Native American Employment and Training Council Meeting April 29-30, 2010 Albuquerque Marriott Albuquerque, New Mexico Meeting Summary

Transcription

1 Native American Employment and Training Council Meeting Albuquerque Marriott Albuquerque, New Mexico Meeting Summary In Attendance: Council Members Lorenda Sanchez, California Indian Manpower Consortium Winona Whitman, ALU LIKE, Inc. Leo Cummings, Three Affiliated Tribes Charlanne Quinto, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservations Christine Molle, American Indian Council M.J. Longley, Anchorage Education & Workforce Advisory Commission Urban L. Giff, National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development Darrell Waldron, Rhode Island Indian Council Janice Falcone, North American Indian Center of Boston, Inc. Elkton Richardson, North Carolina Commission on Indian Affairs Jeff Foster, Four Tribes Consortium of Oklahoma Kim Carroll, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma KImlyn Lambert, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians David Yarlott, Little Big Horn College Steven Denson, Southern Methodist University Rodney Stapp, Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas Designated Federal Official: Evangeline Angie Campbell, INA Program Manager, U.S. Department of Labor Others in Attendance: Arlen Leo, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Tara Bourdukofsky, APIA Luana Gendron, Colvile Tribe Joe A. Quetone, Florida Governor s Council on Indian Affairs, Inc. Sharon E. Alexander, Rhode Island Indian Council Marjorie McCabe, Navajo Nation WIA Norman Ration, National Indian Youth Council Princess Pine, Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan Ron Trusley, NTNWIB Lana Chanda, Gila River Indian Community, NTNWIB Gail Pahona, Hopi Tribe Collette Lewis, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe Patrick H. Andrews, Tohono O odham Nation Darrell Paddlety, White Mountain Apache Tribe Roselyn Shirley, Navajo Department of Workforce Development Bing Santamour, ONC, Bethel, AK Lois Bethards, American Indian Council of Arkansas Travis Prater, Southern California Indian Center, Inc. Jennifer Whitmore, California Indian Manpower Consortium Christine P. Harjo, Intertribal Council of Nevada Susanne Vanderlach, American Indian Community House LaTonya Hutchins, American Indian Community House

2 Handouts Provided: - Agenda - Summary Notes of Meeting March 3-4, Indian and Native American Program Grantee Directory Day One April 29, 2010 Welcome was expressed by Ms. Sanchez followed by an invocation by Councilman Giff. Ms. Sanchez presented Councilman Giff with a Pendleton blanket as a thank you for providing the blessings at meetings. Ms. Sanchez conducted roll call; quorum was met; and the meeting called to order. Agenda was sent out late as we were waiting appointment of the Council members. Ms. Sanchez asked the Council to review the Agenda. She suggested the approval of the Meeting Summary (Washington D.C., March 2010) to be moved to after lunch. Councilman Waldron requested an update or report from on potential funding from Mr. Thomas Dowd s Office. Ms. Campbell stated that she would address this in her update. Motion: Motion to approve the agenda by M. Longley, Seconded by R. Stapp; Motion passed unanimously. INAP Program Update by Evangeline M. Campbell, INA Program Manager: Ms. Campbell informed the Council that the agenda includes items which were not covered in the last meeting since the Council met with many people during that meeting. Ms. Campbell proceeded to give her update on the following topics (in bold): PY Designations The SGA went out March 12 th and 134 applications were received and all have been processed. This year s SGA was competitive and it had been more than 6 years since it was a competitive process for 166 grantees. Ms. Campbell personally reviewed with her staff all applications and forwarded to the grant officer for final determination. NOI letters were going out. Councilman Richardson asked if the five competitions are from nonprofits and not tribes. Ms. Campbell confirmed that the five competitions are nonprofits and three new tribes. PY TEGL Status (TEGL) The Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) to allow the program to disburse the funding for PY 2011 and 2012 is currently in process of final revisions for signature by Assistant Secretary Oates. The plan is to extend the existing plan that is in place for one year in order to get clear guidelines for Native American Strategic plan and ask the Council if the Effective Mgmt. Workgroup can assist her on the TEGL recommendations. Page 2 of 15

