path to Prosperity” will focus on building strong, sustainable tribal economies. He also will announce the Bureau’s national conference on tribal economic development scheduled for September 16-19, 2002 in Phoenix, Ariz.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting tribal self-determination and economic development. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives and the nation’s 559 federally recognized tribes.

The National Congress of American Indians is the nation’s oldest and largest association of tribal governments.

WHO: Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb

WHAT: Remarks on tribal economic development at the NCAI 2002 Mid-Year Conference.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 11:00 a.m. (Local time)

WHERE: Bismarck Civic Center, Exhibit Hall A, Bismarck, N.D

WASHINGTON – In a speech before tribal leaders this week on improving economic conditions in Indian Country, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb called on tribes to choose prosperity over poverty. “We can choose between poverty and prosperity,” McCaleb said. “Most of us would choose prosperity, so why has Indian America remained mired in poverty?” The Assistant Secretary spoke on June 18 at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2002 Mid-Year Conference in Bismarck, N.D. The NCAI is the oldest and largest association of tribal governments in the U.S.

In his speech, McCaleb shared his ideas on how to bring economic prosperity to the nation’s 559 federally recognized tribes. Stressing the need for tribal leaders to be willing to take action and accept change in order to improve poor economic conditions in their communities, McCaleb observed, “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, then you’re always going to get what you’ve always gotten.”

McCaleb noted while having access to capital, markets and a skilled workforce are important in creating a positive economic climate, tribal governments also need to establish business and legal environments that minimize risk for investors, and improve educational opportunities for tribal members.

He also pointed out the need to develop reservation-based technology and energy resource development companies, create Indian-owned and controlled sources of capital, expand the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Indian Loan Guaranty Program, and accelerate educational improvement and technical skills development through BIA funded and operated schools and tribal colleges.

McCaleb endorsed the goals of creating 100,000 new jobs in Indian Country by 2008 and generating $1 billion per year in direct contracts with Indian-owned industries by 2005 by utilizing the Small Business Administration (SBA) and expanding the Buy Indian Act.

He also announced that a National Summit on Emerging Tribal Economies, whose theme is “Building Sustainable Tribal Economies,” will be held September 16-19, 2002 in Phoenix, Ariz. The event will bring corporations and federal agencies together with tribal leaders to discuss ways of producing employment opportunities in Indian Country and developing processes for sustainable, market-driven tribal economies. The summit also will showcase successful Indian Country businesses.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting tribal self-determination and economic development. The Assistant Secretary oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives and the nation’s federally recognized tribes.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today conducted a ceremonial swearing-in of the founding members of the American Indian Education Foundation (AIEF) Board of Directors at its inaugural meeting in the Interior Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Congress established the Foundation in December, 2000 under the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act (Public Law 106-568).

The Foundation is authorized to accept contributions from private citizens and outside entities wishing to provide direct assistance to Indian students attending Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools. "Education is one of the highest priorities of this administration," said Secretary Norton. "We are striving to leave no child behind in our efforts to improve the quality of education - including those at BIA schools across Indian country. The American Indian Education Foundation will play a vital role in supporting Indian students and bringing hope to their parents and communities."

Secretary Norton was joined today by Acting Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin and AIEF Founding Director Lorraine P. Edmo for the ceremonial swearing-in of nine business leaders, educators and social service professionals who will serve on the Foundation's 11-member board. The Secretary and the Assistant Secretary will both serve as ex-officio board members. The BIA school system is comprised of 185 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools on 63 reservations in 23 states serving 47,909 students.

"The individuals who will serve on the board of directors are experienced and dedicated professionals in their fields," Secretary Norton said. "I am deeply grateful for their willingness to commit their time and energy to such a worthy effort. Through their leadership, the Foundation will become an effective advocate for BIA schools everywhere." In addition to Secretary Norton and Assistant Secretary Martin, the founding board members include:

• Dave Anderson of Edina, Minnesota, a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwa and Founder and President of Famous Dave's Barbecue Restaurants franchise. His entrepreneurial experience and leadership helped his reservation substantially increase it gross revenues, an effort which was recognized by President Reagan's Presidential Commission on Indian Reservation Economies. In 1999, the Anderson family established the Youth Skills Foundation with a $1.4 million gift. Anderson was awarded the Bush Leadership Fellowship in 1985 and received a Masters Degree from Harvard University in 1986.
• Dr. David Beaulieu of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe - White Earth Reservation and the first Electa Quinney professor of American Indian education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Education, a position named for the state's first American Indian public school teacher. He has extensive experience in federal Indian education having served as Director of the Department of Education's Office of Indian Education from 1997 to 2001 and on the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force from 1990 to 1991.
• Sharon K. Darling of Louisville, Kentucky, Founder and President of the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) and an internationally recognized leader in the field of family literacy. She is an active member of several boards and serves on the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Darling also pioneered a program combing early childhood education, adult literacy education, parent support and structured interaction between parents and their children. She received the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush.
• John Guevremont, a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut and Director of the Tribe's National Government Affairs Office located in Washington, D.C. He has held several positions within Mashantucket Pequot tribal government, has been active in local and state politics, and is a retired major of the U.S. Marine Corps (1975 to 1995). He has a Masters Degree in Engineering Management and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• Daniel Lewis of Phoenix, Arizona, a member of the Navajo Nation and Senior Vice-President and Director of the Office of Native American Financial Services for Bank of America. Prior to joining the financial services company, Lewis served as Minority Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. He is active in various local and national organizations and is currently chairman of the National Native American Advisory Committee of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
• Nick Lowery of Tempe, Arizona, President of the Nick Lowery Foundation and Co-Founder of "Nation Building for Native Youth." He has over 20 years experience organizing and leading community projects at the local and national level that promote and facilitate volunteerism, and that try to restore faith and healing to isolated communities. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. A former All-Pro professional football player with the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets, Lowery is the only American to work for Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton in the Office of National Service and Drug Abuse Policy.
• Jo-Anne Stately of St. Paul, Minnesota, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and Senior Program Officer of The Saint Paul Foundation. She was recently elected President of Native Americans in Philanthropy, a national non-profit association of American Indian and Alaska Natives promoting philanthropic giving across Indian Country. She has specialized experience in fund development in communities of color and her areas of focus include economic and neighborhood development, health care, and management of special projects.
• Dr. Linda Sue Warner of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a member of the Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma and Research Associate Professor, Truman Center for Public Policy, University of Missouri - Columbia and most recently served as Chief Executive Officer for the Indian Community School of Milwaukee, Inc.. Dr. Warner has extensive teaching experience in public and BIA schools as well as at the University of Kansas-Lawrence, where she also did graduate level research on Indian education leadership. In addition to her teaching credentials, Dr. Warner has a M.Ed. from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. from The University of Oklahoma-Norman.
• Della Warrior of Santa Fe, New Mexico, a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma and President of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) where she also served as Interim President and, prior to becoming president, as Development Director. Under her leadership, the Institute has received over $9 million to establish permanent facilities, received full accreditation for its two-year academic programs and implemented its first four-year degree programs. She has a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University.

AIEF founding director Lorraine Edmo, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall, Idaho, has extensive experience in the federal and non-profit sectors. She previously served in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Indian Education (OIE) as an Education Program Specialist. From 1993 to 1999, she served as executive director of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), the country's oldest and largest non-profit Indian education organization.

From 1983 to 1992, she served as Executive Director of the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) in Albuquerque, N.M., a non-profit scholarship organization for American Indian and Alaska Native graduate students. Edmo has a Bachelors Degree from the University of Montana and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico.

Congress established the Foundation as a federally-chartered charitable, nonprofit corporation under Title XIII of the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act of 2000 to accept and administer charitable donations for the benefit of Interior's Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) and "other activities" to further educational opportunities for American Indian students attending Bureau-funded schools. Federal agencies are prohibited from accepting private donations unless authorized to do so by Congress.

The Foundation will be organized as a 501(c)(3) corporation in the District of Columbia. Under the terms of the statute, the Secretary is authorized to provide support for the Foundation for a period of at least five years until it becomes an independent entity. The board will meet annually and operate independently from the Interior Department. The board also intends to select a permanent name for the Foundation as it develops the organization's articles of incorporation in the coming months.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Neal A. McCaleb today announced his decision to acknowledge that the historical Eastern Pequot Tribe, of the Lantern Hill Reservation, North Stonington, Connecticut exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law. The historical Eastern Pequot Tribe meets all of the mandatory criteria under 25 CFR Part 83, the Federal acknowledgment regulations, for a government-to-government relationship with the United States.

The historical Eastern Pequot Tribe was represented before the Department of the Interior by two petitioners: the Eastern Pequot Tribe (petition #35) and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Tribe (petition #113). The final determination finds that there is a single tribe composed of both petitioners. The Assistant Secretary has the authority to recognize a single tribe in the circumstance where it is represented by more than one petitioner.

A notice of the decision will be published in the Federal Register. The conclusions in each case are the same, but the analysis for each petitioner varies based on the arguments that they presented. The acknowledgment will become final 90 days from publication of the Federal Register notice unless either petitioner, or an interested party, files a request for reconsideration from the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA). The State of Connecticut, through the Offices of the Governor and Attorney General, the Towns of Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island, as well as some unacknowledged Indian groups in Connecticut, are interested parties to this final determination.

