Voices of the Elders meeting in the Medicine Root district

PINE RIDGE, S.D. – The Voices of the Elders have held two recent meetings. The first, which took place on Friday morning, June 28, 2024, was a steering committee meeting at Cohen House followed by an open meeting the following day in the middle school in Kyle, South Dakota which is part of the Medicine Root district. Medicine Root District president Juanita May Two Crow-Scherich died on July 2, 2024.  Her passing is a great loss to the community. Her son made lunch for the Voices of the Elders meeting in Kyle. Seven steering committee members attended on Friday with a small showing of people in Kyle on June 29. At both meetings Wilma Thin Elk gave the opening prayer.The Voices of the Elders had over 100 attendees at their first meeting. At that time they decided to remain independent of the Tribal Council and find a source of revenue to support their work. They depend on the input from the residents of the nine districts to guide them in their efforts to identify pressing problems on the Pine Ridge Reservation today.

It was discussed that for the past few months tribal council members have not been present at council meetings, making it impossible for votes to reach a quorum. There are fines in place such as $75 dollars if you call in to the meeting and $200 if you do not show up. These fines are currently not enforced and the Voices of the Elders is asking that they be activated. They feel that attendance should be mandatory. The ethics board needs to be put in place so that tribal council members are held accountable.

Members of the Voices of the Elders met with representatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to discuss their desire to change the number of representatives to the tribal council from 21 members to 9 members, one for each district.

They feel that too much nepotism is taking place with the funds being stewarded by tribal council members. BIA Agency Superintendent Gina Douville, Dolores Springer and Tina Merdanian informed the group that the secretarial elections require two years in order to go into effect so Voices of the Elders will wait a year, and beginning in January 2025 take action for the 2027 to 2029 election cycle. Time is needed to implement this change. 

The district communities need to be educated, which is the biggest part of the process. Once people understand and information pamphlets are developed and distributed to educate Pine Ridge voters the largest part of the process is accomplished. Voices of the Elders agreed that will not be deterred as they can see the progress they have made since beginning their meetings a short time ago. What they are doing is working. They must stay the course and let the tribal council know they can get things done. The committee feels more productive working on their own.

Every two years the National Indian Council on Aging hosts people from all of the 574 different nationally recognized tribes to discuss specific problems and concerns of the Elder Indigenous population in America. The next meeting will be held in Durant, Oklahoma in the fall of 2025 with an expected 2,000 people in attendance. Members of the Voices of the Elders are planning to be there. For more information on the conference, visit them at www.nicoa.org/biennial-conference/.

To quote from their website:

“The conference consists of educational presentations from tribal, state and federal organizations as well as a diverse network of aging service partners with experience in providing services to Native elders, who provide information and updates on aging services, health care, civic engagement and economic development in Indian Country. Workshop sessions include caregiver support, elder abuse prevention, health, nutrition, transportation, disease prevention, long-term services and supports, employment and training, financial assistance and more. Keynote speakers from federal, state and tribal programs and agencies provide program updates and listen to the aging needs of American Indian and Alaska Native elders.’

The Voices of the Elders now has its own one-hour radio show on KILI Radio on Monday mornings, at 8 a.m. There is a cost involved with these broadcasts as well as the meals that are organized at each of their meetings. It was discussed that local businesses should be approached to provide food for these gathering in exchange for advertising on the radio and on posters. You can tune in at www.KILI.org.

The next meeting of the Voices of the Elders will take place on Saturday, July 20, 2024 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.  Refreshments will be served. The meeting with take place in Red Shirt Table district with a location to be announced.

Voices of the Elders can be reached at WTOmniciye@gmail.com

(Contact Mia Feroleto at mia.feroleto@gmail.com)

The post Voices of the Elders meeting in the Medicine Root district first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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