3 Councilwoman Falcone expressed her concern that the NOI in the Federal Register was not a simple process (1-2 pages) as previously discussed and is concerned of the burden on smaller grantees that have to serve participants and spend so much time on writing up the Federal requirements. Councilwoman Falcone would like to see the process streamlined with a 4-5 year planning process like the states have in place. Ms. Campbell stated that the new administration is keen on transparency and accountability and that all the requirements in SGA are in the regulations; as an example, 424A budget narrative is clearly stated in the regulation as required. There has to be independent review, and she took responsibility for this. Ms. Sanchez shared with the Council that she received numerous calls from grantees for technical assistance. Since this was a competitive process they were not able to contact their federal project officers. She appreciates that the regulations were followed but it needs to work both ways - NOI s should have been done by October 1 and designations made by March 1. Councilman Richardson suggests that in the future the Designation Workgroup be utilized and kept updated so that grantees know who they can talk to and also to stick to the guidelines. Nominations Status Ms. Campbell gave an update on the status of new Council nominations. They are currently at the final stages of the nomination process for new Council members; personal background check is being conducted before forwarding to the Secretary for selection. The full Council should be in place by the next meeting. Veteran Priority of Service Ms. Campbell expressed her thanks to the Advisory Council for approving the funding to create posters for the Veterans Priority of Service project. The poster is now complete and available for distribution. All pictures submitted by grantees were included in the poster, and a framed poster will be provided to everyone represented in the poster. National Emergency Grants Ms. Campbell provided an update on available funding of $90 million for 1-10 grants. This funding comes from a percentage of unspent Recovery Act funds and will be for job training emergency grants. Assistant Secretary Oates took a portion of the fund to fund five tribal grantees. Ms. Sanchez will get NEG TEGL for the Council. REXO Grants The Prisoner Re-entry grant is in the beginning stages of its funding. It is funded through the youth office for tribal organizations and in collaboration with the Department of Justice, with a set aside for this community (a percentage of $190 million). The first grant will come out on November 10, 2010 and it will be a civic justice model designated for young adults. Ms. Campbell will provide more information at the next Council meeting. Ms. Sanchez recommended that Mr. Foster utilize VISTA volunteer to gather data. Carry-over Funding Ms. Campbell provided a briefing paper to Assistant Secretary Oates with the background and the Council s carryover recommendations. Ms. Oates has questions about the recommendation of the Council and why this carryover process had not been earlier implemented. Ms. Campbell Page 3 of 15

4 was able to trace back 10 years to when the last time the Chief utilized the carryover but has not been able to find any documentation to support it. Ms. Sanchez stated that CIMC has a library, and the document should be there. Council members discussed the process of the carryover recommendations and possible options for the use of the carryover. Suggested uses for the funding include conducting a labor climate study and development of software for 477 grantees. Councilman Giff requested clarification of the process when anything is submitted by the Council. He would like to see an official response or acknowledgement from the Department, including when there are changes in the administration. Councilman Giff also asked for clarification on the relationship of the Council and 477 and need to have way to collaborate or compare. Ms. Sanchez explained that that 1% of total allocation for programs is set aside for training and technical assistance which includes the 477 grantees. Also, 477 receive their labor-funded appropriations under Section 166; and there is a provision in that law that can allow DOL to transfer funding to the Department of Interior. (Lunch Recess) Ms. Campbell asked the Council to discuss a plan to finalize the carryover matter tomorrow. Ms. Campbell announced that the pictures taken with Secretary Solis in March 2010 are available, and the proofs will be provided to the Council tomorrow. She also mentioned that the DINAP staff is a recipient of the Secretary s award. She will follow up with Tom Dowd regarding funding for studies which was brought up at the March 2010 meeting. Ms. Sanchez stated that the Effective Management Work Group will work on identifying a couple of topic areas for research. Councilman Waldron suggested using the next Effective Management Work Group meeting to create a strategic objective. Councilwoman Falcone asked about a date for the TEGL. Ms. Campbell replied that it should be out in the next week or so. Ms. Campbell shared that she met with the National Council on Aging on the CSEP Program and asks the Council for their support in working with the employment training funding for the elderly population to help them do a better job at meeting the needs of our elders. Ms. Sanchez announced the Public Comment Session is in effect. Public Comment Session: Lana Chanda, Director of Employment and Training, Gila River Indian Community & Member of the Arizona NTNWIB Mr. Chanda provided a background of their Workforce Investment Board that represents 19 tribes and its funding. She expressed the great opportunity and difficulty in managing with two sets of performance standards and other state requirements which 166 programs do not have to deal with. Her recommendation is to have the law reflect tribal sovereignty and the right to operate programs to better suit the population and to have mandatory native representation in states with significant native population. Also, Ms. Page 4 of 15