After the Pequot War of 1637 the surviving Pequots were temporarily placed under the supervision of tribes allied with the English. Those Pequots whom the colonial government removed from the supervision of the Eastern Niantic sachem Ninigret in 1654 were subsequently governed by two Indian rulers: Harmon Garrett and Momoho. The Colony of Connecticut purchased the Lantern Hill land for Momoho’s Pequots in 1683. Since then there has been an unbroken history of state recognition and a reservation for this tribe.

The historical Eastern Pequot Tribe has been identified continuously as an Indian entity since that time and has maintained a continuous community exercising political influence over its members from first sustained contact with non-Indians to the present. Members of the newly acknowledged tribe descend from persons identified by State and Federal records as members of the historical Eastern Pequot Tribe.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of tribal governments, American Indians, and Alaska Natives. The Assistant Secretary, who oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Acknowledgement Process, is also responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who are members of the 559 federally recognized tribes.

On February 20, 2003, the Department of the Interior received amendments to a Class III gaming compact executed by the Forest County Potawatomi Community and the State of Wisconsin. Under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the Secretary may approve or disapprove the compact before the date that is 45 days after receipt of the compact. If the Secretary does not approve or disapprove the compact by that date, the compact is considered to have been approved, but only to the extent that its terms comply with the requirements of IGRA.

In accordance with Section 11(d)(8)(C) of IGRA, the Secretary has neither approved nor disapproved the amendments to the Class III gaming compact between the Forest County Potawatomi Community and the State of Wisconsin. As a result, the compact is considered to have been approved as of April 5, 2003, and will take effect after notice is published in the Federal Register.

The Secretary will communicate by letter to the Governor of the State of Wisconsin and the Chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi Community regarding this matter.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will observe Earth Day 2003 during a visit she will make to the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) on April 23 at 2:20 p.m.(local time) to view its new Science and Technology Building and reforestation project. SIPI is a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded, two-year institution located in Albuquerque, N.M., that provides general education, business, science and technical instruction at the associate degree and certificate levels for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

“With this new facility, SIPI will prepare a new generation of Indian students for the world of science to keep our Earth healthy,” said Assistant Secretary Martin, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

According to SIPI’s president, Dr. Joseph Martin, a member of the Navajo Nation, the new 72,540 square foot science and technology facility “will serve as a teaching, learning and research laboratory where students will be prepared for careers and/or matriculation to four-year universities in science, mathematics and engineering.”

The National Science Foundation (NSF) found that in 1997, the latest year available, American Indians comprised less than half of one percent of scientists and engineers in the United States. Currently, over 800 Indian students from more than 130 federally recognized tribes comprise SIPI’s student population.

In addition, SIPI has formed partnerships with federal departments and agencies, private companies and research entities on renewable energy technology and sustainable agricultural projects. For example, SIPI is working with the U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories and an Indian-owned company, Sacred Power, to design and install photovoltaic, wind and solar hot water systems on campus to educate and train students in renewable energy technology and has developed an educational curriculum focusing on applicable renewable energy technologies and sciences. As part of its sustainable agriculture program, SIPI students have already grown 22,000 seedlings to reforest tribal lands burned in the Cerro Grande fire. The seedlings are from stock indigenous to those lands.

“Indian people have a proud history of applying what is now called ‘science’ to their everyday lives,” Assistant Secretary Martin said. “Long before the first contact with Europeans, their ancestors had discovered the medicinal properties of plants, constructed housing made of environmentally compatible materials, cultivated hardy crops such as corn and wild rice, developed efficient ways of hunting, fishing and farming, and established methods and tools for measuring space, time and distance.” The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs has responsibility for fulfilling the Department’s trust responsibilities and promoting self-determination on behalf of the 562 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The Assistant Secretary also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency with 10,500 employees nationwide, which is responsible for providing services to approximately 1.4 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes.

-DOI-

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will be a guest on the “Indian in the Spotlight” program of Native America Calling on the show’s April 25, 2003, edition. NAC is the national public affairs and news radio program on the American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) and National Public Radio networks. Assistant Secretary Martin will speak on today’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the 179-yearold federal agency that serves the nation’s 562 federally recognized tribes. She will discuss topics such as the pending reorganization of the Bureau, the progress being made in replacing aging BIA schools, the goals of the recently established American Indian Education Foundation (AIEF), as well as her perspective on the BIA’s role in improving economic and employment conditions in Indian Country. She will respond to questions called in by listeners. For more information, contact NAC at 505-277-7999 or visit NAC’s web site at www.nativeamericacalling.com.

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