Join the Tulalip Health Clinic staff and WSU Master Gardeners in planting new gardens, Tuesday, June 11 10am-4pm. Garden walk, salmon lunch and health screenings and prize giveaways!
Category: News
Seeking Cooks and Cook Helpers for Salmon Ceremony Event
The Tulalip Tribes Salmon Ceremony Event
June 15, 2013
Job Title(s): Cooks and Cook Helpers
Note: The Tulalip Tribes publicly announces that Indian Preference to hiring shall apply to the Tulalip Tribal job opportunities.
Requirements:
- Have a valid state driver’s license, reliable vehicle and auto insurance. (PREFERRED)
- Food Handlers Permit. (PREFERRED)
- Must pass initial criminal history background check.
- Dependable and willing to work.
- Must be able to work non-traditional hours which may vary due to participation.
- Able to work independently, follow direction and work well with others.
- Must be at least 16 years of age.
Physical Characteristics and/or Prerequisites:
- Stamina to sit, stand and/or walk for prolonged periods of time.
- Mobility to bend, stoop, and/ or climb stairs.
- Ability to lift/push/pull heavy objects.
Tribal Department: Community Services
Job Summary: To prepare and help serve food for the traditional dinner provided to The Tulalip Tribes Community and Public. Provide support to The Tulalip Tribes annual Salmon Ceremony which offers Tulalip Tribal Members with a forum to participate in their origins, beliefs, values and lifeways. Provide support to the traditional ceremony and dinner held to honor the first salmon caught of the season.
Employee Reports To: Head Cook
Responsibilities:
-
Assist cook in preparing and serving meals for up to 200 guests.
- Ensure safe and sanitary conditions at the site.
- Clean up after meals and as assigned.
- Wash and sanitize dishes, equipment and all surfaces regularly.
- Assist with food orders and shopping if needed.
- Assist with putting away delivered food and items as needed.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by incumbents within this job. It is not designed to be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications and working conditions required of employees assigned to this job. Management has sole discretion to add or modify duties of the job and to designate other functions as essential at any time. This job description is not an employment agreement or contract
Terms of Employment: This is a stipend position that can be up to but no longer than two days (48 hours) of services rendered
Pay Rate: STIPEND
Opening Date: June 7, 2013
Closing Date: June 12, 2013 at 4:00 pm
For more information or questions; please call Sasha Smith at Central Employment # 360-716-4284
Larsen Leads Bipartisan Legislation to Help Students in Schools Serving Military Bases and Indian Tribes
larsen.house.gov
WASHINGTON—Rep. Rick Larsen, WA-02, is the lead cosponsor of a bipartisan bill introduced today that will provide critical funding to schools that serve military families and Indian tribes. The Local Taxpayer Relief Act of 2013, which Larsen cosponsored with Rep. Kristi Noem, a Republican from South Dakota, continues funding for Impact Aid, which provides payments to school districts that serve large numbers of military families and Indian tribes.
“Without Impact Aid, schools in Oak Harbor, Marysville and La Conner would not be able to keep teachers and textbooks in classrooms,” Larsen said. “This bipartisan bill will provide permanent reliable funding to our schools, allowing them to provide the best opportunities to our students today and well into the future.”
The majority of public school funding comes from local property taxes. Families on military bases and on Indian lands do not pay local property taxes, denying local schools their traditional funding source. Impact Aid makes up the difference, providing direct payments to school districts that serve large numbers of federally-connected students.
“It’s important that we level the playing field for these districts who experience a lower local property tax base due to this federal land or educate federally connected students,” Noem said. “I was proud to work with Rep. Larsen in crafting this common-sense, bipartisan bill to make sure we are supporting our schools and students.”
The Local Taxpayer Relief Act of 2013 will:
· Make the Impact Aid program permanent;
· Require the Department of Education to make Impact Aid payments to school districts within three years;
· Make school districts whose student bodies consist at least 45 percent federally-connected students eligible for Impact Aid;
· Make it easier for school districts to receive the grant funding they need to make major school repairs.
