she wanted better schools for her kids. she became political. she became a crusader appears she launched a massive campaign to enact under george w. bush a scholarship program. it is an exciting opportunity. it is the kind of thing we can bring people in with the story, but then they can see, even it is based on life events, they can see what it is like for these kids in inner cities and who is in the right side of these kids and making a bunch of union folks wealthier. coreng currently on common , not that we are against it. .bviously, we are against it

i hope everyone is clear on that. probljectsworking on on islam? no. education reform. we have not ventured into any social stuff or into too much foreign policy type things, so nothing on islam currently. >> any thoughts on why so many wealthy entrepreneurs are liberal? >> i do not know. in silicon valley, they kind of our common-law but i do not know if entrepreneurs are liberal. it seems like many businessmen to come cronies of government. you see many people make the thomas and is in turn where they enter as entrepreneurs and become political entrepreneurs. uber.ee that with h six months ago we were cheering

them, but they have totally made the turn to go a political entrepreneur. after they go into these cities, they start to cut deals with local governments where they make regulations, and if they them,ford to adhere to you see a lot of these may starturs, they out one way, but they are in it for their business first and foremost. i do not fault them for, but i do not like using government to advance your business. an advisorying panel from silicon valley entrepreneurs, because these are people who understand the li yfts of the world. ours an interesting time in history in which we can appeal to these people and make it clear, folks are on the wrong side. you might be scared of extra because ofcandidate

some other beliefs, but you want to advance your business, we are the ones you want to create the environment in which your business could be advanced. it is an interesting time in which we can appeal to entrepreneurs. >> where would i go to find and watch your movies? >> thempi.org. thempi.org. has all of our films and videos listed. it is so simple. after you click on each film, it says click here to get it on amazon or stream it on netflix or itunes or youtube. very straightforward. thempi.org. if you know some interested in filmmaking, we have all of our programs listed. they can fill out one application and apply to one or all at the same time. >> a question related to the business of movies. what does it take to get a movie into multiple theaters?

>> this is an involved question. it totally depends on the film. some you are able to sell distributional rights. they will sell it to theaters and get it in certain theaters. other times you see something where you will make a deal with the theaters individually or on a chain where you will pay and rent out the theater to screen your film. that is necessary if you want your film to be eligible for an academy award nomination. it guarantees your film gets reviewed. that is great if you want publicity. more people probably read about "you and me" and saw it while it was playing in manhattan. the press coverage of your film to be bigger than the film itself. four-walling press coverage is a great strategy.

if you pay the theater to show it and rent out that theater, a lot of the times if they sell the tickets, the theater will carry it over and keep it for a couple weeks without you paying for it because they see there is an audience for it. most of the stuff you do not need to put in theaters anymore. we do some stuff in theaters. if my goal isn't to make money, but get ideas in front of people, deal got to get out other homes, go to the theaters, park, get a ticked, get a seat -- but if you could get the clicks and go viral online -- we are doing more online content. >> how do you go about finding the stories you want to tell and finding the filmmakers who you want to tell those stories? >> sure.

it is word of mouth. we are at the point where our filmmakers are inspiring more filmmakers. one of our guys is a really talented guy. we are lucky this guy is on our side. he is that good and he is working for mtv and nickelodeon. his real passion is to make videos about economics. we helped him out and start his own production company. he makes funny and brilliant videos. one of the viewers of his videos got inspired. she already shared his beliefs, but she decided she wanted to be a filmmaker as well. she started making films. she makes pop music video for teenagers about economics, which is a common theme to do these days. [laughter] she was reading hayek so frequently her friends were teasing her she was in love with him.

she goes, that's it. i'm going to make a love song. her follow-up video is a pop music video about the dangers of an inflationary monetary policy. it is called "fast cash." we're getting to the point where filmmakers and where word-of-mouth is the biggest thing. >> are you working with any authors that are creating children's books? >> sure. we have done things for classroom use. we had these animators who worked for disney and were passionate about the american revolution. we supported them on an animated retelling of the boston tea party called "pups of liberty," which had dogs as americans and cats as british. it sounds adorable. she said that if you teach kids