5 Chanda would like to see the tribes be allowed to form their own WIB and supports bringing education back as a performance standard. Patrick Andrews, Executive Director of Education, Tohono O odham Nation & Chairman of the Nineteen Tribal Nations Workforce Investment Board Mr. Andrews has additional comments to the previous public statement by Ms. Chanda. The Nineteen Tribal Nations would like to see a provision to recognize tribal workforce investment boards and language added to WIA for governments to recognize the unique situations on reservations and to allow for reasonable recommendations. A copy of Mr. Andrews s statement was provided to the Council. Roselyn Shirley, Department Manager, Workforce Development, Navajo Nation Ms. Shirley expressed her concerns, as grantees, the same issues are re-iterated during the public comment session and not sure who is responsible to provide a response. Also requested the Department of Labor to get funding on a timely schedule (i.e. PY09 funding was not received until the end of December) and requests to see Council meeting minutes posted on a website. Joe A. Quetone, Executive Director, Florida Governor s Council on Indian Affairs Mr. Quetone shared his concerned with the lack of notice on work group meetings; particularly concerned with the IT Workgroup as he has one staff person on this workgroup and he doesn t know what is going on. He reminded the Council on the impact of the decisions of technology and to not rush into a decision without looking at the long term effect grants today and the future. Mr. Quetone provided background on his experience working with the Census in Florida and is fortunate to have a comprehensive method of developing training to meet the needs of the state s population. He was concerned about census data which will be difficult for Labor to use. His office received calls from grantees asking for help with Bear Tracks, and staff is willing to help. But if there is a contractor responsible for providing support, then they should return grantee s calls. He is concerned that Indian programs will be treated like state programs, so that our program results can be compared to state results; The reason there are Indian Native American programs is that there is a unique opportunity to serve this hard-to-serve population. Have education to be included in performance measures. The Secretary needs to know what is going on, and it s the Council s job to pass that information along. This Council is the only voice for the grantees, especially the small ones. Bing Santamore, 477 and Employment and Training Programs Director, Alaska Native Village of Bethel Page 5 of 15

6 Ms. Santamore first addressed this body in 1993 and provided encouragement to the Council members and to advocate on behalf of all grantees. Right now she is concerned with lack of information or confusing information. She requests a single page of contacts that should be posted. Recently, the 477 information she was looking for was outdated and did not have current information posted online. As a small grantee needing technical advice, and without getting assistance, she ended up submitting information which may be incorrect and may impact the tribe s funding. If all services go down on deadline dates, special consideration is needed for grantees in isolated areas. Posting minutes would be good so that grantees can see what decisions are being considered. Advisory Council contact information on website needs to be updated also. Bob Kellam, Employment and Training Director, Florida Governors Council on Indian Affairs In regards to the notice of intent in regulations: leave regulations as is and just enforce them. The Department of Labor did not send out a notice that the October 1 st deadline for notice of intent was changed. Technology/Cloud computing: Understanding that the Department of Labor has thousands of grantees it makes sense to use cloud computing but grantees receiving $90,000 or less, this doesn t make sense. Bear Tracks is being managed well now but still have problems. Request from a grantee for Technical Assistance and would like to know if they will be reimbursed. Ms. Sanchez asked Mr. Kellam to contact the grantee s Federal Project Officer, and they will send notice to CIMC to authorize the reimbursement. In follow up to a previous question, Ms. Sanchez informed the members and guests that 134 grantees responded to the SGA. There were 34 P.L grantees and five (5) grantees are in competition and being reviewed by the Solicitors. Notices for the competitions will be provided by April 30 th. Mr. Andrews addressed the Council again to inform them of his presentation on the agenda for tomorrow and is providing another document to the Council. Princess Pine, Inter Tribal Council of Michigan Princess Pine has several concerns to bring to the Council: - States were offered waivers, program extensions and modifications and tribes are sovereign nations with special legal status similar to state governments. Tribes should be allowed the same advantages. - Jobs bill does not include Native American adults; and if this is an oversight, it should be corrected. - Tribes need to advocate for adult services under Section 166 along with comparable funding and program design. - More funding should be provided to Section 166 programs. Page 6 of 15

