UNITED STATES

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court

Supplied by College Fund

Published January 29, 2020

Culturally Relevant Career Advice for Native Americans

DENVER — The American Indian College Fund has published a new Career Pathways guidebook to help Native students plan for and accomplish their career goals in college and beyond. 

The American Indian College Fund recognizes Native American college students many times face unique needs and challenges in while attending a higher education institution and embarking upon a career. The Career Pathways guidebook was created to provide tailored resources and advice to meet the unique needs of Indigenous students. The guide is filled with culturally relevant career preparation resources, including the advice of Native professionals and teachers shared from their own valuable experience.

Tom Brooks (Mohawk), vice president of external Affairs at AT&T and a member of the College Fund’s board of trustees, introduces the publication with his own inspirational journey through education, career possibilities, and the fulfillment of his current path.

The Career Pathways guidebook includes articles on identifying career goals, finding internships, applying to graduate school, studying for a skilled trade certification, interviewing skills, the advantages of joining a professional association, planning a career in Indian Country, and more.

All articles are written with insight into Native culture, such as incorporating Indigenous style into professional wardrobes and finding careers that reflect Native graduates’ cultural, tribal, and personal values.

To download a free copy, visit the Career Pathways page on the AICF website. 

Funding for the Career Pathways guidebook was provided by AT&T Foundation.

The post American Indian College Fund Publishes Free Career Planning Guide appeared first on Native News Online.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Change Labs

Published January 29, 2020

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — Rez Rising, a website and a smartphone app for iPhone and Android users, is seeking to promote Native American small businesses on the Navajo and Hopi reservations. 

One main goal behind the establishment of Rez Rising was to identify where Native-owned small businesses are so that tourists and those who want to do business with Native American-owned may do so.

Since launching on January 1, 2020, more than 600 small businesses have already signed up for Rez Rising and the number is growing every day.

Rez Rising was created by Change Labs, a Native American-led nonprofit organization started in 2014 in Tuba City, Arizona. Since then, Change Labs has worked with dozens of Native American entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. But it is not always easy to establish a business on an Indian reservation due to barriers that are not often found elsewhere.

“We listened and documented the barriers and problems small business owners have on tribal lands,” said Heather Fleming (Navajo), who serves as the executive director of Change Labs. “Some of the most basic things to start a business, tribal members struggle with, such as access to land, lack of rental space and the lack of infrastructure,” Fleming continued.

The 600-plus number of businesses that have signed up for Rez Rising has exceeded the expectations of Change Labs employees, Fleming said. 

“We went into this project without a whole lot of expectations. Our goal was to see if we could get 500 small businesses to sign up,” said Fleming. “Then we hit 500 right away. We had been so focused on the implementation of the app. We are excited because now we have what we think is the largest database of small businesses on the Navajo Nation.”

Fleming says Rez Rising website and app are really about advocacy.

“The Rez Rising app helps to promote entrepreneurs by creation of an online tool to let people know where they are,” Fleming says. “Reservations have unique problems, such as lack of physical addresses. Google maps cannot identify where businesses are because in order to even register, you have to have a physical address. Our app allows business owners to take a pin and drop it on our map to where they are located.”

While the primary focus of launching Rez Rising was concentrated on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations, small Native American-owned businesses from reservation border town, as well as Albuquerque, N.M. and Phoenix, Ariz. have signed up for the app.

Change Labs sees Rez Rising as an answer to business owners who live on parts of the reservations that have no running water, no electricity and no internet. Native American small business owners with cell phones can access the app and maintain a presence on the web.  

Small business owners can select from some 20 options of types of business they are doing business in when signing up to market their business. Types of businesses range from agriculture, professional services, retail to ranchers.

Funding for the Rez Rising project was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Fleming says people have inquired about Rez Rising from as far away as Canada, but Change Labs only has capacity to serve its service area in America’s Southwest.

The post Rez Rising Promotes Small Native American-owned Businesses appeared first on Native News Online.

The Indian Health Service's Phoenix Indian Medical Center has been taking the initiative to prepare for the respiratory illness known as the Novel Coronavirus.