characters and themes in relatable ways, it would help them understand it later. with that in mind, these kindergartners learned about characters like spaniel adams, in a very clever and effective way. another we doing -- we are adapting a book right now for classroom use with a series of cgi short films. all these things. we love stuff. we love great ideas for classroom content. >> this questioner wants to do role-playing. she says i am talking to my neighbor about illegal immigration and he tells me a story about a 22-year-old

quietly living his life, working at a grocery store, and is illegal. now what? what story are you going to tell him? >> immigration is not one of the issues that gets me as fired up as other ones. i would not be the best one to convey a response on that. surely, you could pull up the negative ramifications of illegal immigration. the most illegal immigration we get is cubans turning a roof into a boat and floating over there. i would use whatever characters or personal stories you could tell to show that illegal immigration has had negative ramifications on your lives.

i am sure there are stories you could use. that is something closer to home for you guys than i. >> have you written a book? if not, why not? >> illiteracy. is the main factor standing in my way. with some tutoring, i think i can get past the monosyllabic words. no, i am not a creative type. i do development work, outreach work, media stuff. the only thing i have ever been approached for is when we host our event each year, we have a big event in manhattan, and every time our filmmakers come up to me they want me to work with them. the same thing every time. you would be great for voiceover work. that is the greatest backhanded compliment you could get. i did some voiceover work for an animated short.

they called me. this was for a voiceover for a demon. now i'm getting typecast. that is the closest i have got to anything creative. >> you got a great face for radio. >> i did a radio pilot. >> what kind of budget do your projects typically take to fund? >> all over the place. we have youtube videos that costs as little as $6,000. ," multimillions. obviously, narrative films are more expensive than documentaries. feature length is more expensive than short films. "america lost" will probably cost for production somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million. your marketing budget needs to be as big if not bigger than the

production budget. the marketing is key. as crazy as that sounds. what i love about the marketing is if somebody sees an ad for "america lost," it could be just as effective as a political ad. but unlike the political ad but , it's not just something that is forgotten as soon as the election is over. i view the advertising as a much more worthwhile investment when it's done for social action campaigns than a candidate. >> speaking of candidates, can you think of any good examples of candidates or political figures or leaders using humor and storytelling effectively? >> californians, can any of you point to a great politician? jerry brown -- no, ronald reagan. exactly.

obviously, ronald reagan. that is the best example. governor reagan, what do you think about jimmy carter's charges? do you think you should pay them? have you ever made a mistake? yes, i was once a democrat. moral outrage is the most powerful political tool. reagan also employed -- there you go. i am paying for this microphone. controlled anger is the most powerful political tool, but humor is the second most powerful political tool. >> this questioner says the breakdown of black families is the results of government policies.

any thoughts on how you might tell a story to change that? >> it is called "america lost? "american lost." >> in stockton, california -- when all government institutions disappear. it can wreck families' lives. it is crazy. in detroit today, they don't even offer police services in some areas. just like you see in other countries when they enact socialist health care systems, initially it starts out as the greatest health care ever. then they realize they can't afford it. we will offer expensive services to offer horrible services that they cannot afford anymore. it's incredible.

you will see a bit of that in "virginia." >> is anyone else making films that celebrate freedom besides mpi? >> a lot of individual filmmakers out there who do great films. not everybody works with us on every project. our goal is to build a movement, not an empire. we love seeing that. there is an organization we partner with called free to choose. there is another organization in california that does a lot of free workshops for filmmakers. we are the only organization doing what we do, creating content online, theatrically released content, classroom content, what we do. and we partner with a lot of institutes as well. we have been fortunate enough to partner with a lot of great organizations out there.

>> did mpi have anything to do with the film "last man standing"? >> no. which one was that? >> [indiscernible] >> tv series. >> is it freedom oriented? should i be watching it? ok. i'll put it my netflix or tivo queue. we celebrate films that promote liberty. one year, we also did the liberty tv awards. we could not do it every year because there is not that many new shows promoting liberty every year. how many times can you talk about "shark tank"? "last man standing," tim allen -- is that on abc?

