My Platform

The platform that I have mentioned below are a combination of thoughts, suggestions and ideas from community members of various communities and my own. The ideas are a starting point on how we as a community can start a process and conversation on how we can seek to implement new approaches for the betterment of all Pascua Yaqui communities. I believe the best approach to governance is to be informed from a grassroot community level to ensure that policy, practices, procedures, and strategic plans for the Tribe have the voices and input from the community. 

Hiaki Language Preservation and Revitalization

Every indigenous language in the United States is currently in decline. Hiaki language preservation and revitalization must be a top priority for the Tribe. If we lose our language that has been given to us from our ancestors, we also lose our history, our spirituality, our culture values and our Hiaki identity encoded within the Yoem Noki.

We must encourage and remember that we are all learning the Yoem Noki together and we really can't do this without each other. It's something that we should all be proud of no matter what ability level we are at. As I used to say to my students when I was teaching at Baboquivari High School (Tohono O'odham Nation), “there is only one wrong way to speak your language and that is to never speak it at all.”

  • More consistency and opportunities for language classes are needed:
    • Inconsistent class schedules and opportunities lead to lack of community participation, frustration and discouragement for Hiaki language learners. 
    • More opportunity for Hiaki language learners to speak Yoem Noki conversationally for all levels:
      • Meet and greet gatherings
      • Coffee/tea gatherings
      • Online sessions

 

  • Greater youth outreach for language programs are needed:
    • Research has shown that when children are fluent in more than one language at an early age, youth have greater identity formation, sense of community, greater educational and career achievement, and self-advocacy skills.
    • Reaching the youth on the current platforms and technology that are used in their daily lives must be a top priority in the revitalization efforts:
      • Greater social media presence
      • Greater utilization of website and online spaces
      • Gamification through mobile apps and video games development 
         

Government Transparency

The first step for accountability is financial transparency. With transparency of finances we as a community can recognize the priorities of the tribe, the efficiency of how the resources are used and how we can better support the equitable distribution of tribal resources for all communities. 

  • Tribal Council Study Sessions and Department Oversight Meetings should be available for public view (livestream, radio, etc.) so community members can be better informed about items coming up for resolution and department updates.

 

  • Documents should be available to the public not just upon request, but posted the Tribe’s website so that any community member can have easy access at any location and time:
    • Financial statements:
      • General ledger account (GLA) line items
      • Employee Pay
    • Policy and procedures
    • Strategic plans (yearly, 5 years, 10 years, etc.)
    • Other department information (applications, public service documents, etc.) 
      • Public list of who is next in line for a housing/rental or other service/program opportunities, unless HIPAA or FERPA privacy rules prevent such actions. This is critical for catching and holding our leaders and department managers accountable for nepotism and favoritism of family and friends.
    • Tribal Councils resolution and supporting documents

Equitable Distribution of Resources and Funding

Over the last few years I have been supportive and offered my services to the Guadalupe community with the El Tour de Walupe bike race, Vatnaatekai Flag Run and a few times to help with the driving of cultural participants from Rio Yaqui to Guadalupe. My experiences with various initiatives and events have enlightened me in the inequitable use of tribal resources for all communities.

  • If departments are seeking grants that only support New Pascua residents. What is the plan of action and strategy to help other communities not within the grant?
  • Establishment or support of current Community Advisor Groups or special interest groups (cultural participants, LGBTQ, youth, ect.) that have the backing of Tribal Council to inform our tribal leaders and department managers of the concerns and needs of each community or special interest group.
  • I personally will hold myself accountable to having office hours available at least two times a week at the Itom Hiapsi building so individuals can express their concerns and needs at a location that is more readily available to them.

Education Reform

  • Educational scholarship needs to be reformed to better meet the needs of all communities and education pathways:
    • In State and Out of State Tribal Members should be given the same level for scholarship/funding opportunities
    • Redefined “Academic Year” to include summer school semester, Cohort Programs and Continuous Programs
    • Implementation of larger scholarship funding for students who have a higher GPA level (both in high school and college)
    • Financial literacy classes should be a required course for scholarship recipients
    • Scholarship funding amount should better match the cost of tuition at various degrees levels
    • Scholarship opportunities for students attending technical/trade education, that are vetted and nationally recognized as credible educational institutions

 

  • Establishment of a public service loan forgiveness program to retain tribal members with degrees or hard to fill positions/industries after a number of years of service to the tribal government or enterprises

 

  • Greater summer volunteer/internship opportunities for youth

 

  • Establishment of technical educational school or programs for both youth and adults

 

  • Greater support for childcare education opportunities 

 

  • Establishment of Education Investments Accounts (similar to 529 Plan) for children, where families and the tribe can both contribute to this account (Thank you Valerio Valencia for this great suggestion, I have added some technical information on how this plan can work with IRS tax laws):
    • If the child does not attend higher or technical/trade education this account can be rolled over into a Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA), where both parties can withdraw contributions without penalties but withdraw of returns would be penalize (IRS tax laws)
      • SECURE Act of 2022 permits rolling over up to $35,000 of unspent funds in a 529 account into a Roth IRA account. The account must be at least 15 years old to qualify.