Larsen successfully included his Impact Aid Timely Repayment Act in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act. But that provision is due to expire. The Local Taxpayer Relief Act of 2013 will make that provision permanent.
The Oak Harbor School District receives more than 10 percent of its funds from Impact Aid. Superintendent Rick Schulte endorsed the legislation and thanked Larsen for his leadership on the bill.
“Congressman Larsen has been a leader on Impact Aid since the day he was elected and has been extremely helpful to Oak Harbor schools,” Schulte said.
The National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) also endorsed the bill.
“We thank the sponsors of this bill and urge members of Congress to consider cosponsoring this important piece of legislation that is a critical lifeline for federally impacted schools,” said NAFIS Executive Director John Forkenbrock.
The text of the bill is available here. Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and John Thune, R-S.D., introduced companion legislation in the Senate today.
Learn more about the Impact Aid program here.
Lummi Food Sovereignty gets a big boost
The Northwest Indian College project was awarded a $65,000 grant by The ConAgra Foods Foundation
– Northwest Indian College
Food sovereignty is a topic that is discussed more and more in Indian Country these days. Tribal leaders and members are realizing that they can’t be completely sovereign if they rely on outside sources for their food. That idea has prompted Northwest Indian College’s (NWIC) Cooperative Extension Department to implement food sovereignty programs at two of its reservation sites: Muckleshoot and Lummi.
The Muckleshoot project was the first of the two to launch about four years ago. From the get go, the program was popular in the Muckleshoot community and received national attention from other tribes, donor organizations and the media.
Last year, motivated by the success of the Muckleshoot project and requests from the Lummi community, NWIC launched the Lummi Food Sovereignty Project. Now this younger project is beginning to see its share of support.
Most recently, that support came in the form of a generous $65,000 grant from The ConAgra Foods Foundation.
NWIC is one of 12 nonprofit organizations in eight states across the nation selected to receive a 2013 Community Impact Grant from The ConAgra Foods Foundation. Grantees are selected from areas with the greatest number of children at risk of experiencing hunger as determined by Feeding America’s study “Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity Estimates,” and/or where 100 or more ConAgra Foods employees reside.
“A grant of this size allows us to move forward with this project,” said Susan Given-Seymour, director of NWIC’s Cooperative Extension Department. “With The ConAgra Foods Foundation’s support, we will expand the project to meet the Lummi community demand for a project that serves the entire community, including youth, elders, schools, healthcare programs, and more.”
The ConAgra Foods Foundation funds allow NWIC to pool resources of people, facilities, and curricula with the resources of the Lummi Commodity Foods Program and the Lummi Nation Service Organization to form a Lummi Food Sovereignty working team.
“We can use all of these resources to support the desire of the Lummi people to get back the health and healthy lifestyle they enjoyed before European contact,” Given-Seymour said.
The Lummi Food Sovereignty Project evolved out of a four-year research project, the Lummi Traditional Food Project, which tested a culturally-based approach to wellness that emphasized lifestyle changes based on increased consumption of traditional and healthy foods and related educational programming. Vanessa Cooper, Traditional Plants program coordinator at NWIC, has headed the project since it kicked off. She said the program’s success, just like its roots, is community driven.
“I love to watch the ripple effect of the work that we do,” Cooper said. “When one person is impacted, they tell others, their friends and family members. Word of mouth is powerful and our program has grown based on the experiences that families are sharing with others. It paints a very clear picture of the need for this kind of programming and the hunger that people have for it.”
The ConAgra Foods Foundation grant will support activities that promote healthy, traditionally-based food behaviors that produce the following outcomes and activities:
- Teaching and supporting cooks in commercial kitchens (schools, elder centers, etc.) to prepare healthier meals
- More community educators will work in a variety of venues
- Giving the entire community increased information about the availability and use of traditional foods in healthy meal preparation
- Commercial kitchens will implement policies promoting healthier foods
- The community will ultimately experience improved health and wellness
“We are very grateful to The ConAgra Foods Foundation for giving us this support and we look forward to getting to know some of the ConAgra Foods employees through their on-site volunteerism,” Given-Seymour said.