i am going to tivo it. >> i haven't heard of it either. i will look for it. we talked earlier about children's books. here is a question about a specific book. rush limbaugh's series. any interest in working with rush limbaugh? >> no. i love rush limbaugh. i'm so lame and old that i would tape record and listen to rush limbaugh when i came home from school. i am that nerdy. if there were young people here today, they would be really confused because they don't know what tape-recording is. try convincing your apolitical notnds that you are conservative when you work with rush limbaugh? people always ask us, why don't you work with glenn beck? that would blow our cover. he is selling red meat to tea party members. i am all for that. >> you said you had one more

clip. let me do one more question. then we will wrap it up. are you familiar with the movie "unfair: exposing the irs"? if so, any thoughts on how effectively they told the story? >> i have never heard of it. the question, please approached me after. similarly, if anybody knows of any great filmmakers or people who share our beliefs and want to be more active in filmmaking, i would love to talk to you. i would love to hear about that film. i have never heard of that one. i am surprised. this last clip is not one of the ones we did. the guy i mentioned who worked at nickelodeon and mtv and wanted to make these kinds of videos. jon stewart, his goal was he wanted to make it so

funny that the liberals could not ignore it. salon said i they hated every bit of this video. it is a parody of 1980's action figure commercials called "kronies." [video clip] ♪ >> get ready for the all new kronies. >> they are stealing our customers with superior products. >> and crush your profit margins. >> meet the extreme shape shifter. >> you don't want me, but you can't stop me. >> here come parts and labor. >> we are under competitive

attack. >> raise the trade barriers. >> this wall streeter stacks the deck and rigs the game. >> oh, no, i'm underwater. >> take to the skies. >> she's powerful. she's wasteful. >> every team needs a leader. the ultimate source of kronie power. get connected to the g-force. >> the g-force. >> we are connected. >> find out more. collect them all.

do not attempt to be a real kronie without sufficient political influence. [applause] >> thank you so much for having me. i love coming to a place where against all odds, against all adversity, there are still people who are passionate about liberty. it is a true thrill and inspiration to come out here to meet people who are fighting for our beliefs against such incredible odds. thank you for having me. if you would like to see our films or programs, our website is thempi.org. thank you for having me. i appreciate it. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its

caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> "q&a" is 10 years old now. bunch.onnie "q&a," today at 7:00 eastern on c-span. tonight, a look at the death penalty and the american criminal justice system. stevenson is the author of a new book. prejean also appeared at the new york public library in october.

here's a preview. >> i remember being shocked. i learned a lot through "admin -- "dead man walking." it shocked me profoundly. you write a book, you do research, so i learned about the brutality, the justice department, but that when slavery was abolished in the was, exceptnt, it for those who are in prison, or indentured servants. it has not been abolished completely in this country. amazed.ve been i'm just going to say it out. just the racism in the supreme court. a study was done, extensive

study, in georgia about how when the death sentence is given, overwhelmingly it corresponds to when the victim's wife, the death penalty is sought, when it blip on, it is rarely a the radar screen. i saw that in new orleans, and was one of the people of saint commons was good, you were lucky if you found a line on page 30, and it was almost always formulated when a drug deal went bad. killed,hite person was it was always on the front page. we started representing children prosecuted as dog. when i talk about the presumption of guilt, that poor people and people of color are born with, and that is one of the great challenges in america -- we have black and brown children one with the presumption of guilt and dangerousness that follows them wherever they go, and we are when weg in new york

have stop and frisk, ferguson, in states that have these danger tound loss, so when it comes report sitting there for hearing, the first time i have been in this courtroom, i had to on, waiting for the hearing to start, and the judge walked out, the prosecutor walked out behind the judge, and when the judge saw me sitting there at the defense table, he said hey, you get out of here, you go out there in the hallway and wait until your defense lawyer gets here come and i stood up, i am sorry your honor, i name is bryan stevenson, the lawyer representing the client. the judge said, you are the lawyer? he and the prosecutor started laughing. , and myyself laugh, too client came in as a young white

kid who i was representing -- [laughter] >> a great reversal. >> and we did the hearing, but afterward i was thinking how exhausting it is to have to deal -- these are judges, the people who are opposed -- who are and it iso be fair, exhausting to be constantly dealing with it, so for a lot of defense attorneys, courtrooms are not from the places, they are not convenient, not comfortable places because all that rage gets directed at you in the course. for a client, it is even more hostile. if you are rich and guilty, and we stand with people, you feel that inequality, and it weighs on you, big time. >> that conversation about the death penalty and the american justice system will air tonight startitn at 8:00 eastern on c-span. 8:00, economic writers.