Mental and Physical Health

COVID-19 has hopefully taught us how we can better serve our communities and how we can better protect our loved ones. Our tribal leadership has had successes in creating new programs and initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we also need to have humility and recognize that there were also failures in our approach to the covid pandemic. 

  • Establishment of a Contact Information Database system that should be utilized by all tribal departments:
    • Easily updatable by front line staff members so the most current contact information is available to better communicate program services and public emergency responses.

 

  • Greater use of technology to ensure that community voices can continue to be heard when in-person methods are unavailable.

 

  • A disproportionately higher rates of hospitalization for COVID-19 that affected our communities stemming from the racial inequalities in the health system and the frequent pre-existing conditions that our loved ones undergo that were unfortunately exacerbated with COVID-19. Implementation of preventative services to fight pre-existing conditions must be a top priority for tribal leadership:
    • Expansion and improvement of food and nutrition programs (community gardens, cooking classes, 4H, FFA, ect.) 
    • Establishment of telehealth services to increase mental health support for all age groups and various at-risk groups (Teens, LGBTQ, MMIW, etc.)
    • Expansion and improvement of sports programming opportunities for all ages to combat the diabetes epidemics within our community. 

Term Limits and Elected Reform

Although I only flushed out the concepts of term limits and elections. I am realizing during the campaign through various conversations with community members that maybe we need to reconsider the idea of reorganization of government elected officials to separate executive and legislative functions.

  • Chairman and vice-chairman shall be chosen from an election of eligible tribal members. Both positions will remain as members of tribal council. The chairman and vice-chairman shall serve to that capacity for a term of four (4) years, with a term limit of eight (8) years. 
    • Elections for chairman, vice-chairman consist of a primary election and general election.
      • Primary election will consist of unlimited qualified two-candidate teams.
      • General elections candidates will consist of three (3) two-candidate teams. These three (3) general election two-candidate teams will be chosen from the elections of eligible tribal members in a primary election, the top three (3) two-candidate teams with the most votes will be eligible as two-candidate teams in the general election,

 

  • Nine (9) elected tribal council members shall be chosen from an election of eligible tribal members. Tribal council members shall serve a term of six (6) years, with a term limit of twelve (12) years. Elections are staggered every two years apart, a third of tribal councils seats will be contested every two years.
    • Elections for three (3) tribal council members shall consist of a primary election and general election. 
      • Primary election will consist of unlimited qualified candidates.
      • General elections candidates will consist of six (6). These six (6) general election candidates will be chosen from the elections of eligible tribal members in a primary election, the top six (6) candidates with the most votes will be an eligible candidate in the general election.

Others Ideas and Suggestions

  • Greater housing opportunity for individuals at various income brackets and family size, this will lead to greater community diversities that will uplift all community members at various socioeconomic status levels:
    • Research have shown that the educational policies of bussing inner-city students (primary minority children) to suburban schools leads to greater academic success

 

  • Establishment of on and off reservation home loan program:
    • Families/individuals and the tribe can both contribute to the payments made on this loan, or the tribe will sign as a backup co-signer
      • If families/individuals can no longer make payment of their loan the tribe reserve the right to take ownership of the loan and property

 

  • Establishment of Tribal Elections Department:
    • Improvement of get out to vote efforts for tribal, local, state and federal elections
      • Hosting of candidate meet and greets, and community forms events
      • Educational workshop for community members and candidates running for office on election bylaws, policies and procedures
    • Election reform of tribal elections can be prioritized, current bylaws need to clarify areas that are open to interpretation

 

  • Establishment of Construction Management Department:
    • The tribe can save millions of dollars by bringing in the general contracting efforts into tribal operations
    • Increase management efficiency of construction projects 
    • Streamline policy and procedures of construction projects

 

  • Four day work week (32 hours), but maintain current pay levels and benefits. There is much research on the benefit of implementing this change as evident in European countries:
    • Increase employees job satisfaction, motivation, work productivity, and employee retention and recruitment rates
    • Greater work life balance so employees can have more opportunities to spend time with family and loved ones, which will naturally lead to an improvement of mental and physical wellbeing
    • Decrease the stress of cultural participants due to many duties that are required of them throughout the year

 

 

Hopefully, I managed to give you some indication of my commitment to all tribal communities and the changes I am seeking to make with the support and advice of community members. We do not wait for a better future, we create the change we desire as a community.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns you will like to discuss.

 

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