Now in its fourth year, The ConAgra Foods Foundation has invested more than $2 million in Community Impact Grants programming – including enrollment in government-assistance programs, nutrition education, advocacy and direct access to food. The program aims to provide more than seven million meals to children across the country.
“Without access to healthy food – even temporarily – children can face life-long wellness consequences,” said Kori Reed, vice president, ConAgra Foods Foundation and Cause. “That’s why programs like Northwest Indian College’s are so important. Being on the frontlines every day, Northwest Indian College is nourishing these children so they can unlock their highest potential, and we want to empower that success.”
Northwest Indian College is an accredited, tribally chartered institution headquartered on the Lummi Reservation at 2522 Kwina Road in Bellingham Wash., 98226, and can be reached by phone at (866) 676-2772 or by email at info@nwic.edu.
New support for moms-to-be
Aisha Bone, 25, reads “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to her daughter, Paige, who turned 1 on Friday. Bone is expecting her second baby in December and became interested in Providence Regional Medical Center Everett’s new prenatal program offering support and education.
By Sharon Salyer, The Herald
With her second child due in December, Aisha Bone is something of a veteran when it comes to pregnancy and delivery.
Yet the Everett mom, 25, was quick to sign up when she heard about a new group being formed for expectant mothers.
The Centering Pregnancy program provides moms the opportunity to attend 10, two-hour sessions where they can spend time with a nurse midwife.
It substitutes the typical prenatal office visit of about 15 minutes with a two-hour session each time the group meets. Moms can ask questions and learn from each other, said Jamie George, a certified nurse midwife who will lead the group.
Over the course of the pregnancy, that adds up to about 20 hours of personal attention.
“That’s a huge difference in the face-to-face time you have with your provider,” George said.
The ongoing series of classes begins June 18 at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. Moms join when they’re about six months from their scheduled delivery date.
New groups are scheduled to start each month. The groups are kept small, with about a dozen members, so that each woman can get personal attention. The group meets monthly for four months, then every two weeks after that.
Over the next year, the classes, which are covered by insurance, could serve up to 400 women. Services also will be provided on a sliding-fee scale. No one will be turned away for lack of ability to pay.
Moms practice the breathing techniques used during birth and get questions answered about topics such as the aches and pains of late-term pregnancy and tips on breast-feeding.
“I think it opens your mind up to different things that you may not have thought about compared to if it was just you and the midwife,” Bone said. “If someone else has a question, it may make you think about something you may never have thought of before.”
There will be belly checks to monitor the baby’s development, checks of the mom’s weight and blood pressure, and listening to the fetal heartbeat.
The sessions also will provide friendship and emotional support for mothers. This can be especially important for women who don’t have family nearby or those who are separated from their spouses through military deployment.
“It can be a scary thing if you’re pregnant to be alone,” Bone said. “To have that support system is good for the mom as well, not just for the child.”
For this reason, contacts are being made with Naval Station Everett to inform women about the program. Information also is being provided to the Tulalip Health Clinic. The Tulalip Tribes are the state’s second largest tribal group.
The program was begun in Everett through a $20,000 grant from the March of Dimes. The goal is to reduce premature births and low-birth weight babies, who can develop physical and developmental problems.
In Snohomish County, nearly 9 percent of all babies are born prematurely and nearly 5 percent have lower that normal birth weights, according to the state Department of Health.
A birth is considered premature if it occurs three weeks before the typical 40-week pregnancy.
Infants born prematurely often have compromised lungs, problems with feeding and other medical problems, said Lori Wilson, a physical therapist at Providence Children’s Center.
The babies also are at higher risk for developmental problems.
Everett joins Centering Pregnancy programs that are now offered in nearly every state. In Washington, Madigan Army Medical Center has been offering the program for a number of years, said Gina Legaz, director of program services for the March of Dimes.
