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Show pll The Uto BzBetfe National Housing Council Sots Priorities, Goals at KHeeting WASHINGTON. D.C.-(AIPA)--A- bout housing officials and tribal officials from across the nation voted to organise themselves into a new National American Indian Housing council (NAIHC) during a national Indian housing meeting here Apr, Chosen as interim chairman of the fledgling organisation by the delegates was Ronald Froman (Creek), Okmulgee. Okla., who is executive director of the Creek Nation Housing Authority there. Froman told the delegates the new housing organization would be concerned with housing only," and that the membership would be those people directly invloved in producing housing for for Indians." Among the tasks of the new group would be work on beneficial legislation on housing for Indians and the monitoring and correction of federal housing programs, said Froman. The delegates convened in an atmosphere of controversy surrounding the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), its apparent delays in releasing funds for previously committed housing units in Indian country, and the apparent boycott by HUDs top officials of the Indian housing meeting, including HUD Secretary James Lynn. HUD this January had pledged to convene a National Indian housing conference, and had later backed off that pledge made by HUD Asst. Secretary Gloria Toote in Los Angeles. Gov. Robert Lewis (Zuni), leading Indian member of the National Council on Indian Opportunity (NCIO) which convened the housing session, told delegates there has been no response from the Secretary of HUD and that we are concerned about this kind of attitude regarding a lack of acknowledgement of the Indian invitation. Neal A. McCaleb (Chickasaw), also an NCIO member, urged five objectives for the delegates to accomplish: to set goals 150 Indian 9-1- 0. - TWO TIME WINNERS Indian Health Clinic employee! Anne Coltharp, nurse and Corinne Pease, administrative officer, recently received certificates .commending them for their superior work performances from Charles Well, clinic director. Both employees have previously been cited for a job The certificates were accompanied by a letter of congratulations from Dr. ChnrlM fi McCammon, director of the Phoenix Area Indian Health Service. well-don- e. Protection Rights Reviewed (continued from page 4) conditions in Indian families such as low income, poor health and substandard housing which make Indian children prime targets for removal. One particular problem stems direcetly from the inadequacy of tribal courts to cope with demands by social workers that they authorize the removal of a child. According to witnesses, they have no independent means of either experts or resources to judge the validity of a request by a social worker to remove a child from his home. In states where tribes have lost civil and criminal jurisdiction over their reservation under Public Law 280, the situtation is even worse becaue the tribes have absolutely no role in removal. The BIA also came under fire at the hearings for its role or lack of it in this area. A witness charged that the BIA is spending over $1,040,000 in Minnesota to provide for foster care payments. Since it is a PL 280 state, Minnesota should be picking up this expense, according to Abourezk aide Sherwin Brodhead. ' Recommendations for reform by witnesses included repeal of PL 280 so affected tribes will have more control over what happens to their children, revision of standards governing child welfare issues to conform to Indian cultural life, and strengthening of due process to protect parents faced with . losing their children. THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL ALL STAR TEAM-- Of the Tonraamont of Tribal Champions Include (kneeling, left to right) Conrad Rood, Uto Chiefs; Leslie Wyasket, Utes; Hubert Atwiae, Uto Warriors; Franklin Reed, Indians; (standing, left to right) Don Taylor, Brigham Police Academy; Ernest LonewoU, Provo Skins; Dale BirdsMU, Spotted Eagles, who was also selected the Most Valuable Player; Robert Morgan, Spotted Eagles; and Ron Wopsock, Uto Chiefs. Larry BYU-TM- F was not available for the picture. The team was selected by ceaches of the IS teams who entered the basketball competition. Yazzie of the ey for Indian housing in the U.S., to set plans to get there originated by the 128 tribal housing authorities themselves, to set a schedule to meet overall housing needs, to determine overall budget costs, and to establish a system or vehicle for periodic evaluation of the progress on National Indian housing needs. Fan Peake, chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) housing construction program in Washington, fold delegates the BIA estimates a total of 47,071 new houses are needed by federally redogniz-e- d Indians in the BIA's 12 areas across the entire nation. Peake defined the housing program as a program changing the face of the reservations and their own life-style- ." Dr. Emory Johnson, director of the Indian Health Service (IHS), told the delegates: We eleariy understand that decent housing is for the health of the people, the physical, mental and social g soul of of Indian people-t-he the reservations." Johnson said that infectious diseases occurred less among Indian people who resite in new housing, according to a federal report. Gordon Cavanaugh, executive director of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), told the assembly that two out' of every three Indians today live in substandard housing. Cavanaugh's organization prepared for the delegates a lengthy information packet detailing the particulars of all pending legislation in the congress regarding housing, and the effect or lack of effect the bills would have in Indian country. Housing issues emerging in the two-da- y conference were the right of tribes rather than federal agencies to determine the kind, style and location of houses in Indian communities, the creation of new urbanized ghettoes on reservations, utilization of Indian labor forces in housing contraction, and use of Indian construction firms on a preferent- ial basis. The assembly as a whole passed these major resolutions: -- That HUD delay emplementing a new Indian Housing Authority Manual affecting Indian housing until the various tribal housing authorites have the opportunity1 to review and perhaps alter portions of that manual; -- That HUDs Lease Housing Program, called Section 23, is unworkable and must be rejected" because of its interference with the trust status of v Indian lands; -- That a housing bill now pending in the House of Representatives be amended to include Indian housing by the use of amending language prepared by the United Indian Tribes of Western Oklahoma and Kansas (UITWOK) a week previously. (Housing delegate met in emergency session with congressmen to get this language into the House bill while in Washington.) The new housing organization, which will convene again in June in an as yeti undetermined location, will review, amend and adopt a charter and finalize! their internal matters. The delegates also named a interim board, who under Chairman Froman will be responsible for the drafting of the proposed charter and other matters. These were: uvenon James lumcxasawj, uklahomi City, Okla.; Froman; Frank Takes Gu: (Crow), Hardin, Mont.; Dolly Aker: (Assiniboine), Ft. Peck, Mont.; Harr: Boness (Chippewa), Nett Lake,-Minn- ! Jack Cagey (Lummi), Marietta, Wash. Tim Foster (Yakima), Toppenish, Wash. Philip Vigil (Hoopa), Hoopa, Cal. well-bein- Robert Ketcheshawno (Potawatomi) Carson City, Nev.; Cordell Hardii (Paiute), Reno, Nev.; Pat Chee Mille: (Navajo), Window Rock, Ariz.; Hilda Garcia (Papago), Sells, Ariz.; Marvii Abrams (Seneca), Kennedy, N.Y.; an; Phillip Martin (Choctaw), Philadelphia Miss. |
