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WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated institution of higher learning in Albuquerque, N.M., will receive $531,000 to aid in the development of American Indian small business under an agreement with the Small Business Administration (SBA). SIPI is a two-year institution that provides general education, business, science and technical instruction at the associate degree and certificate levels for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

“Entrepreneurship is a cornerstone of tribal economic self-determination,” Martin said. “With this agreement, SIPI will play an important role in nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit that is so vital to building strong reservation economies.”

Under the agreement, SIPI will develop and implement a small business development training program targeting American Indian entrepreneurs located in the nation’s most disadvantaged tribal areas. It will tailor existing SBA training and materials for use in Indian Country and develop new curricula on starting and growing a small business.

In addition, SIPI will hold training sessions on reservations around the country and increase outreach to remote sectors where Indian people live and work. Training curricula will be available online, as well as through compact disk and correspondence courses, with topics such as starting and managing a small business, writing a business plan, identifying start-up costs, marketing, procurement, wages and benefits, tax and accounting basics and tribal business law.

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

WASHINGTON - Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will bring his message about the benefits of positive thinking and making healthy life choices to an assembly of students, parents, faculty and staff at Sequoyah High School, a contract school for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It is the ninth school in a series of visits Anderson plans to make to BIA field offices and education facilities during his administration.

Sequoyah High School, an Indian boarding school, originated in 1871 when the Cherokee National Council passed an act setting up an orphan asylum to take care of many orphans who came out of the civil war. In 1914, the Cherokee Orphan Training School and 40 acres were sold to the United States Department of the Interior to be operated as a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school. In 1985, the Cherokee Nation resumed the operation of Sequoyah High School from the BIA under a contract/grant and is regionally and state accredited for grades 9-12.

The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs oversees the BIA school system, which educates approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states.

WHO: David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

WHAT: Anderson will visit Sequoyah High School to meet with students, parents, faculty and school officials, and to tour the facilities.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21, 2004, at 1:30 a.m. (CST)

WHERE: Sequoyah High School Gym, Highway 62, five miles south of Tahlequah, OK

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 12.45 p.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 1:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that she has confirmed Woodrow W. Hopper Jr., a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs for Management. “Mr. Hopper is an experienced manager and a dedicated public servant,” Martin said. “His professionalism and commitment to excellence will serve both the BIA and the tribes well.” Hopper had been serving as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary since June 12, 2003. His appointment became effective on September 24.

Hopper joined the Interior Department following his retirement in 1986 from a long and distinguished human resources career in the United States Air Force. He rejoined the Department in 2002 as Director of Human Resources within the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. In the 1990’s, he served as the Department’s Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources from 1996 to 1997 and as Director of Personnel from 1993 to 1997.

Raised in Oklahoma City, Hopper joined the Air Force at 17 and completed his high school education while in service. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma through the Air Force “Airman” Education and Commissioning Program, he attended Officers Training School where he earned his commission. Hopper earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma-Norman in 1970 and a Master’s degree in Personnel Counseling from Troy State University in Troy, Alabama, in 1975. He is also a graduate of the USAF Air Command and Staff College, Squadron Officers School, Academic Instructors Course, Personnel Officers Course and Professional Personnel Managers Course. Hopper served as an instructor in management and leadership at Southwest Texas State University from 1979 to 1981 and at the University of Texas at San Antonio from 1981 to 1983.

Hopper has two meritorious service medals and one Air Force Commendation medal for outstanding service. In 1997, he received the Interior Department’s Meritorious Service Award.

Hopper and his family currently reside in Washington, D.C. He and his wife are HarleyDavidson enthusiasts and marathon runners.

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

-DOI-

(Prewitt, N.M.) – In an Earth Day celebratory event on the Navajo Nation reservation, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today praised the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs operated day school located in Prewitt, N.M., for being designated the first Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEEDTM) certified building in the state and the BIA school system by the U.S. Green Building Council. The school, which opened on August 28, 2003 as a replacement facility for the BIA’s Baca Day School and Thoreau Boarding School, serves 419 students in grades K-6 from the Prewitt, Haystack and Thoreau communities on the Navajo reservation.