The state chapter began offering start-up grants for Centering Pregnancy programs in 2011, including one to the Columbia Health Center in South Seattle.
Bone said she was familiar with the Everett hospital’s midwifery program, where her first child, Paige, was delivered by a midwife.
“I liked the idea of having the best of both worlds,” she said. “The midwives were respectful, but in the off chance that something did go wrong, I would be at the hospital and have great health care resources.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Centering Pregnancy
The first Centering Pregnancy group begins June 18 at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. New groups are scheduled to start monthly, with the next beginning July 15. For more information, call 425-303-6500.
Outlet mall expansion to open June 20
More than a dozen new stores to be added in Tulalip
The expansion to the Seattle Premium Outlets was designed to ensure a new promenade would meld with the original 2005 structures.
By M.L. Dehm, The Herald Business Journal
TULALIP — Several retailers in the Seattle Premium Outlets‘ new promenade expansion are scheduled to open for business on June 20, with additional retailers following in the coming months.
The project is anticipated to bring more visitors to a complex that already draws more than 6.5 million annually.
“We are excited to welcome wonderful brands and stores that have proven to be so popular in other centers of ours,” said Mark Johnson, general manager of Seattle Premium Outlets.
Those stores include the Armani Outlet, Max Studio, The North Face, Clarins, Vince, Diane Von Furstenberg, American Eagle Outfitters and Forever 21. Existing stores that will be relocating from the original 2005 wings into the new promenade are Coach, Columbia Sportswear Co., DKNY, Hugo Boss, Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Bahama.
“Additional stores joining the center, in the suites of the relocating stores, include White House Black Market, Saucony, Sperry Top-Sider, Swarovski, Victorinox Swiss Army and Disney Outlet store,” Johnson said.
He anticipates that the addition of those stores will satisfy shoppers’ demands for greater selection, more brands and the chance to find more deals.
The expansion added more than 100,000 square feet of retail space to the approximately 400,000 existing square feet that opened near Quil Ceda Village and the Tulalip Resort Casino in 2005. A parking garage opened in 2012 on the east side of the mall.
“Being next to the Tulalip Resort and Casino is a great complement to our shopping options and a benefit to area visitors,” Johnson said.
Tourists spent about $876 million in Snohomish County last year, and being near other tourist destinations is a bonus for Seattle Premium Outlets as it tries to capture tourist dollars.
Simon Property Group, the S&P 100 company that owns the complex, stated that the property was producing sales in excess of $700 per square foot before the start of the expansion.
Last quarter, the company posted a 5.3 percent increase in tenant sales per square foot overall in its family of outlet malls.
Simon Property Group owns 77 outlet malls worldwide, including 63 of the fewer than 200 facilities in the United States. That makes the organization one of the largest outlet mall groups in the world. The company holds a long-term lease on the Seattle Premium Outlets’ land owned by the Tulalip Tribes.
There were always tentative plans for a possible expansion of the Seattle Premium Outlets that preceded the official opening in 2005. However, the current expansion wasn’t actually announced until August 2011 and work did not begin until 2012.
“Our growth began with the completion of the new parking garage in late 2012 and continues with the opening of the promenade,” Johnson said.
The parking garage compensates for the areas of parking that were lost with construction on the expansion. During the last holiday season when expansion construction was in full swing, the outlets made a point of letting shoppers know that the parking garage was available and that stores were open for business.
According to Johnson, the parking garage has been working out well since it opened. Some shoppers seek out the lower, sheltered level of the garage in inclement weather.
The soon-to-open expansion, which is the new face of the facility as seen from I-5, has been built to complement the original site both in appearance and convenience. Director of marketing Michele Osgood pointed out the way in which similar structures and materials were used to offer a seamless feel to shoppers coming to the Outlets.
A new visitor would probably not notice the subtle differences between the new promenade expansion and the original buildings. Both areas feature wood elements and rock facings. Colors and landscaping are similar and the hardscape under foot at the entrance is the same.
