Smoke Signals






  

Smoke Signals:
The newspaper of the Confederate Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon


A space just for me to tell you about myself. Are you sure?
 

Homeless but not Tribeless:
Homeless members face many obstacles on the road to self-sufficiency but perhaps their best asset is belonging to the Grand Ronde Tribe (11/1/98)

By Oscar Johnson

Less than a decade ago 47-year-old Grand Ronde tribal member, John Simmons, had what appeared to be a bright future. After earning a degree in television and radio broadcasting and moving from Washington state to be closer to his Tribe in Oregon, he says it was not long before he got the job of his dreams as a sports announcer for a Warm Springs radio station.

But after six months he says the mistake of having just a couple of drinks before work cost him his job and things took a turn for the worse. It was a turn, which led to a life of sporadic homelessness for the next eight years.

"It was such a blow," recalls Simmons. "Something inside me just snapped."

Dejected, in 1990, he hopped a bus form Warm Springs, which dropped him off on downtown Portland's Burnside Street. It was seven months before he found another place to call home.

Thanks to recent efforts, those lucky enough to belong to a tribe with growing social service programs such as Grand Ronde, many now find a way out of the cracks of society that they once fell through. But their journey is a long uphill struggle that often requires a person to 'pull themselves up by the bootstraps' when, in fact, they have no boots.

Frustrating contradictions such as potential employers requiring home addresses from applicants who need work before renting a home; mandatory rental deposits and fees which force would-be tenants to choose between the streets or pricey weekly hotel rates; and social programs with temporary "Band-Aid"-services for the chronically needy that deny those on the threshold of self-sufficiency often deter and discourage the bootless.

No different than those who have homes, homeless people have their share of personal problems. It could be physical or mental illnesses; poverty; family problems; difficulty with the law; drug or alcohol addiction; a combination thereof; or none of these.

However, perhaps more often than not it is their homelessness that prevents them from effectively dealing with these other issues.

Shortly after Simmons joined the Native American Rehabilitation Association's drug and alcohol treatment program in 1991 he was able to get housing for the next four years through the Housing Authority of Portland (HAP).

He says he was able to sidestep a mile-long waiting list only because of a medical condition he has. He continued his treatment at the Tribe's Portland Outreach office in 1994 but two years later, from 1996 through 1997, he says "I was mostly homeless, living on the streets."

It is a hard life that few, if any, would voluntarily choose and even fewer understand or are sympathetic to. For those like Simmons, it can be doubly hard.

"If you're homeless and living on the streets and of ethnic origin--especially black or Native American--the police hassle you," says Simmons. But perhaps what is harder than living on the streets is trying to live some where else.

"Usually (potential landlords) look at you like something is wrong with you because you're on the streets, like you're an alcoholic or something. They just stereotype you," he says. "It's not hard to find housing for families, it's single people like me that run into a lot of difficulty."

Simmons' homeless experience is not unique, not even for other Grand Ronde tribal members.

Although it should not be assumed the 297 members that the Tribe's enrollment office has no addresses for are homeless, Vocational Employment Experience Program (VEEP) Coordinator, Tracie Meyer, says all seven of the clients she works with at the Portland Outreach office have been homeless in the recent past.

And like Simmons, who is currently living with his son while awaiting HAP housing, she says many only have temporary homes.

"Many of my clients have residents but most are one step away from homelessness," says Meyer. "It totally impacts their program because they can't focus on job skills and placement if they're worried about making rent and paying utilities."

Meyer, a tribal member herself, believes it would be in the best interest of the Tribe to provide secure housing for such members so they can focus on overcoming obstacles and gaining the job skills and stability necessary to be self-sufficient.

She understands concerns about the cost and viability of such a project but believes it is an investment that would pay off in the long-run.

"We're talking about 30 to 50-year-olds, we're talking about children," insists Meyer. "If parents can get back on their feet we wont have this problem the next generation."

In the case of tribal members, Juanita Shlappie and her 27-year-old son James, the generational cycle is in full swing. Juanita Schlappie says she was evicted three years ago from her southeast Portland apartment because she could not afford a rent hike.

Since then, she has spent a few weeks living in her car and most of the time living in hotels for as much as a week because deposits and rent references are not required.

"I'm not able to save money right now," she says. "I'm lucky I'm not living under the bridge."

Until housing assistance recently came through, Juanita's son, James Shlappie, who has a throat condition which requires ,600 bi-monthly surgeries, and his fiancee lived in a a week hotel room for five weeks.