“I want to congratulate the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School on its designation as the first LEEDTM certified BIA school and as the first ‘green’ building in the state of New Mexico,” Anderson said. “Baca has set a new standard for future BIA replacement schools: to provide a healthy, environmentally friendly and culturally sensitive setting for BIA students to learn in.”

Anderson was joined by Baca principal Jacque Mangham in accepting the LEEDTM certification plaque from John Harzfeld, chairman of the USGBC, a national coalition of building industry leaders that promotes environmentally responsible design, construction and maintenance for private, public and commercial buildings.

Participants at the certification ceremony also included Lt. Col. Dana Hurst, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque District; representatives from the Navajo Nation; and students and school officials. Also represented were the local firms Dyron Murphy Architects PC, Bradbury Stamm Construction Inc., Environmental Dynamics Inc. and Southwest Commissioning Services LLC, all of whom collaborated on the project with the Corps and the BIA’s Office of Facilities Management and Construction.

LEEDTM certification is the distinction given to buildings that are built using Sustainable Design Concepts as defined by the USGBC. As a LEEDTM certified building, Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School provides better indoor air quality by limiting sources of construction contaminants, isolating dust and other pollutants, and incorporating a Green Housekeeping Program. Due to its ‘greening’ design and construction, Baca also will see a reduction in its utility expenses and a reduction in building water use that will help with local water conservation efforts.

The Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School project is unique for several reasons. First, it was the first collaborative effort between the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers. Second, the design, construction and operation of the Baca School building minimized negative environmental impacts and energy demands. Third, the school is a lesson in sustainable design while embodying elements sacred to Navajo culture. Finally, as a project that consolidated two existing schools into one unified school, Baca enjoyed a strong commitment by the school board and surrounding communities. A portion of one of the older schools will be preserved for a community center.

In terms of design alone, the Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School incorporates a number of elements that honor the Navajo culture. For example, the building’s main entrance faces east to greet the morning sun, symbolizing the beginning of life. Its four wings, which surround a central core, represent the four directions of north, south, east and west and are painted to coincide with sacred colors attributed by the Navajo people to each direction.

In 2000, the OFMC adopted the USGBC’s Sustainable Design Concepts under the LEEDTM rating system for all future BIA replacement schools.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contracts or grants.

WASHINGTON – Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College (SCTC) in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and the Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) in Sells, Ariz., have been deemed eligible for assistance under the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978 (P.L. 95- 471). Under the Act, the Secretary of the Interior has authority to make grants to tribally-controlled colleges or universities for the purpose of continued and expanded educational opportunities for Indian students. Both tribal colleges have been granted initial candidacy for accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, one of six regional institutional accrediting associations in the United States.

“I congratulate Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College and Tohono O’odham Community College for the tremendous progress they have made since their founding,” Martin said. “These institutions are valued members of the higher education community and will be welcome additions to the family of BIA-funded tribal colleges.”

Chartered by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan in 1998 as a two-year institution, SCTC provides academic, occupational, vocational, cultural and lifelong learning programs in an environment that emphasizes Ojibwa culture to tribal members, students from other tribes and the general public. The college offers Associate of Arts degrees in General Studies, Native American Studies and Business.

TOCC was chartered by the Tohono O’odham Tribal Nation in 1998 to strengthen the Tohono O’odham people and enhance their culture, values, traditions and way of life through higher education. Under a reciprocal agreement with the Pima Community College District, TOCC students are dually enrolled at both schools in order to earn approved college credit that meets all accreditation standards and to become eligible for financial assistance. TOCC is a two-year institution offering undergraduate degrees in general studies, social services, early childhood education and child development, administrative and office support, computer systems, business and building and construction technologies.

The BIA currently funds 25 tribally-controlled colleges and universities across the country and directly operates two post-secondary institutions of higher learning: Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, N.M. The Bureau also offers financial assistance to Indian undergraduate and graduate students through tribal scholarship programs and the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC).