7 - Need Advisory Council to send out notice to grantees with information i.e. competitive process and received late notice for submitting Notice of Intent (one day notice). - Do appreciate and support Council and Section As a provider of services to tribal communities, tribes are underserved. Ms. Campbell stated that the minutes and the Council list are posted at and Ms. Sanchez is looking to post the meeting summaries on the NINAETC website. Councilman Waldron, in response to Princess Pine s statement, how could deadline been missed? Ms. Campbell stated that the deadline is published in the Federal Register. Councilwoman Molle, as Council representative to Princess Pine, offered to be reached anytime and advised that grantees are responsible for knowing their deadlines. Ms. Sanchez reminded the Council that the Notice of Intent has not been through a competitive process until this year; PY In terms of tribal and state status, the law does require the Department of Labor respect the Indian Self Determination Act, and the current administration is committed to government-to-government relationship which applies only to tribes and not nonprofits and consortiums. Norman Ration, Executive Director, National Indian Youth Council Mr. Ration has been listening to the comments of other program directors and supports transparency and getting more information out. Would like to look at excessive carryover and have a formula for giving funds to other smaller grantees. Jennifer Whitmore, MIS Specialist, California Indian Manpower Consortium There are issues with the Bear Tracks system version 5.1. There were errors and a patch was given but not all grantees were given notice unless the grantee contacted HeiTech and Lead Project Officer. Many reports in Bear Tracks do not work because they are from the old menu of measures. A suggestion was made to have the IT Work Group come up with a list of reports which do not work and present it to Hei Tech and create a list of new reports which will be useful to grantees. The patch history list on Hei Tech s website with one patch which caused a problem with reporting 9084, listed as noncritical, but should have been classified as critical; who identifies this? This patch affects the 9084 and should be listed as critical. On behalf of other grantees, Hei Tech doesn t return calls or spends much time with the grantee but there is no resolution to the problem. Bear Tracks needs to be a better product. Also, the IT Work Group needs more time to test the beta version before they are released. The 5.1 beta version was received two days before the National Conference (last May). Ms. Whitmore reported the errors to the IT Work Group in November and Duane Hall was supposed to notify grantees by and follow-up with calls. Page 7 of 15

8 Christine Molle, American Indian Council Ms. Molle agrees with Ms. Whitmore s statements. She has 28 pages of correspondence regarding the SPR not downloading and still not resolved. She contacted everyone. We need to go to Hei Tech to see what is happening. Her annual auditors ask why their reports don t match numbers so they had to manually count files instead of producing Bear Tracks reports with the same information. Ms. Molle is concerned that if the Bear Tracks reports are not accurate, then the outcomes are not good and this will affect funding. Tianna Porter, Native American Community Services, Buffalo, NY Ms. Porter is a new employee and came to formally introduce herself to the Council. The conference has been very helpful, and the website looks to be a good tool for all grantees. Walter Celestine, Alabama-Coushatta Tribe Mr. Celestine would like to see doing away with the Common Measures as we know what to do for our community; now stuck doing paperwork instead of serving clients and would like to see the menu of measures returned. Christine Harjo, Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada Ms. Harjo participated in the webinar with Assistant Secretary, and questions have not been addressed. We were told that we would get back to you but haven t seen any responses and is hopeful that the new website will help grantees know that the Council is hearing us and doing something about it. There is also a transportation issue, there is not enough funding to reach the outlying communities and give them services they need. Gary Hay, Copper River Native Association The capacity building and high turnover is barrier for success and suggests a track for small organizations where larger, more experienced organizations would share their knowledge. James Lujan, representing Paula Starr, Southern California Indian Center On behalf of Ms. Starr, Bear Tracks software has not been accessible since November. Los Angeles County Workforce Investment Board provided a report from the summer youth employment in 2009 with six (6) Indian youth and four (4) Hawaiian out of 2400 youth served. This is an example of how Native youth are not accessing county and city programs and respectfully address to the Council the need for urban youth in future funding and outreach. Mr. Lujan would also like to acknowledge the resolution passed today at the General Session. Page 8 of 15

