Dear Hoopa Tribal Members,

 

On Monday February 9, Councilmember Darcy Miller, Executive Assistant Chance Carpenter IV and I headed out to Washington D.C. The Tribal Council sent us over to give comments on the U.S. Department of Education’s realignment and join the Indian Health Service (IHS) as they celebrated 70 years of serving the health needs of Native People. When we arrived in D.C., we were joined by our Education Director Onaleece Colegrove as well as Kimaw Medical Center Board Members Lavae McCovey, Rob Roy Latham, Leslie Hunt, Deacon Ferris and Angela Jarnaghan along with Kimaw CEO Ryan Zumalt.

 

On Tuesday Councilwoman Miller, Mr. Carpenter, Ms. Colegrove and I headed over the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian where we were joined by Tribal Leaders from all of the country. There we were able to express to leaders from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of the Interior the importance of education, our needs, and the need for the U.S. Government to uphold their promises which were made law through the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and elsewhere.

 

Later in the day we headed over to U.S. Department of Interior Headquarters where we were able to meet with the new Assistant Secretary of Interior-Indian Affairs, Billy Kirkland. We were also able to meet with the head of the Indian Health Service Clayton Fulton and Mark Cruz who is the Department of Health and Human Services Tribal Advisor to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The evening was capped off by a speech from the Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum.

 

On day two, we joined Kimaw Medical Center Board Members and the California Rural Indian Health Board (CHRIB) and headed up to Capital Hill where we were able to meet with U.S. Representatives Mike Thompson (Our former Rep.) and Sara Jacobs. Both are Democratic Members of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives from California. We also met with staff from the Senate Interior Environment & Related Agencies Subcommittee. The major push that we expressed alongside our colleagues from CRIHB (including UIHS Potawot) was for more funding for special diabetes programs, a study on the disparity of IHS funding between California and other states, and for more funding for generators which keep rural health resources going during power outages. I was also able to touch on the overall need for support of Native Health from a holistic perspective as we know that the health or our people depends on having a healthy environment, healthy activities, and healthy communities.

 

On the final day, we met with our local Congressional Representative Jared Huffman and attended the Indian Health Service 70-year celebration. There we were able to learn quite a bit about programs in other Tribal Nations that have led to healthy outcomes. We were also visited by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who spoke to us about his commitment to helping Indian Country through various initiatives.

 

While being able to voice our concerns, vision, and needs is important for the Tribe, it is also the relationship building with top decision makers that is key at these meetings. Right now, the Tribal Council is working with Kimaw on funding negotiations with Indian Health Service. There are literally millions of dollars on the line so it’s very important that we bring our very best as it relates to expressing the need for more programming, infrastructure, stable funding to retain qualified staff, and indirect support for tribal administration so that we can build a healthy economy, government, and community. These are all areas that have a major impact on the overall health of our people and we’ll do our best to keep you updated as the process moves along.

 

Respectfully,

 

Joe Davis, Chairman

Hoopa Valley Tribe