Benches have been added at intervals along the front of the structure and secure locker rentals are available outside the management office at the northwest corner of the facility so shoppers don’t have to go all the way back to their car to stow purchases.
Many of the shoppers who visit the outlets come from Canada. They stay at one of the hotels, such as the Tulalip Resort Casino, or make the visit a day trip from Vancouver, B.C.
“The center serves area residents, both locally and regionally, and area visitors from all over the world,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to meet the needs of a wide range of shoppers.”
The more than a dozen shops opening on June 20 should help to do that. There are no plans for further expansion of the property, Johnson said.
Heritage High School graduation photos
Herald staff
Heritage High School of Tulalip held its graduation for the class of 2013 on Saturday. Click here to see a gallery of photos from the ceremony.
More graduation photos
Herald photographers are shooting photos from most Snohomish County high school graduation ceremonies this year. Look for more on our graduation galleries page.
Share your photos
Taking your camera to graduation? We’d love to see what you’ve got. Share your photos and see what others have posted in our reader galleries.
Teens making films ‘on the fly’ out in Indian Country
Raven Two Feathers of Seattle directs a short documentary about the Suquamish Indian tribe as part of the 2013 SuperFly Filmmaking Workshop.
KPLU 88.5 June 7, 2013
Each year, 50 teens from all over the country fly into Seattle to participate in a fast-and-furious film challenge. They have to produce short films in 36 hours, or “on the fly.” Which is why the program is called “SuperFly.”
Most of the participants are Native Americans, creating Native-themed films out on location on an Indian reservation.
Seattle filmmaker Tracy Rector and her Longhouse Media company launched the workshop 8 years ago.
“Growing up in Seattle as a mixed race woman who’s indigenous, I was very aware that there were not representations of people like me. And I often felt very isolated,” she said.
The all-expenses paid workshop, held in partnership with the Seattle International Film Festival, brings together a multi-cultural group of youths. And in an effort to demystify Indian Country, the workshops are held on a different Indian reservation each year.
This year, the Suquamish Tribe out on the Kitsap Peninsula hosted the teens and introduced them to their history and culture through songs, dances, teachings, and a feast of traditional foods. They also inspired the subjects for five short documentaries and one animated film. In previous years, the teens have worked off of original narrative scripts authored by a Native writer.
On the beach on a recent day, Raven Two Feathers and Evodie Ngoy helmed the camera to tell the story of Suquamish tribal member Peg Deam.
Deam stirred up controversy a few years ago when she took a canoe from the Suquamish museum and paddled it out on the water. She says it was her way of reclaiming and revitalizing her culture.
Raven, 16, is Cherokee, Seneca, Cayuga, Comanche, and a New Mexico transplant who now attends Ballard High. She said the workshop taught her more about the diversity of tribes in the Pacific Northwest.
She added she could relate to the subject of her documentary: “I feel like you need to take risks cause originally I was super shy as a kid and I had this one teacher that pushed me to get out of my comfort zone.”
When she stood out on the beach, directing, Raven was anything but shy. She shared directing duties with Evodie, a 15-year-old from Baltimore originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“It feels awesome. I don’t know how else to express it. I’m mean, too pumped. Too pumped. Too much joy,” she said about the filmmaking experience.
The teens are divided into teams. They work with professional mentors and professional equipment. They’re fueled by the adrenaline of an intense deadline and the passion of what they’ve already figured out they love to do.
“I heard a great thing from a director once that you don’t say, ‘I want to become a filmmaker.’ You say, ‘I am a filmmaker!’ So I guess you could say I am a filmmaker!” said Raven.
“You are! Did you see what you did today?” said Evodie to Raven.
The SuperFly films, which get screened as part of the Seattle International Film Festival, will also get submitted to other festivals. They’ll also wind up in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Orcas draw crowds in Washington
By The Oregonian The Oregonian
June 07, 2013
June 07, 2013
BREMERTON, Wash. — Eight killer whales that spent about three hours in inland Washington waters near Bremerton quickly drew crowds on nearby shorelines.