His fiancee, Regina, who is also a tribal member, is eight months pregnant.

James Schlappie appreciates the help he has gotten over the years from the Tribe in the form of emergency and general assistance as well as insurance and other funds that sometimes pay to have recurring growths surgically removed from his throat.

Although shortness of breath and recovery time needed after each surgery make it difficult to get and hold the kind of labor job he qualifies for, the bright and energetic VEEP student now looks forward to someday securing a steady work history and a career.

But, like many others, he often feels his attempt to get his head above water is thwarted by the very system that is designed to help him.

In seeking assistance from local, tribal and state agencies, he says he often gets frustrated with what sometimes seems to be a complicated bureaucratic maze.

He says it took weeks of persistent phone calls to tribal agencies to get help. He finally received a generous package providing first and last month's deposits as well as 70 percent of two month's rent for an apartment but the expecting father was first required to exhaust his member benefits on inflated hotel rates which put him back to square-one.

"At the time I was (first) in need I still had a place," says a dismayed James Schlappie. "I don't think we should have ended up in this situation. Sometimes it makes me feel like I don't want to try anymore."

But thanks to the Tribe's much needed satellite programs and their staff, members like James Schlappie are still trying. While many insist, perhaps some would argue naively, that state and tribal agencies should do away with complicated procedures and requirements that can amount to a bureaucracy, most also express appreciation and offer supportive suggestions.

Simmons, who now anticipates pursuing his dream career as a broadcast announcer through VEEP, believes there is a network of services for the homeless in Oregon's largest city and members could be better served if tribal programs were plugged into them.

He also sees a need for more tribal members to become drug and alcohol counselors but he says most of all he would just like to see more members.

"There's kind of a distinction between tribal members in Portland and those who live there in Grand Ronde where resources are available," says Simmons. "I think they need to take more of an interest in members up here--not just the homeless, but get more involved."

Echoing Simmons, perhaps James Schlappie's suggestion is best expressed in his thanks to those Grand Ronde members and staff who have simply taken the time to listen.

"So many people say they will listen," he added, but they never take the time to do it."




BIA Asks Tribe to Waive Payments
The request is part of a government attempt to divvy up scarce program funds between tribes; tribes argue increased program funding is the answer(4/1/99)

By Oscar Johnson

The US government recently asked the Grand Ronde Tribe to waive its right to roughly $1.4 million in federal subsidies for tribal programs such as forest management, education and social services.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) request comes on the heels of a Congressional mandate for the Bureau and tribes to come up with an alternative way to allocate federal funds owed to the nation's 557 federally recognized tribes.

For Congress, that means divvying up the annual Tribal Priority Allocations (TPAs) so less fortunate tribes can catch up with those doing a little better. For tribes, who already settle for less than is needed, that means shirking U.S. obligations for a policy they say will only make tribes equally poor.

Federal appropriations under the TPA budget system are the modern embodiment of the continuing federal obligation to Indian people, insisted Janell Haller, the Tribe's self-determination coordinator.

Every year tribes such as Grand Ronde are forced to pay the difference for unmet program needs out of their own pockets, while other less fortunate tribes simply do without.

"Do you feel the United States should honor its treaties with France?" asked Bob McElderry, the Tribe's grants writer. "If so then why shouldn't they honor their treaties with us?"

Treaties, Congressional acts, court decisions, executive orders, law suits and potential law suites all mandate that the federal government fund tribal programs, according to a draft report last month released by the BIA/Tribal Workgroup on Tribal Needs Assessments.

The Workgroup formed in June to come up with an alternative way to distribute the funds and is due to submit the complete report to Congress this week.

The report is also part of a race to counter plans by some U.S. lawmakers to examine tribal accounts in order to take federal dollars owed to the most prosperous 10 percent of the nations tribes and give them to the poorest 20 percent.

In the interim, Grand Ronde officials say the Bureau called last month to see if the Tribe would consider "voluntarily" giving up its 1999 federal funds.

"We might give up something latter but it's my understanding that the consensus is we wont buy into it," said Ed Pearsall, Grand Ronde Council secretary.

Whether Grand Ronde or other tribe's give up federal funds will depend on several things. Not least of these are how much say they will have in where the money goes and what guarantees they have lawmakers will not try to use a tribe's ability to forfeit funds one year as an excuse to deny them the next.

Workgroup officials argue that redistributing the scant federal dollars set aside for tribal programs is no solution. They say report findings show an overall increase in funding for Indian Country, and distributing larger shares of the new funds to less fortunate tribes would be a better solution.