man.ry 9:30, steve forbes and elizabeth ames on "money." 10:25, michael lewis and "flash boys." starting at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. a look at some of the programs you will find christmas day. festivities start at 10:00 on c-span with the lighting of the national christmas tree, followed by the white house christmas decorations with michelle obama. and the lighting of the capitol christmas tree. activists talk about their causes. then at 8:00, samuel alito and jeb bush on the bill of rights and the founding fathers. on c-span2 at 10:00, venture

into the art of good writing with steve pinker. then see the feminist side of a superhero. at 7:00 p.m., reading habits. 8:00 a.m., the fall of the berlin wall, with george bush and bob dole, speeches of john kennedy and ronald reagan. at noon, fashion experts on first lady fashions and how they represent the times in which they live. more thanrokaw on his 50 years on reporting on world events. that is christmas on the c-span networks. for a complete schedule, www.c-span.org. the white house recently hosted its annual tribal nations conference. leaders from more than 500 tribes came to washington to

meet with the president and members of the white house council on nadel a man -- on naked american affairs. this panel focuses on climate change and youth education. >> and a continuation of their work, [indiscernible] which premiered last month. [video clip] >> 2014 is the first year of the annual tribal nations conference that calls upon native used to contribute. these are a few of our stories. the -- tribe. i tried to start a campaign that

prevented suicide on our reservation. last december we had two suicides. i lost my close cousin to suicide. sometimes we need to step up and make a change. i wish all the [indiscernible] have one saido kid have a smile on their face. everyone was talking about it. she was like a celebrity almost. she did not stop there. she wanted to keep doing more. she kind of used it as iother reason to go --

believe she changed a lot of lives. >> my name is dakota brown. i am a junior in high school. i come from jackson, california, a rural community. there are changes i see. native americans have the least numbers recognized in college. i wanted to do something to help change that. native education [indiscernible] to be able to help out with -- that i started back when i was in eighth grade. drama, to -- p.e., try to focus on improving the grades of native american students. to catch up on credits and classes that i failed. >> i got in trouble a lot.

it got me back on track. some need this to get themselves up on their feet. >> it is fun to be in a group with other natives and have new friends. >> recently i lost my best ,riend, and i called jeanine saying i do not think i can handle this. i think that really helped me. -- so thereple would be more people out there like her. it is good to see the young natives today about the program and all the other things that you are doing. of theseaking a lot young kids that were not doing so well and giving them something to be positive about. i see it in the paper, and i am so proud of that.

once they get a little bit of help, who knows what they can do. thank you for all you have done, little brother. tomorrow i will be going to washington, d.c. i am excited about meeting other kids from the programs. it gives me a good feeling knowing i am not the only one trying to take a difference. they see you now and they believe they can do anything. they are singing songs to you, that basically say, grandmother, grandfather, hear me. the children are lost and they want to be found. ♪ we're packed up, ready to

leave for d.c. we have an early flight. i have not been to washington before, but i get to work with the white house and other tribal leaders. are you ready? >> homework. do not forget homework. ♪ ,> we are the first generation since that is a big bill. >> people want to hear from young leaders. >> we all have stories. there is competition. i was chosen native american princess in high school, and i used my voice. >> i go over to the senior center every friday for an hour and we play games with the residents with alzheimer's. we have donated 18,000

bucks to schools. there are other use like us who want to make a difference. >> getting together and talking about things and just having like teammates. ♪ >> i think it will make a big impact in d.c. because i could take this all i'm taking in here back to my community. thee are trying to prevent well-being of native -- we are trying to promote the well-being of native children. ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome [indiscernible]

with interior secretary sally ll.e [applause] >> thank you all for being here. climate change is one of the major initiatives of the administration. he has appointed his native american cabinet as we're calling it, but there's also a ismittee of that group that focused exactly on climate change.

