Tribal Council approves economic development grant application

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council approved a comprehensive economic development strategy federal grant application for up to $900,000 at its Wednesday, Aug. 6, meeting.

If approved, the three-year Administration for Native Americans grant would be used to pay for an already-budgeted new position in the Economic Development and Tribal Lands Department.

The Tribal Economic Development program recently merged with the Tribal Lands Department under the direction of current Tribal Lands/Self-Governance Manager Jan M. Reibach.

Using the grant funds, the new employee would be sent to economic development trainings and complete an economic development strategy plan for the Tribe.

Grants Program Manager Wendy Sparks spoke about the grant at a Tuesday, Aug. 5, Legislative Action Committee meeting and noted that most federal grants now have an application deadline of just two to four weeks after the funding opportunities have been posted. Previously, the timeline was between two months to a year. As a result, the Tribal grants team had to submit the application prior to it being approved by council.

“That made it impossible for us to submit a signed resolution and bring the application to you prior to submission, so if you choose not to approve this resolution, we will withdraw the application,” she said. “I know this is far from ideal and we really appreciate your flexibility as we look for ways to navigate this interesting new approach.”

Tribal Council member Kathleen George thanked the grants team for their hard work.

“It’s a big adjustment and we really appreciate how you guys are doing your best to just accommodate the shifting sands of federal funding,” she said. “This sounds like a really great project and one that we could really benefit from.”  

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved a Tribal credit card for the Social Services Department Children & Family Services Program for $2,500;
• Approved an amendment to the fee schedule for the Win Thin Logging Unit timber sale;
• Approved a grant application for up to $124,979 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a Tribal cultural use study and co-stewardship project;
• Approved terminating a credit card processing agreement with Square and approving an agreement with Worldpay LLC. Tribal Finance Officer Chris Leno said the new system will allow the Finance Department to accept loan payments from Tribal members electronically;
• And approved the enrollment of one infant into the Tribe because they meet the requirements under the Tribal Constitution and Enrollment Ordinance.

To watch the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Videos tab.