Marine mammal biologist Brad Hanson of the National Marine Fisheries Service heard about the orcas and headed over from Seattle in his research boat to check them out Thursday afternoon.
The Kitsap Sun reports that the whales were marine mammal-eating transient orcas, rather than members of three Southern Resident killer whale pods that eat salmon.
Hanson followed the whales into Dyes Inlet and obtained a sample of blubber from a female orca designated as T-65A. She was identifiable by a distinctive notch in the upper part of her dorsal fin. Hanson also was able to identify her three offspring but not the other four whales. The blubber test is used to check for toxic chemicals and to help with genetic fingerprinting.
He says researchers are now trying to learn more about the transient killer whales.
— The Associated Press
PGST Foundation: Helping to foster understanding | Noo-Kayet, Our Village
Over the past decade, there have been a lot of milestones for the Port Gamble S’Klallam. We built the first Longhouse on our Tribe’s land in more than a century. We began to take steps to resurrect our ancestral language. We published our Tribe’s first history book.
By JEROMY SULLIVAN
Kingston Community News Columnist
June 6, 2013 · 3:49 PM
All of these projects would not have been possible without the hard work of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation. This nonprofit’s mission is to “improve the quality of life for Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal members while increasing the understanding of the Tribe’s rich cultural heritage with people who reside in the Puget Sound area and visitors from far and wide.”
The foundation’s successes serve as a snapshot of what our Tribe has done to strengthen community bonds while staying true to our values, including those relating to education, cultural awareness and environmental stewardship.
For example, one of the foundation’s early projects was the capital campaign behind the House of Knowledge project — completed in 2007 — which includes the Longhouse, Career and Education building, Elders Center, and Little Boston Library.
This February, we celebrated the release of “The Strong People: A History of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe,” the first book we feel accurately reflects our Tribe’s ancestral roots. Not only did the foundation oversee work on the book — mostly by volunteers — but they’ve also been in charge of making sure books are distributed to the community, especially to our elders.
The foundation has played an integral role in raising awareness of Port Gamble S’Klallam language and art. They’ve found opportunities to showcase our Tribal artisans, including hosting several art auctions and playing an integral role in the Tribal art showcased at The Point Casino after its remodel. The foundation also works closely with our cultural resources department to help encourage the teaching of the S’Klallam language. At one point, our ancestral language was all but a thing of the past; because of so-called “Indian schools,” few spoke even basic words. Today, the S’Klallam language is being taught in our preschool.
Recently, we opened a new preschool building. It features a living roof, rain gardens, and an old-growth cedar tree stump as the centerpiece between two classrooms. The next stage of that project is a playground and the foundation is selling $100 tiles to help with funding. Support within the Tribal community has been strong; Foundation Director Laurie Mattson told me a story of one man who said he couldn’t afford to buy a tile, but gave the $6 out of his pocket.
The foundation has also been put in charge of the restoration efforts at Heronswood. When we purchased Heronswood last year — while still a beautiful place — it was clear that some time and energy would need to be put toward revitalizing the gardens. Through the hard work of some very dedicated volunteers, Tribal and non-Tribal alike, who have been working almost weekly since late last year, the garden has been cleaned up and is ready for a fresh start.
In addition to helping coordinate volunteer efforts with the Port Gamble Development Authority, the foundation has been responsible for creating events that help open the garden back up to the community. By the time you read this, Heronswood would have had its first Garden Open & Plant Sale in more than a decade. Additional Garden Open & Plant Sale events are scheduled for July 6 and Sept. 7.
The foundation is also setting up opportunities for charter memberships and lecture events. You can find out more at Heronswood.com.
We are very proud of the work being done by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation. They have done a lot to support our Tribal community and now, with projects like Heronswood, are working to create something positive that will touch people throughout the county, throughout the region, and beyond.
You can find more information about the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation at www.pgst.nsn.us/tribal-entities/sklallam-foundation.