ATNI

As I sit at the desk in my room on the 18th floor looking out over the Port of Tacoma, I am left trying to process all of the information that has been thrown my way over the last two days. It's like diving for quarters in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I have officially been a Council Member now for six days and on Sunday I left for Tacoma, Washington to attend the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) Conference. As some of my colleagues calmly stated, "it will be a good way to get your feet wet." Getting my feet wet was clearly an understatement. However, it has been a good way to measure how Grand Ronde is doing in comparison to the other tribes of the Pacific Northwest. Please allow me to give a very brief explanation of the information I have learned thus far.

After registration, the welcoming ceremony and the update reports given by the committees within ATNI on Monday morning, there was a series of presentations that consumed the rest of the morning. After lunch, there were "Committee Meetings" or what I like to call "breakout sessions". There were nine to choose from and my first interest was the "Law and Justice" session. Unfortunately the discussion was geared more for tribes that have their own independent Tribal Police Departments. I did however get to speak one-on-one with the Chief of Police from the Nez Perce Tribe regarding gang activity on tribal lands.

My second afternoon session was about economic development. There is an assessment tool structured specifically for tribal communities titled Tribal Self Assessment Tool (TSAT) that I would like to see Grand Ronde investigate. There was also discussion about the Colville Tribe who partnered with a major construction company as part of their particular growth in economic development.

Tuesday morning looked a lot like Monday morning and also had breakout sessions after lunch. My first afternoon seesion's topic was about Indian Child Welfare/Social Services. I learned some very interesting facts regarding these programs during one of the presentations. In addition, there were many statistics given related to the state of Washington. I did get contact information for some individuals who can provide me with the same statistics for the state of Oregon. It should be interesting.

My second session of the afternoon was put on by "Native Vote" and the U.S. Census Bureau. I received great information from them and you will all see more from me on the 2010 Census. Although there were only four people in this session, (compared to 20-30 in the others), I felt it was equally as important and more informative.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be another full day of information. And although this conference has been absolutely overwhelming, the knowledge, interaction and experience will help guide me through the next three years.

Thank you for reading and remember, TOBY12!! (Is it too early for that?)