we have tribal representatives on the president's climate task force. a mayor from alaska, wonderful participation in those efforts, and today we would like to share those with each of you. if i could asked the panelists to speak briefly about one minute, what you do in your role with climate change. chairman? -- acting director? >> i'm acting director of the department of environmental quality. i coordinate environmental, conservation, energy, climate issues. the piece i want to talk about is a task force that carries this highlight in quick remarks. earlier this year, late last year, the president named a set of governors, mayors, officials,

and tribal leaders from alaska to give him ideas about the best ways that the federal government , those who are dealing with the impact of climate change. some of the work we are doing to get -- with the impact that are already here, the president wanted to hear from those closest to the ground about what could be done to address those impacts. aroundt a year traveling to these locations, and hearing the input from leaders who have unfortunately been on the short stick of extreme weather and natural disasters and have it had experience dealing with the federal government on that front. these folks spent a lot of time with all of you getting input to get back to us. i want to take a minute to thank

you all for your participation in that. karen and reggie put together a full series of phone calls and webinars and other mechanisms that helped more than a thousand folks from indian folks from that network. your work is incorporated into the work that was just delivered to the president a few weeks ago. today, karen and reggie are also releasing a supplementary recommendation which gives a little more voice to tribes on specific recommendations that should be in limited across the federal government. ona whole number of measures that, but what i wanted to say, there are two things that karen brought to that continually was the sense that there needed to be inclusion of tribes in all the considerations we made cash -- we make across the federal government, and so the message of inclusion came through loud

and clear. at the same time, karen and reggie did a great job of reminding us there are unique impacts and unique circumstances and that there are unique experiences that occur in tribal lands on this front and that we need to be mindful of the federal government about how we tackle that. i encourage you all to take a look at the recommendations that karen and reggie put forward today, but also look at the broader set of recommendations submitted to the president. there's a lot of work for us to do now on our end to double that and make sure we are implementing it across the agencies. >> thank you. dca administrator, thank you for being here. for moderating the session and for all the great remarks and partnerships. it is wonderful. i wanted to highlight a couple of things while i'm here. first of all, i have been to two incredibly robust listening

sessions, and what i have learned is in those sessions is how great it is to have this opportunity to be together and the time is that we are living in and the opportunities, and we cannot squander them. the second issue is i have learned to bring more lined paper with me because i have a -do things list, and we get them done. a good thing. fornt to thank sally jewell all virtual mentor's leadership on the council for her willingness to cochair a that isttee with us looking ids climate change issues. i think you probably all know that president obama sees climate as part of the legacy issues that he wants to move forward to address, and he barely clearly recognizes that muchl issues are very driven in so many ways by the changing climate that we see,

and the tremendous impacts that that can have on both the ability of tribes to survive, but also to maintain their culture. and we have to recognize that and work together, which is why bringing this issue to you today is so important and how much we want to listen to what you have to say about the work of that counsel and how -- council and how it can best fit those needs. it deals anything from tremendous droughts to fires to the changing seasons we are seeing the ability to have wildlife interactions the way that we have had before in our fisheries, and the challenges that we need to face together. and really, the last issue i one of mention is that the reasons why it is so exciting not just be here, but the times we are in, is the leadership of this president on issues is something i feel like every day i feel like i died and went to hav

eaven. it is a tremendous energy boost for all of us who want to get good things done. i'm cognizant of the fact that we have two years left and we have to take action. not just our climate, but on climate issues. we ever that directly from him and we are responding to his charge. and so i know that many of you are concerned that there may be no ability to get new law done, but the president is not relying on new laws. we are relying on our creativity and applying the ones that we have, because we can do things that we have never done before. and so as part of that this week, i put out a memo to all of the staff, i reminded them of our unique government-two government relationship with tribes, and i reminded them that we have a right as well as to remind ourselves in every work that we do that tribal rights and their

resources are protected by areaties and treaties o the supreme law of the land. so i reminded them that we already have existing laws. our challenge is to look at how we are implementing those and how we are applying those and when and where we have discretions, we need to use our laws and our rules and regulations and implementation to actually enhance the work that we are doing with tribes so that we deliver the treaty rights every chance we get. and so you have my commitment that we are going to work strong and hard and take as many notes as we can, and you will see us doing what the president says, which is to build him the sternest legacy we can, both on issues of climate and on meeting our tribal responsibilities. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] welcome, secretary of energy.