One of the great strengths of tribal tradition was taking care of our elders.

The Trump administration can enforce a new rule that will require immigrants show they will not need public assistance before they can gain admission to the United States.

Courtesy Marvin Mannypenny for White Earth Chairman Facebook Page

WHITE EARTH INDIAN RESERVATION, Minn. — Longtime American Indian activist Marvin Manypenny passed away on Sunday on the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. He was 72.

Manypenny is the father of Minnesota Lt. Governor. Peggy Flanagan, the first American Indian woman ever elected to an executive level of a state in history.

Though never elected to a tribal position, Manypenny spent decades defending land rights, defending hunting and fishing rights of American Indians.

Lt. Governor Flanagan reflected on her father to MPR News:

“My dad oftentimes would say, ‘My girl, I want to burn down the system, and you want to get into the system and change it from the inside out,’” Flanagan said. “That’s a pretty good summary of how my dad operated and how I operate.”

The post American Indian Activist & Father of Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Marvin Manypenny Passes Away appeared first on Native News Online.

White House said policy is needed to protect 'the integrity of American citizenship'

Navajo Nation looks seeks nearly $62 million in an ongoing rate case for Tucson Electric Power

Indian Health Service prepares for the Novel Coronavirus

From Around the Web

Published January 28, 2020

By Meridith Depping KFBB Digital Producer

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – An assistant basketball coach on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

A release from the Department of Justice says Christopher Brown worked as an assistant basketball coach for Stonechild College and tutored and helped with coaching basketball at Rocky Boy’s middle and high schools.

CLICK to read entire article.

The post From Around the Web: Assistant basketball coach on the Rocky Boy’s reservation charged with sexual abuse of a minor appeared first on Native News Online.

Chief Black Coal of the Northern Arapaho.
CREDIT JOHN K. HILLERS/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Published January 28, 2020

RIVERTON, Wyo. — The Northern Arapaho Tribe will hold a celebration on Saturday, February 1st at the Great Plains Hall at Arapahoe to welcome home the headdress of Chief Black Coal, according to the Tribe’s Facebook page.  

One of the most influential Arapaho leaders of the 19th century, Chief Black Coal’s 140-year old headdress is being donated by a Massachusetts family.  

Wyoming Public Media has the story of how the headdress made its way home to the Northern Arapaho nation, as well as other recent victories for the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office. In 2014, then-director Yufna Soldier Wolf led the charge in repatriating the remains of two Arapaho boys who died at a government boarding school in the late 1800s. Devin Oldman succeeded last year in bringing a small herd of buffalo to Northern Arapaho land for the first time in 130 years, according to the Wyomning Public Media report. 

The post Northern Arapaho Tribe to celebrate repatriation of legendary chief’s headdress appeared first on Native News Online.

The 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Awards were presented Monday in Philadelphia

SANTA FE, N.M. – Native American Natural Foods LLC today announced a new partnership involving its Tanka brand of buffalo-based food products and Niman Ranch, a leader in sustainable agriculture known for its humanely raised beef, pork and lamb.

The partnership is designed to help build a sustainable Native American supply of humanely raised bison, cattle and other pasture raised animals, including hogs, raised on Native prairie by Native people, according to a statement. The new alliance aims to support the economic revitalization on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which is one of the poorest communities in the country.

“Today’s announcement represents long term systematic change,” Dawn Sherman, CEO of Native American Natural Foods and member of the Lakota, Shawnee and Delaware tribes, said in a statement. “We are investing in our children and grandchildren with the help of Niman Ranch and their commitment to our Native people. We asked each other, at this stage of the business, how do we protect what is there? How do we support the re-emergence of Native culture? Niman Ranch had that aligned vision, the experience, markets, and support to make this happen.”

Native American Natural Foods, a Native-run and Native-owned company based in Kyle, S.D.,  created the Tanka Bar in 2007. The bison and fruit bar reimagined the meat snacking category, expanding and elevating it beyond jerky, according to a statement. Sold through specialty retailers and distributors such as REI, United Natural Foods (UNFI) and Natural Grocers, Tanka is looking to meet increasing demand through sourcing bison from Native suppliers and to rely on an indigenous supply. 