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

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – As part of his continuing visits to Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today regaled students, staff and faculty of Sequoyah High School, a BIA-funded facility for grades 9-12 operated by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, with his experiences and expertise that have ultimately led to both personal and business success for the highest-ranking American Indian at the Interior Department. At the same time, Anderson repeated his message about the beneficial impact that healthy life choices and positive thinking can have for young people and their future lives.

“It is vital that BIA students believe in themselves as contributing members of their families, schools and communities, Anderson said. “Building self-esteem through positive thinking and healthy life choices not only can make education more rewarding, it also can change the course of one’s life for the better, as I, myself, have learned.”

The Sequoyah High School was originally established by the Cherokee Nation in 1871 as an asylum for children orphaned by the Civil War. In 1914, then known as the Cherokee Orphan Training School, the facility was sold along with 40 acres to the Interior Department to operate as a BIA boarding school. In 1925, its name was changed to the Sequoyah Orphan Training School in honor of the tribe’s most famous member who developed the Cherokee Syllabary. The school was later known as the Sequoyah Vocational School. In 1985, the Cherokee Nation reassumed direct operation of the school, now known as Sequoyah High School, with funding from the BIA. The institution is regionally and state accredited.

Anderson began his visits to the BIA schools in March with appearances at the Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, Calif., and Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Ore. Earlier this month he visited the Turtle Mountain High School in Belcourt, N.D., and schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cheyenne River Reservation and Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota.

The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversees the BIA, the 180-year old agency that provides services to 1.8 million individual American Indians and Alaska Natives from the 562 federally recognized tribes, and the BIA school system. The school system serves approximately 48,000 American Indian children in 184 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools located on or near 63 reservations in 23 states. The BIA directly operates one-third of these schools and the remaining two-thirds are tribally operated under BIA contract or grant.

(Washington, D.C.) -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES) will hold its 13th Annual Memorial Service on Thursday May 6, 2004, to commemorate the sacrifice made by law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while serving on Indian lands. The Memorial Service will start at 10:00 A.M. MDT on the BIA Indian Police Academy grounds in Artesia, New Mexico.

“Each year we add names of fallen officers to the BIA Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial,” Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Dave Anderson said. “It pays tribute to their sacrifice and it reminds us that freedom from crime is not free and bravery is not borne by the weak.”

The keynote address will be provided by Robert Ecoffey, Deputy Bureau Director, BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services. Others speakers for the memorial will be Randy Beardsworth, Director of Operations for Border and Transportation, Department of Homeland Security. Michael Carroll, President, Interaction Association of Chiefs of Police. Larry Parkinson, Deputy Assistant Secretary Law Enforcement and Security, Department of the Interior.

This year, two names of fallen officers will be added to the granite stones to join eighty-four other law enforcement officers, whom have lost their lives in the line of duty since 1852. The names of Adam Hawk and John “HOH” Williams who served the Quinault Tribal Police Department in Taholah, Washington will be added to the memorial. Officer Hawk and Officer Williams were shot and killed on February 28, 1910, by a suspect in an indecent liberties case. Officer Williams was shot while investigating the assault of the young girl. Officer Hawk was ambushed while transporting the victim from the reservation.

The Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial site is constructed with Native American symbolism and traditional plants incorporated into the design. The three granite stones are surrounded by a cement/aggregate surface forming a circle around the vertical slabs with an opening to allow for access. Sage, a plant with spiritual significance, is planted in the four directions to consecrate the hallow ground. Four planter areas are filled foliage surrounded by white, red, yellow, and black stones to signify the four colors of mankind on the Earth.

The original Indian Country Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial was dedicated on May 7, 1992 at the BIA’s Indian Police Academy (IPA), in Marana, Arizona. The Memorial was later moved to Artesia, New Mexico and re-dedicated on May 6, 1993 when the BIA Indian Police Academy was relocated to New Mexico.

A 750 person department, the BIA Office of Law Enforcement Services provide uniformed police services, detention operations, and criminal investigation of alleged or suspected violations of major federal criminal laws in Indian Country.

For specific information or directions to the event call 505-748-8153.