>> thank you, karen, and let me thank all of my administration colleagues here who are indeed great colleagues to work with on this and many other issues. me say that the department of energy really interacts with our tribal communities in two different ways. ouris historically at sites across the country, many of those sites are nearby, contiguous, with troubled lands, and so we have those partnerships that we continue to develop. secondly, in 2011 the department established the office of indian energy to provide a focal point for focusing on clean energy and its deployment on tribal lands. more recently, i would say that just last year we consolidated our travel programs to have more streamlined management, and

perhaps more importantly, in our request for fiscal year 2015 -- tog, the congress congress, we increased our request by just about 50%. i might say that request was well received in both chambers. now we need to have them come together and actually pass a budget so that we can have those funds to deploy. i can assure you we remain ourrested in continuing growth in these programs. i am not going to go into issues of climate change. you have just heard some of those. just to say that the department of energy, one of our very special roles clearly is to work on developing, demonstrating, and deploying the energy technologies that we will need to address climate change, but also to address the economic needs in travel plans and frank across the country and across the world. we know that often we see in our

tribal lands and certainly in our alaskan native communities tremendously high prices for energy, so there is also an important economic advantage here in addressing these technologies. let me just very briefly mention announcements,ur if you like. today the announcement of the of climate action to champions, 16 communities recognized for their ambition and for steps in addressing climate change. i'm pleased to say that two of those are the sault ste. marie tribe of chippewa indians in michigan. [applause] lake in california. [applause]

tribeshese months, these -- and the other champions of and there will be more rounds, so hang in there, and they will be receiving technical assistance around pollution mitigation, climate resilience, and each will be assigned a federal coordinator to help leverage resources to support the implementation of the climate strategies. that is good news. secondly, our alaska start program, which is strategic technical assistance response team program. so today, again, we are announcing a new round. since its start in december 111, the program has helped alaskan native communities advancing clean energy technology and infrastructure projects, so this third round of assistance again we will add to that and get increasing resiliency, local generation

capacity, and energy efficiency and the like. also creating local job opportunities. i might say that in -- [applause] thank you. in addition, i might say something which is another important program is as the united states heads into the chairmanship of the arctic council, that we are developing a 10-year plan to support and accelerate deployment of renewables throughout the arctic energy and our indian program just did seven consultations with alaskan native tribal leaders, tribal governments, villages, and regional corporations, and this is the kind of outreach and consultation that we need more of, not only in this program, but across the board. >> only one more. >> and third -- [laughter] today thes that

indian energy office has launched a new website, providing a one-stop shop for federal funding and technical assistance programs to support energy developed for tribes in alaska native villages and corporations, and, fourth, i will skip the rest of that third one -- [laughter] these are announcements. fourth, next spring the department will host a tribal nation summit in preparation for that, next week, we will be in indian country in arizona to have a two-day working group to help plan out that some of for next year. the exact taste and date we will be letting you know of wherever it is, and we hope to see some of you there. so thank you very much. >> thank you. [applause] administrator craig fugate. >> good afternoon, everyone.

when this first started, i had 2009, theby about stafford act basically said this -- entities that are allowed to ask the president for disaster declaration were states and territories. tribeserally recognized were a paragraph later where it said local governments and tribes. after hurricane sandy, congress went back, they listened to you, and they change the law, so you went from being after local governments to being at the same level of a state, a territory, or a federally recognized tribe. meaning that tribal governments through self-determination, and make decisions about requesting assistance from the president for disaster and not go through a state. that is about self-determination. [applause]

so i want to give credit to the president and the a lawstration, we did get change that for too long people said would never change. you can change the law when you are in the right. so the second thing that came out of sandy was the president's observation there are still many people debating climate change. his fear is it is too late. we have to start talking about adaptation. and this comes into fema's role. we're not going to be there and we do not have strong programs before ordering, but after an event occurs, the question we are asking ourselves, are we building to the future? too often times i did and information has only and based upon past events, which you're out there, you're seeing it. these are happening faster and with greater events than we have seen before. the weather service uses this

term, hundred-your event. hundred-year event. you particularly look at how do you build resiliency? this is a term in government, how do we protect our way of life, our heritage, culture, faster than the environment allows us to change it? we are challenged because we oftentimes have based our decisions on past history. we do not look to the future. we really needre your input in the tribal council, the trouble climatetation on change, you know your history, you know your heritage, new york passed, -- you know your past, so help us find your teacher. if we do not make the investment for the future, we may lose that it are past the point of talking about the changes that are occurring. we are not debating climate

change. you talking about are we able to adapt and build for the future. and that is our commitment at fema, not to miss the opportunities unfortunately after disaster, just to build it back the way it was. we have got to build a future, but we need your input, because all of the smart folks up there, we are still struggling with what does that look like, what is enough, are we making the right decisions? but it was the president's observation that we cannot concede the debates to climate change. we need to start talking about what we can do to build the future, and that is our commitment and our promise that we will not do it without you, because we are one nation, with multiple nations working together to solve this problem. thank you. [applause] least,last, but not secretary of interior sally jewell.