But Pearsall believes that even adopting a policy that allows only future funding increases to be distributed on a poor tribe/rich tribe bases might lock tribes into future unwanted deals.

"I'd rather not buy into it," Pearsall said. "It opens up the door for something else down the road."

Currently, the amount of federal dollars allocated is determined by what individual tribes calculate to be their program needs, less how much of the costs they can cover themselves. The remaining "unmet need" is supposed to be covered by the federal government, Haller said.

But she says just last year the Tribe had to come up with an extra $1 million for forest management and 250,000 for education programs to cover such unmet needs itself. Revenue from Spirit Mountain Casino is what enabled the Tribe to cover additional program costs. But Haller says this does not mean the Tribe can afford it.

"Right now the majority of casino revenue is going into endowment funds that will eventually sustain these programs indefinitely," Haller said. "They have not taken into account the fact that this tribe has been terminated for 29 years. Those are 29 years those funds were not received," Haller said.

She feels the Bureau's request is based more on popular myth about Indian casinos than it is financial fact.

"Where are they getting their data? "Haller asked. "If they are saying the casino makes us one of the wealthiest tribes, we didn't submit any data."

Tribes Testify in Senate Committee Hearing:
Grand Ronde joins tribes in showing State Senate Committee the successes and struggles of tribal gaming and economic development (3/15/99)

By Oscar Johnson

Officials from many of Oregon's federally recognized tribes schooled Oregon senators on the role of Indian gaming in the overall economic development of Indian Country at the state capitol earlier this month.

Representatives from the Grand Ronde, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Klamath, Siletz, Coquille, Cow Creek and Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw tribes were responding to an invitation from Oregon's Senate Committee on Trade and Economic Development.

The March 2 hearing came on the heels of a 1998 state legislative session which saw dozens of bills aimed at restricting or ending state sanctioned gambling altogether. Combined with the national trend against state tax-exempt Indian gaming, this caused many tribes to come prepared for the worse.

However, the Committee was cordial and supportive of tribal efforts to use casinos as a leg up from historic poverty.

"Since we are the state-wide committee on economic development, we thought we would find out what has been going on since (tribes) have been suffering for so long," Committee Chair, Sen. John Lim (R-Gresham) later said.

An opening statement given by Grand Ronde Intergovernmental Affairs lobbyist, Justin Martin, set the tone for the tribal testimonies that followed.

Martin stressed that each tribe has its own unique culture and conditions but a similar history and experience.

"Please understand that we do have similar problems with regard to poverty and unemployment. We look to gaming as a way to address this," he told the senators. "We are trying to make a difference for our tribal memberships and hence the state of Oregon and for the country.

The two hours of testimony showed that while tribes are at various stages of economic growth, gaming is what many look to for the initial capital needed to develop other modes of business and infrastructure.

Grand Ronde's retail and housing developments; Warm Springs' hydro project and booming tourism venture; and the Umatilla's successful hotel, golf course and cultural museum were highlighted as ways tribes use casino profits to broaden business opportunities. Many also pointed out that Oregon's tribes are not the only ones who benefit from Indian gaming.

"Csinos are usually in remote, economically depressed areas," noted Spirit Mountain Development Corporation President, Bruce Thomas. "Oregon gaming facilities carry Oregon dollars to these areas."

He added that Spirit Mountain Casino, the state's largest tourist attraction, also brings in out-of-state money.

"These dollars are reinvested in Oregon." Thomas said.

About $1 million of Spirit Mountain employee taxes go to the state annually, according to Thomas. In addition, 85 percent of Siletz's Chinook Winds Casino employees are non-Indian and 60 percent of Warm Spring's 1400 employees are not tribal members, noted other tribal representatives.

While all the tribes drew praise from the five-member Senate Committee, Grand Ronde efforts got special attention.

"Grand Round has done an exceptional job in returning the benefits," said Committee member, Sen. Tony Corcoran (D-Cottage Grove ). He praised the tribe for investing in efforts to counter "everything from gaming addiction to drug and alcohol addiction."

"We feel we've turned a negative into a positive," responded Grand Ronde Council Chair, Kathryn Harrison. "It's our belief that if you don't share what you have then you'll lose it."

Lim was impressed. His comments after the hearing indicated that all the tribal testimonies were informative, if not educational.

"It seems to me that they have a strong program, not only in Indian Country but in the community as a whole," said Lim. "It seems to me that Indian tribes in our state will prosper in the future if they invest wisely."