February 2012 - Absentee Shawnee Tribe Of Oklahoma

Secretary’s
Report
Greeting Tribal Members:
I am excited to announce that our
Website Design Committee has
launched the new website. This
committee has been working on
redesigning the website (www.astribe.com)
for the past few months
with the objective of building a
very professional appearance, with
updated and pertinent information
that is easy to understand, and is
easy to navigate through. We solicited
feedback from employees
and tribal members to get us started
in the right direction. We also
analyzed websites of other tribes,
large businesses, and corporations
to determine the design elements
and menu options that we wanted to
incorporate into our new website.
And lastly, we wanted to add design
elements that have meaning to our
tribal people.
The before and after pictures below
showcase the changes that
were made to the basic design of
the website. We featured pictures
of Tecumseh and his brother, Tenskwatawa,
in the banner picture
because their image is well known
to tribal members with Tecumseh
being noted as a charismatic leader
of the Shawnee people who was
once described as “one of those
uncommon geniuses which spring
up occasionally to produce revolutions”.
We also wanted to depict the
importance of nature and our AST
logo in the banner along with representation
of the clans that are
used today. The phrase “Honoring
Our Past – Building Our Future”
represents an important aspect of
our people as we unite to improve
our future while remembering our
past. The before and after pictures
are only representations of the actual
website. We invite you to visit
the website at www.astribe.com and
let us know what you think of the
new format. We plan to continue
with other enhancements in the
coming weeks and appreciate your
ideas and input as we continue to
refine our online presence. Suggestions
can be emailed to: website@
astribe.com.
The Website Design Committee
consists of our talented MIS department
who are responsible for
the maintenance and upkeep of the
website, Rico Coon (MIS Director),
Michael Berry, and Travis O’Dell,
along with Becky Prewett (Procurement),
Faustina Blanchard (Media)
and myself. I would like to thank
the committee members for their
hard work, ideas, and determination
in improving the website, and for a
job well done.
In last month’s newsletter I reported
on the Obama administration efforts
to improve Native American relations
with his annual conferences
and initiatives. He has primarily focused
on the areas of the health care
improvement act, and the settlement
of the class-action Cobell lawsuit
over the federal government’s
mismanagement of royalties for oil,
gas, timber and grazing leases.
In December, Obama announced
the signing of an executive order
establishing a White House initiative
on American Indian and Alaska
native education. The mission
of the Initiative is to help expand
educational opportunities and improve
educational outcomes for all
American Indian students, including
opportunities to learn their Native
languages, cultures, and histories
as well as receive complete and
competitive educations that prepare
them for college, careers, and productive
and satisfying lives. To accomplish
this, the U.S. Department
of Education and the Department
of the Interior are tasked with developing
a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) by March 24,
2012 to address how this mission
will be carried out.
A White House round table discussion
for Oklahoma Tribal Leaders
and educators was conducted in
Norman on January 23rd to gather
information for this MOU. This was
the second of four events that were
scheduled across the nation. I was
able to attend as a Tribal leader for
the Absentee Shawnee Tribe along
with Kathy Deere (Treasurer), Tresha
Spoon (Education Director),
and Meredith Wahpekeche (Title
VII). There were many tribes present
at this event and we were able
to express our ideas and opinions
on the status of Indian education.
William Mendoza (Oglala and Sicangu
Lakota), the director of the
new White House Initiative led the
discussion. He said the roundtable
meetings were organized to gather
tribal and community leaders’ input
and identify the most effective
strategies for improving education.
Insights shared at these meetings
will directly influence the contents
of the Memorandum of Understanding
and the general facilitation
of the policy. Most of the input at
this meeting centered around continued
and improved funding for
existing and new programs, the
problems of graduation rates, instilling
pride in our native American
students, libraries, being able
to monitor/track the progress of our
students, and training programs for
parents and educators. This was a
great opportunity to share our ideas
and it will be interesting to see how
the Obama administration uses this
input in shaping improvements for
Native American education in the
future.
In the meantime, we have two
scholarship awards that have been
introduced from our Education Department
that are geared to helping
high school students prepare for
higher education. They are:
1. Big Jim Academic Achievement
Award (deadline 3/1/12)
2. Big Jim Athlete of the Year
Award (deadline 3/1/12)
Information about these new scholarships/awards
is included elsewhere
in this newsletter and on the
website. You can contact Tresha
Spoon in the Education Department
for more information on these
scholarships and awards.
Teri Reed – Secretary
teri@astribe.com
405-275-4030 Ext 104
Old Webpage
New Webpage
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