“We are proud to share with Tanka what we have learned from our experience growing from one cattle rancher, then one lamb rancher and later one hog farmer to a network of 740 and growing,” said Chris Oliviero, general manager of Niman Ranch. “It has always been a part of Niman Ranch’s foundation to support rural farming communities and we understand many of the hurdles. We felt we could align and support the Tanka mission.” 

Niman Ranch and its network of 740 small- and mid-size independent family farmers raise livestock sustainably and humanely with no antibiotics or added hormones.

According to the 2017 USDA Agricultural Census, nearly 90% of the total sales produced on tribal land comes from non-Native producers. Non-Native producers account for 65% of all active farms and ranches on Native American Reservations.

“Between our two brands, we seek to address these issues and create market access to achieve 100% bison raised on Native lands so our Native American roots and ownership will be fully realized,” said Sherman. “Bison is a building block of developing healthy regenerative Native communities. By returning bison and pasture raised animals to Native lands, we are ideally suited for the Native American Natural Foods’ mission.”

The post Tanka and Niman Ranch partner to assist economic revitalization on Pine Ridge  appeared first on Native News Online.

Native Hawaiians and environmental groups have sued Hawaii in state court to end the free rein they say it gives the aquarium trade to collect marine animals from the state's reefs, a practice they say damages habitats and reduces traditional food sources.

#KickinWithKolby — Thoughts from a Native sports fan #Sportzball

A divided en banc Ninth Circuit handed a win to the Democratic National Committee on Monday by ruling that Arizona’s rejection of out-of-precinct ballots and a state law preventing third-party ballot collection discriminated against Native American, Hispanic and African American voters in the state.

The Cherokee Nation on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a Tenth Circuit decision that found the federal government can take a parcel of land on the tribe’s former reservation into trust for a separate Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma. 

Navajo Nation President Jonathan, First Lady Phefelia Nez, Vice President Myron Lizer, and Second Lady Dottie Lizer present the State of the Navajo Nation Address to the 24th Navajo Nation Council in Window Rock, Ariz. on Jan. 27, 2020.

Published January 28, 2020

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The closure of the Navajo Generating Station and the Kayenta Mine will have a major impact on the budget of the Navajo Nation, President Jonathan Nez said last night during his State of the Navajo Nation Address.     

Nez called on the 24th Navajo Nation Council to hold off on considering any legislation that requests funds until the Navajo Nation’s three branches of government can address the expected shortfall, which he estimated at $30 million to $50 million.  

“With the closure of the Navajo Generating Station and Kayenta Mine, our Nation’s annual revenue has declined by approximately $30 to $50 million,” Nez said in his address. “Before our administration considers funding new projects, we need to first work together to address the budget shortfall for the coming years to ensure that direct services are provided for the Navajo people and our communities first and foremost.” 

Nez also noted that the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee Jamie Henio has agreed to introduce a bill to put forth the proposed plan. 

Nez’s comments came on the opening day of the Winter Session in Window Rock, Ariz. where the State of the Navajo Nation Address was presented to the Navajo Nation Council by Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer.  

“We respectfully request the honorable members of the 24th Navajo Nation Council to hold off on entertaining any legislations that request funding from the UUFB, Síhasin Fund, or other revenue sources until we have a plan in place to address our Nation’s Comprehensive Budget for the next five years,” President Nez added. 

The State of the Navajo Nation Address also highlighted several of the Nez-Lizer Administration’s recent accomplishments including the acquisition of the rights to 500 megawatts of transmission lines, a partnership with Salt River Project to produce up to 200 megawatts of solar power to sell on the open market, the purchase of a sand a gravel pit to help improve roads, the repair of earthen dams in the former Bennett Freeze area and other accomplishments.

After the address was presented, the 24th Navajo Nation Council unanimously accepted State of the Navajo Nation Address with 16 supporting votes and zero opposed.

The post Navajo Nation Deals with $30-$50M Shortfall after Closures of Coal Facilities appeared first on Native News Online.