9 The Southern Californian Indian Center, located in the entertainment industry, created a program developing film training and production program called Inter Tribal Entertainment creating award-winning short films and would like to develop a possible partnership with Department of Labor, their networks, to develop production of programs. More information on program at Lois Bethards, Executive Director, American Indian Center of Arkansas Ms. Bethards is a member of the IT Work Group, and Bear Tracks was doomed from the beginning with Wendell passing away. (She had questions during the meeting as to why we have been working on trying to implement his program when it should have been scrapped and started over.) The software hasn t work and need to make it better, but there probably isn t funding to do that. Ms. Sanchez Council noted that she had requested the Department of Labor and ProTech (since they were mandating Common Measures) should foot the bill for software development and maintenance and no response was ever provided. Jennifer Whitmore, California Indian Manpower Consortium Hei Tech re-categorized reports, rather than creating new reports. New reports were requested through the IT Work Group so may have already paid for it but never received it. Councilman Giff pointed out that the published agenda in the federal register has the Public Comment Session from 2:30 to 4:30 and the Council s Agenda has it from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ms. Sanchez stated that the Public Comment Session would continue to 4:30 p.m. Councilman Waldron suggests that the Council develop a system to acknowledge or respond to comments during the Public Comment Session. Councilman Foster is excited about the Community webpage which was asked for a long time and is needed by the grantee community. Ms. Sanchez let the Council know that tomorrow we will discuss the training and technical assistance grant, and Ms. Whitmore will provide a chart to show the TAT funding history. Funding for Bear Tracks, SPRA, and Hei Tech is now coming from the 1%; we are doing the best we can with the budget we have. The Assistant Secretary says she will work with us; it will just take some time. Councilman Waldron acknowledged Ms. Sanchez s statement. Some small steps can be taken such as responding to the comments. Councilman Denson reiterated the issue of excessive carryover; transparency; making sure we have minutes on web; and regarding technology need a systems project done citing (i.e. Carnegie Mellon and California Institute of Technology). Page 9 of 15

10 Councilwoman Quinto thanked the public for their comments and Ms. Whitmore s comments and proposed solutions. Hearing that grantees want opportunity to share as well as get feedback, there are opportunities to exchange information. Public Comment: LaTonya Hutchins, American Indian Community House Why is cost per participant so low for a population of people who are harder to serve? What is expected of the states? If Indian people have special set aside, why is there a need to report on common measures? Ms. Hutchins would like to see WIA funds for urban youth. It s a great idea about getting college students to develop a new Bear Tracks they could get college credit for the project. The arts are big in New York and in response to Mr. Lujan s statements, think outside the box; jobs are available in front and behind the camera. Arlen Lee, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, South Dakota Mr. Lee is the 5 th Director since 2000, with tribe s unemployment at 87%. Their community experienced a power outage of two weeks and a day and he returned to the office to find a letter wanting a report and if not submitted the tribe was being cautioned. The issue got resolved and just makes communication a big thing; when it s good, we can work good. Ms. Sanchez announced that comments from Listening Session and responses compiled and due out on July 1 st in response to an earlier inquiry Ms. Sanchez called the session in recess. Page 10 of 15