Who: Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement Services

What: 13th Annual Memorial Service for Fallen Law Enforcement Officers

When: Thursday May 6, 2004 10:00 A.M. MDT

Where: BIA Indian Police Academy

1300 West Richey Avenue

Artesia, New Mexico

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 9:45 a.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 10:00 a.m.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY:

Deputy Secretary Griles will be available for brief interviews immediately after the event; multi box and camera lights will be provided.

BACKGROUND:

To help reach settlement of a 34-year-old water rights dispute involving the San Luis Rey River in San Diego County, Metropolitan has agreed in principle to exchange or purchase up to 16,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water to be provided by the Department of Interior annually. Beneficiaries of the agreement are the La Jolla, Pala, Pauma, Rincon, and San Pasqua bands of Mission Indians, the city of Escondido, and Vista Irrigation District. Water from Metropolitan would supplement local water supplies in resolving the dispute.

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You can go to the Department of the Interior from here Yon can also view the index of press releases u.s. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC, USA

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will give the keynote address at the United Tribes Technical College 2004 commencement ceremony scheduled for May 7. The event will be held at the UTTC campus in Bismarck, N.D., starting at 1:00 p.m. (CDT). This year’s graduating class of 89 students, representing 25 tribes from across the United States, is the largest in the college’s 35-year history. Over 10,000 students have graduated from UTTC since the school’s founding.

The United Tribes Technical College was established in 1969 as the first inter-tribally owned postsecondary vocational school in the nation for American Indians. It is owned, operated and governed by five federally recognized tribes located in North and South Dakota: the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) of the Fort Berthold Reservation, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, the Spirit Lake Tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. The college is accredited through the North Central Association of Colleges & Schools. It offers fourteen different programs where students can earn certificate and two-year technical degrees at the Associate of Applied Science level.

WHO: David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior

WHAT: Anderson will be the keynote speaker at the United Tribes Technical College commencement ceremony.

WHEN: Friday, May 7, 2004 starting at 1:00 p.m. (CDT)

WHERE: United Tribes Technical College, Lone Star Arena, 3315 University Dr., Bismarck, N.D. UTTC is located in south Bismarck near the Bismarck airport.

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 12:45 p.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 1:00 p.m.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson will give the main address at the May 8 commencement ceremony for graduates of Sitting Bull College, a tribally controlled community college in Fort Yates, N.D., located on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, an area bisected by the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The event will be held at the tribe’s Prairie Knight Casino and Lodge Pavillion located south of Mandan, N.D., starting at 2:00 p.m. (CDT). The 2003-2004 graduating class of 54 students will be the largest in the college’s history.

Sitting Bull College is one of the nation’s first tribal colleges. Established in 1973 as the Standing Rock Community College under a charter granted by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the school began as a post-secondary educational institution with authority to grant degrees at the Associate level. It became known as Sitting Bull College in 1996. The college serves both the Standing Rock Reservation and the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The college is accredited through the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the Higher Learning Commission. Through articulation agreements with Sinte Gleska University and Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota and Salish-Kootenai College in Montana, Sitting Bull College also offers four-year degrees to its students.

WHO: David W. Anderson, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior WHAT: Anderson will give the main address at the Sitting Bull College 2004 commencement ceremony.

WHEN: Saturday, May 8, 2004 starting at 2:00 p.m. (CDT)

WHERE: Prairie Knight Casino and Lodge Pavillion

Directions from Bismarck Airport

• Leaving airport, turn right onto University Drive.
• Follow University Drive to Bismarck Expressway (third stop light on University Dr.), then turn left onto Expressway.
• Take Expressway as it changes into I-94. Stay in left lane on Interstate and continue into Mandan, N.D., onto Main Street.
• Continue on Main Street to the turn-off for Hwy. 1806 (third stop light) and turn left onto Hwy. 1806.
• Continue south on Hwy. 1806 for approximately 45 miles to where the Prairie Knight Casino and Lodge can be seen on the left. It sits on a hill next to a gas station/convenience store.

Note to Editors: Credentialed media covering the event should be in place by 1:45 p.m. Press seating will be provided. The program will begin at 2:00 p.m.