thank you for your leadership on the task force. i have to say up here where we do have leaders in many different ways, many that you do not know, greatest on no in addition to hud that fema is a major provider of housing on indian reservations. how many of you have a fema trailer on reservation? that is where they went. are a lot of them out there. not ideal housing, but thank you for that, craig. i want to talk for a second to native youth ambassadors that are here. the saying that we do not inherit the earth from our answers, we borrow it from our -- ancestors, we borrow it from our children. that is what climate change is all about. we have an earth that is in trouble. trouble a lot of times to our ignorance, greed, through our practices, and they are catching up with us, as administrator fugate said, catching up with us with weather, with impacts on our

fisheries and our cultural sites within this country, on the things that you do hold dear from your ancestors and you would like to have for your descendents as well. that is why our work appear is so important. gina mccarthy -- [applause] >> thank you. up asa has stepped cochair, as she referenced, on climate change as part of the white house council on native american affairs. ernie moniz has stepped up. ernie and i had an opportunity for a hike them and we went outside a pueblo, and we saw that was a good place. thought about all the time about renewables. his lab is doing great work on

the potential of a hybrid distribution energy that could drop into a remote place, at the bottom of the grant can become a remote village in the pacific, to make sure that we are bringing energy that is clean, that does not continue the sins of the past and gives us a brighter future, but gives you a brighter future to participate in a full weight in the economy without having to do it on the backs of the way that we have got here that have been so damaging. there's much going on. can be frustrating. you all deal with those. we do, too. regulations can be thoughtful and really important, like regulating methane, which the three of us are working on, like regulating carbon that gina mccarthy has been a champion out front on with her powerplant rules. difficult.ainful,

trickyation station is a one and one that epa has been really thoughtful in recognizing the impact on tribes in that area and the importance of working alongside them. we are to talk about climate change and to talk about energy and to listen to your thoughts and comments, so it has been a with you today and a privilege sure of present the department of interior and our work on climate change and energy. thank you, karen. >> thank you. [applause] >> we will take questions from tribal leaders. a reminder that they are to be questions and not statements, and we are hoping you will keep them to about four minutes so you can get answers and have as many people participate as possible. so thank you for your cooperation. state your name and where you're from, please. >> ok. i am a tribal chairman in southern california north of san

diego. climate change in the west is exacerbated -- has exacerbated everything, but particularly the drought and while far cycle. impacts and damaging cultural sites. it has put extraordinary pressure on available wider supplies. these acute pressures focused the need for urgent action on local and regional water ue to usecontin more and more water, water they should not be using and should not be using if our settlement were in place. alln the gap here between this acute pressures brought on by climate change-driven drought and in the fact that our water settlements has not been agreed upon, negotiated, put in place, that is where this is occurring,

and it is water we will never get back. so there is a paste that is not ce, a lack of a sense of urgency, and that is my fundamental question. what would you do do you like the resources available to you, secretary jewell, to accelerate the pace of creating an institutional framework into future administrations, and let me point out that out of his 12th federal regions, 11 of these regions have identified the tribes in those regions indian water rights as one of their 11 of the 12 regions. i appreciate the consideration. >> thank you for the question. you are right. we are in trouble in california. we are in regular contact with the state and the governor's office, the bureau of reclamation is very much