11 All Council Members Present Native American Employment and Training Council Meeting Albuquerque Marriott Albuquerque, New Mexico Day Two April 30, 2010 Others In Attendance: Ron Trusley, NTNWIB Veronica Boone, Tucson Indian Center Darrell Paddlety Sr. Patrick H. Andrews, Tohono O odham Nation, NTNWIB Collette Lewis, Fort Mojave, NTNWIB Roselyn Shirley, Navajo Department of Workforce Development Ken Martinez Leila Leitka Arlen Lee, CRST Oyate Connections Tara Bourdukofsky, APIA Ms. Sanchez re-convened the Council meeting. Presentation by the Nineteen Tribal Nations Workforce Investment Area Patrick Andrews, Executive Director, Tohono O odham NTNWIB Mr. Andrews presented successes, concerns and difficulties in working with the State of Arizona and NTNWIB would like to gain the support of Council. - Refer to handouts from yesterday (brief background and history of organization) - The NTNWIB was established as JTPA which states that Indian-run program preferred - One difficulty: Title IB funding allocation 1.4 million services for tribes in AZ through the state - Highlights of NTNWIB: 1) The annual conference is held in Prescott, Arizona. We appreciate the efforts of Ms. Whitmore, the late Ms. Cruz and Mr. Giff; similar conference to this but with a homey feel; 2) quarterly staff trainings are held to provide continuous training; 3) ability to allocate Title 1B funding between tribes; 4) direct communication with tribal leaders and officials and able to communicate hardship and struggles directly; 5) have sanction policy, backed by tribal leaders/ ITCA ; 6) success in Indian Country, specifically in Tohono O odham graduation rate is very low in Tohono O odham Nation but the One-stop is 89%. - Veronica Boone, Social Services Director, Tucson Indian Center & Board of Directors Member of NTNWIB shared - Section 166 grantees - Perspective that differs 166 & 477 from state; state performance measures that state required is much higher; state uses the VOS system which is more complicated and difficult to improve numbers, and more complicated than Bear Tracks - Technical Assistance for VOS training is requested but not fulfilled. Page 11 of 15

12 Mr. Andrews continues with issues that face the Board: - Performance measures increased; exceeded more than 50% (some met 22% and less than 20% not met.) - The unmet 20% is due to unrealistic performance measures; there are unique situations on the member reservations - Unemployment rate in AZ is under 15%, member tribes reservations at 70-75% - No provisions recognizing tribal WIBs in state - No representation on state workforce policy boards. They are appointed by the Governor of Arizona, even though population of Arizona is 5% Native American people, there is Native representation - No recognition of tribal resources; i.e. TERO every tribe has a TERO office and would meet this portion of the law Recommendations to the Council: - The recommendations are the same as stated in yesterday s public comment session (handout provided). - The State of Arizona is not recognizing the Board and is requesting the Council s support. - An invitation is made to attend the NTNWIB Annual Conference in Prescott the first week in December. The invitation is extended to Assistant Secretary Jane Oates and a personal invitation to Ms. Sanchez and Ms. Campbell. - A request for a resolution of support from NAETC recognizing the unique situation on the reservation and affirming the positive contributions and performance of the organization. Questions: Councilman Denson express congratulations on graduation rates. Would a discussion between labor unions and tribal labor employment groups be beneficial to you? Also, common measures, performance measures and how others mention including education back to common measures, what would be education? o Mr. Andrews replied that case management, monitored by quarter/semester to show that we care. - Councilman Giff extended a thank you for scheduling this time for NTNWIB to present; although not in 166, this involved a tribal workforce investment board. - Councilwoman Molle works with four tribes and this is good information and would be interested in this information. Is there a sample resolution to look at? o Mr Andrews has a copy of ITCA s which can be amended. o Ms. Sanchez will take into consideration support for this; other grantees will contact NTNWIB as a model and this can be a foundation to be modeled in other communities. Ms Campbell thanked Mr. Andrews for his presentation and recommended he contact Nicole Willis, the Tribal Liaison to the Secretary. She is advocate at the Department of Labor. Councilman Giff asked if it is possible for a Council meeting to be in December in Prescott. Ms. Sanchez will add this consideration. Ms. Sanchez shared a story from her work in job training program for Native American and is an example of what people say that things in life go full circle. One of her first experiences was taking a position to hold DOL accountable to the CETA legislation pertaining to Indians and Native Americans. That meeting was held in Flagstaff, Arizona. Page 12 of 15

