Departments and Programs,
Tribal Administrative Organization
The Shawnee Tribe organizes
its programs and projects into departments, with similar types of activities grouped
together. Department directors report to the Tribal Administrator (who reports
directly and regularly to the Chairman and the Business Committee).
Department directors are responsible for general oversight of their departments.
Oversight includes summary reporting of department activities at monthly Business
Committee meetings, review and approval of check requisitions, and department
book keeping and procurement activities. Oversight also includes ensuring that
department activities comply with all the pertinent tribal, agency, and federal
regulations that govern department funding – this includes reporting, financial,
and deliverable (grant performance or activity) requirements for all the programs
and projects in the department.
Program and project managers report
to department directors and are responsible for the day-to-day operation and administration
of the activities associated with that program or project. The Shawnee Tribe’s
small staff are assigned to departments and programs (and to projects within programs)
on the basis of experience and expertise. Thus, staff can have multiple, overlapping
department director and program/project manager positions – which works very well.
Because of the overlap, staff are cross-trained and can all do the different things
that the various programs require. The result is a well-integrated infrastructure
that works to the ultimate benefit of the Tribe and its members.
Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program
LIHEAP stands for
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and is funded by the US Department of
Health and Human Services. LIHEAP provides financial assistance to help very low
income households pay for the costs of heating and cooling their homes. The Shawnee
Tribe has to abide by the requirements and guidelines issued by the US Department
of Health and Human Services for the LIHEAP program when distributing funds. More
information about LIHEAP can be found on this web site: www.acf.hhs.gov.
LIHEAP funds are distributed by the US Department of Health and Human Services
to states and to tribes within states. Because the funding is state-based, a tribe
can serve only residents of the state in which it is headquartered. This is the
reason why LIHEAP funding is available only to Oklahoma residents. The Tribe-State
agreement restricts services to Shawnee Tribe members only.
As soon
as the Tribe is notified that funding is available, the Tribal office will once
again this year send a post card to each of our Tribal households in Oklahoma
to let everybody know that the funding is in-hand. The post card will also list
application deadlines. It is the household’s responsibility to contact the Tribal
office for an application. As noted, applicants must be Tribal members who reside
in Oklahoma. Applicant households must not exceed income limits set by the LIHEAP
program.
NAHASDA Program
NAHASDA is the
acronym for the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act, the federal
legislation that provides for housing funds to Indian tribes and for the regulation
of how those funds are spent. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) provides our NAHASDA funding. The Tribe’s grant representatives from HUD’s
Southern Plains Office of Native American Programs (SPONAP) in Oklahoma City oversee
the Tribe’s performance and offer technical support.
NAHASDA funds are
intended to place and maintain Indian families in safe, standard housing. The
Shawnee Tribe has fulfilled this goal in the past by providing both emergency
assistance and rehabilitation assistance.
NAHASDA emergency assistance
helps an Indian family with:
• rent/mortgage payments if an eviction
or foreclosure is underway,
• utility bills when a shut-off notice has
been received (electric, water/sewage, fuel),
• propane purchases,
•
smoke/heat alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
Child Care
and Development Fund Program
The Child Care and Development Fund
(CCDF) Program was designed by the federal government to address the needs that
families have for quality child care. The US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) provides the funding through the HHS department known as the Administration
for Children and Families (ACF). Tribes receive the funding and then redistribute
it in accordance with program requirements. The federal government’s policy in
regard to this program is that tribes are in a better position to understand and
to be able to address the special child care needs unique to their local areas
and their own members better than a centralized federal agency could. The Shawnee
Tribe first began to participate in this program in January of 2004.
The CCDF Program is intended to accomplish two goals: (1) develop – that is, improve
the quality of and access to – child care for Shawnee Tribe members and other
Indian people and (2) support other quality services for children. Grant funds
accomplish this goal in several ways: by partially subsidizing the cost of a family’s
child care expenses so that they can afford quality child care, by improving the
quality of existing child care facilities, and by supporting other qualifying
programs that offer child care and children’s activities (including after-school
and latch key activities at public and private schools, Boys and Girls Clubs,
wellness and safety programs, and cultural activities).