13 Now we are in a situation again, where we need to reclaim our program. This is a separate Indian and Native American program with unique situations, geography, and economies; and we need to make sure we aren t treated as a common program. This time, we have the Arizona Native grantees and the ITCA advocating for the same. Ms. Sanchez thanks the NTNWIB for coming forward and giving the Council food for thought. Contact information for Mr. Andrews: Patrick H. Andrews, Director Tohono O odham Nation Education Department P. O. Box 837 Sells, AZ Phone (520) Cell (520) Fax (520) Patrick.andrews@tonation-nsn.gov Councilwoman Longley does not see a national picture of tribal involvement in workforce investment boards, which is critical. There is a need to take a national look at the workforce investment system and how it works or not works with tribal WIBs. Ms. Campbell would like the Council to consider Councilwoman Longley s suggestion. Topics from yesterday s agenda still need to be looked at (presented by Ms. Campbell): PY Performance Measures (Education) Assistant Secretary Oates and Ms. Campbell reviewed the menu of measures; and Ms. Oates is concerned if some measures are measureable and if the menu of measures ties into the Secretary s Strategic Plan. A lengthy discussion of the Education measure for PY was held among the Council members. Ms. Campbell asked the Council to consider tasking out the performance measures to the Effective Management Work Group. Councilman Stapp stated the unique opportunity to get back to the menu of measures and asked for a timeline to get this done. Ms. Sanchez proposed a call to the Assistant Secretary Oates in May/June to give her an update and schedule a meeting in late May/June at Little Big Horn College. We can finalize the recommendation August/September and present to the Council at their next meeting. Ms. Campbell reminded everyone that when the Effective Management Work Group discusses the Common Measures, be sure to state how they don t work with concrete alternatives. Ms. Sanchez believes there is a 32 page document which details the Common Measures and how they do not work in some situations. Councilman Richardson pointed out the NTNWIB and their resolution with the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona recognizing the unemployment rate is much higher in most reservations and this is rational for why common measures don t fit our program. Page 13 of 15

14 Councilman Yarlott announced possible meeting dates of June Crow Native Days and Re-enactment of Little Big Horn and other activities are going on during those days so the college will be available. Ms. Sanchez re-stated the meeting dates for the Effective Management Work Group to be June 25 th, 26 th, and possibly the 27 th. Training and Technical Assistance Funds Ms. Campbell stated the one percent TAT funds are to be obligated by June 30, The items on the list are what has traditionally been funded. The spreadsheet includes funding for technological needs (updates to the community of practice website); this item has not been approved yet. Additional review of the budget with comments and clarification were exchanged between Council members. Ms. Campbell reminded the Council that the Department of Labor must be aware of any work group meeting. Ms. Sanchez asked if it is a requirement to have a federal representative at a meeting and they can t attend, what is an acceptable alternative. A telephone conference is acceptable, replied Ms. Campbell. Carryover Funding Ms. Campbell stated that the final paper will be forwarded if a decision on the carryover by Assistant Secretary Oates is made. The Council can discuss at the next meeting. Resolution No Ms. Sanchez provided a copy of resolution passed by the body at the National Conference and requests that the Council support the letter writing campaign to the President. Motion: Motion to support the Resolution No regarding a letter writing campaign to President Obama passed by the 31 st National Native American Conference by M. Longley, Seconded by E. Richardson; Motion passed unanimously. Discussion: Ms. Campbell is not clear on the Department of Labor s involvement. Ms. Sanchez will send a courtesy copy to the Secretary. Bear Tracks Ms. Sanchez would like the IT Work Group to convene a meeting to address the software issues raised by Ms. Whitmore and is concerned that if seasoned directors are having problems with Bear Tracks, then our new directors may be totally lost. The IT Work Group will look at the feasibility of fixes or new costs because numbers need to be quantified so need accurate numbers. Councilwoman Molle is concerned that it looks that we haven t done anything (based on generated reports). Ms. Campbell suggests the Effective Management Work Group look at performance before tweaking the database (Bear Tracks). Page 14 of 15

15 Ms. Sanchez will try to get IT workgroup meeting scheduled before the Effective Management Work Group. Ms. Sanchez adjourned the meeting at 12:22 p.m. since there was no Council quorum. Page 15 of 15