The Shawnee
Tribe has to abide by the requirements and guidelines issued by the US Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as the additional requirements and
guidelines issued by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Visit
the ACF web site at www.acf.gov for more information about children’s programs.
The CCDF Program serves Indian families who live within a 100-mi radius
of the Tribal office in Miami, Oklahoma. HHS requires that this program be made
available to all eligible Indian families in a given tribe’s service area, not
just to the members of that tribe. The 100-mi radius includes the four-state area
of northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, and northwestern
Arkansas. Limited spaces for Shawnee Tribal members still are available. Families
where parents or guardians work or are in school (both full and part-time) and
who qualify under the Program’s income guidelines may apply for assistance. To
be eligible, children must be placed in a state-licensed facility and be no more
than 13 years old, except in the case of special needs children, where the ceiling
age is 18. Income guidelines also apply, which are correlated with a sliding fee
scale for the family’s share of child care expenses.
This August, as it has since 2003, the Shawnee Tribe provided backpacks and school
supplies for Shawnee Tribe children living within a 100-mi radius of Miami, Oklahoma.
This Program is funded with the Tribe’s revenues from its Motor Fuels Compact
with the State of Oklahoma. Backpacks were offered in two child-scaled sizes (smaller
for pre-K through 3rd and larger for 4th through 8th grades). Each of the backpacks
and its contents are valued at about $50. Each household also receives a $20 gift
card to help with additional school supply purchases. This year (2008), the Tribe
served 101 children. Households in the service area were notified by postcard.
Preserving Safe and Stable Familes Program
Funding for the PSSF Program is authorized by Title IV, Part B(2), of the Social
Security Act (as amended by The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, P.L. 109-432,
effective June 20, 2007). More information about Title IVB can be found at www.acf.gov.
Title IV, Part B, subpart 2 is intended to enable States to develop
and establish, or expand, and to operate coordinated programs of community-based
family support services, family preservation services, time-limited family reunification
services, and adoption promotion and support services. These services are supposed
to prevent child maltreatment among families at risk through the provision of
supportive family services, to assure children's safety within the home and preserve
intact families in which children have been maltreated when the family's problems
can be addressed effectively, to address the problems of families whose children
have been placed in foster care so that reunification may occur in a safe and
stable manner in accordance with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and
to support adoptive families by providing support services as necessary so that
they can make a lifetime commitment to their children.
In operating
its PSSF Program, the Shawnee Tribe’s services are required to satisfy the intentions
of Oklahoma’s Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 by directly providing services
to children and by providing educational and informational activities that improve
children’s welfare. Because the funding is state-based, a tribe can serve only
residents of the state in which it is headquartered. This is the reason why PSSF
funding is available only to Oklahoma residents, and why direct services are available
only to Shawnee Tribe members.
Pequot Pharmaceutical Discount
Program
The Shawnee Tribe’s discount program for pharmaceuticals
is still available. As detailed in previous issues of the Shawnee Journal, this
is a mail-service program available to all Shawnee Tribe members. To get more
information and to enroll in the program, call 1-800-342-5779. You may also consult
the web site, www.prxn.com. The Customer Service Representative who answers your
phone call will ask you if you know your group number. The group number for Shawnee
Tribe members is 0242. If you forget the number, simply say you’re a member of
the Shawnee Tribe.
The Pequot Pharmaceutical program is administered
by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut; participation in it is available
to all federally-recognized Indian tribes. The program will provide you, free-of-charge,
with postage-paid envelopes. Brand name and generic drugs, as well as diabetic
supplies, are available, but you must have a current and valid prescription from
a licensed medical practitioner. It’s generally a good idea to renew your prescription
when you have about a 14-day supply left. Tribal members are responsible for the
cost of any prescription filled through this program. Please call the office and
ask to speak with Tribal Administrator Jodi Hayes if you have any questions.
Post-Secondary Education Assistance Program
The Shawnee Tribe Business Committee established an Education Fund in 2003 in
order to provide assistance to those Tribal members who are attending post-secondary
schools. The fund is supported by monies received from the Tribe’s Motor Fuels
Compact with the State of Oklahoma. Any Tribal member attending an accredited
college, vo-tech, or similar school in the 50 United States on a full-time or
part-time basis is eligible. There are no age requirements or income guidelines.
An application form is available from the Tribal office that must be
completed and submitted along with proof of enrollment in the school you are attending.
Proof of full-time or part-time status is required, and you must submit official
proof you obtained at least a 2.5 grade point average in your previous semester.
If you are a recent high school graduate, we will accept an official copy of your
high school transcripts or your GED scores. Full-time students in a 2-yr or 4-yr
college will receive $400.00; half-time students in a 2-yr or 4-yr college will
receive $200.00; full-time students in a vo-tech or certificate program will receive
$400; and half-time students in a vo-tech or certificate program will receive
$200. The deadline for fall assistance for 2008 was August 31st. The deadline
for spring assistance for 2009 will be December 19, 2008 . Assistance will be
paid directly to the school, not the student. Assistance can be used to off-set
tuition and other student fees, as well as textbooks. If you or any of your family
members need an application, please call the office and ask to speak with Tribal
Administrator Jodi Hayes if you have any questions. In her absence, ask for Jana
Mattison.
General Assistance Program
The
General Assistance Program (GAP) grant was received again for the seventh year
in a row for fiscal year 2008. GAP grants are capacity-building grants—they help
tribes develop and support environmental departments with staff and some equipment,
but they do not fund any research, such as water testing or data analysis. In
fiscal year 2008, the Tribe implemented a publich outreach project in the form
of a pamphlet encouraging Tribal members to use compact flourescent (CF) light
bulbs and dispose of them properly. The Department also hosted a 2-day training
workshop about NEPA /ARPA for state/federal natural resources managers and all
local Tribal environmental staff. The workshop was attended by Shawnee Tribal
staff and staff from four other area tribes. The final deliverable that will be
completed at the end of September will be doing a mass mailing of an education/outreach
project for tribal members 3-9 years old in the form of a puzzle teaching about
native habitat preservation.
Newsletter Program
The Shawnee Journal is the quarterly publication of the Shawnee Tribe. The
Shawnee Journal is distributed free-of-charge to each Tribal member household.
The Shawnee Journal is also mailed to other persons who purchase a subscription,
to other area tribes, and to the various agencies from whom the Shawnee Tribe
receives grant and contract funding or with whom we interact. The Shawnee Journal
is intended to communicate news from the Tribal office about programs and activities.
Articles are written by the Shawnee Tribe administrative staff, who
are also responsible for lay-out and printing. Articles written by others are
welcome and may be submitted for inclusion at any time during the year; such articles
will be reviewed and held until the next issue is published. Photos and other
materials submitted become the property of the Tribe, which is not responsible
for their loss or the failure of any carrier to deliver them. The Business Committee
has final editorial control over the copy published in the Shawnee Journal. The
idealized mailing schedule is August (summer), November (fall), February (winter),
and May (spring). Never hesitate, in between Shawnee Journal issues, to call or
e-mail the Tribal office to ask questions about something or offer your input.
Please call the Tribal office and ask for Jodi Hayes if you have any questions
about the newsletter.
General Administration Departmentt
General Administration covers everything from lands and buildings, to
property control, to personnel, to grant writing, to governance (i.e., support
services for the Business Committee), to information services, to audits and fiscal
management.
Management of lands and buildings included the development
and implementation of both a maintenance and repair manual and schedule and a
cost allocation schedule for the new social services building. Management of lands
and buildings also included oversight over landscaping and grounds keeping.
Property control consists chiefly of supplies and assets management. Over
the past year, our comprehensive inventories of equipment, fixtures, and other
assets were routinely updated; these are reviewed as part of the yearly single
audit and the BIA programs audit. Procurement in accordance with federal and Tribal
policies also falls under property control. Primary personnel activities included
identifying and providing pertinent technical training and professional development
for staff. Several trainings were held on-site, while staff traveled to other
regional and national training workshops.
For general Tribal administrative
questions, applications or information about social service programs, or details
regarding other Tribal projects, please contact the Miami, Oklahoma, administrative
office at 918-542-2441; the fax number is 918-542-2922. Jodi Hayes is the Tribal
Administrator. The staff will refer questions more appropriate for elected officials
to the proper persons. Individual Business Committee members may also be contacted
through the Shawnee Tribe office.
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