, theved and my colleague deputy secretary of the department of the interior, he is working very closely not just with capitol hill and the states and the bureau of wreck culmination -- reclamation but with tribal leadership during his much we can to accelerate indian water rights but they take a long time. we signed the third and final agreement with the klamath tribe and that was decades in the making. difficult. you have issues in the short term that need to be addressed and we can help advocate on a local basis. the bottom line is in california we are running out of water. you know that. we know that. the governor knows that. advocate, continue to but water rights claims take a

long time. we are working with congress to say we need a source of funding for those settlements because they are subject to appropriation. there is no easy answer. i want you to know that we are on it. we are on it on wildfire is well because we need a fix so we can provide irregulars digital of dealing with hazardous fuel removal. s, we will makeic sure you are meeting with the right folks. i appreciate you bringing that up. thank you. >> before i ask i would like to thank president obama, his administration and the department of energy for naming the [indiscernible]

rancheria.a -- to thank you for being the climate champion. >> the [indiscernible] took the hydrogen and pumped it fuel cells to power part of our casino. in the course of doing that we had a lot of technical the office ofm andean energy. and as we commissioned that project and we move on we're looking at micro-grid technology and other photovoltaics. my question is can we can on the same level of technical help and assistance as we move forward in

developing these other projects? >> thank you. areink those projects producing renewable hydrogen and the micro-grid is why your champion of climate change. we encourage more of that. to developive economical removal sources of hydrogen is increasing as fuel-cell costs are going down rapidly. for example to ask ago it was target announced the first mass-market hydrogen fuel-cell cars and so this is coming. to your question is yes. we are hoping to get a in ourtial increase budget in this fiscal year in that will continue and lift up our abilities to do the kinds of technical assistance you addressed. do inll have more to

terms of the hydrogen approach. there are things like cleaning up the hydrogen streams where we can drive more costs down. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am chairman of the suquamish tribe in seattle. we have a strong history and i am also a president appointee -- residential appointee and as you know, you have heard all week at a lot of the sessions the stronger spiritual connection that our respective tribes have for the landscape and our homelands and those are interconnected with natural resources and climate change is a threat to not only are natural resources but our connection to our ancestral ways.

there has been a lot of testimony from a lot of different states and different indian leaders in this room. we have heard from alaska how seasonal changes are affecting most and fish and aries and the ecosystem and it is happening in florida and arizona, california and other states. ocean acidification is how it is expressing itself in our part of the world. concerned about shellfish as we rely on them for sustenance. as you have heard, treaty rights at risk and because they have been adjudicated, those treaty right resources are under threat because of the changes in the environment. trusteeion for the

which would be administrator mccarthy. what is if you -- apa doing to ensure that tribes have a meaningful role in climate change regulations and policy actions and can you affirm incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge in your agency actions and institute funding to help tribes plan for adapting the chains that is underway in our environment? thank you. you forhairman, thank being with me at the last session. it was a pleasure to be at the table with you and many of the colleagues that represent a variety of agencies talking about these issues. oceanad you mentioned acidification. it is one of the issues that concerns me as we know so little. there are many things we know about climate change scientifically. that is in its infancy in terms of understanding but it gives -- breadth of

influence. some of of concerning the steps we're taking on climate action plan at the know ands as you'd secretary jewell mentioned as we have moved forward with the clean power plant. extensived consultation with the tribes well in advance of framing any role. it has been an outreach effort that we have taken that i think is as large an issue that we are trying to tackle. we look forward to continuing those confit -- conversations. one of biggest challenges we face is either too much water or too little. have when i come to tribal meetings is to have

you focus so heavily on water issues because in many of the areas, they think it is about air and about energy supplies. it is essentially going to be a magnificent challenge that revolves around water and water is going to be as valuable as gold is today. isshould remind ourselves we're looking at our role. we have worked with mexico and canada in the context of the -- and of environmental never get that right.

c. that washe commission formed with the nafta treaty so we would work together. we haven't knowledge does three separate countries -- we have acknowledged as three separate countries. we are trying not just domestically but across borders to take a look at this issue because many of the issues that i hear people are most concerned are able to relate to these issues when we see so many significant challenges coming from our northern neighbors. we have a pathway to move forward. >> i will make a quick addition. we have centers across the

country that are overseen by the u.s. geological survey. please are important so you can accelerate the knowledge of climate scientists and bring their scientists to bear is discussions. >> we have time for one more question. >> i am the president for the wichita and affiliate tribes and oklahoma. it is an honor to be here. i want to recognize white house and and cai and the center for native american [indiscernible]

ourtheir work and helping youth become leaders of the future. my question in regards to climate change and disaster preparedness is toward the fema administrator. i want to applaud the tribal affairs office of external affairs for the pocket guide. a newlyg that as released documents why have a couple of questions. is the guide being thought of as a living document subject to modification and change with tribal leader input, and you mentioned earlier that there there is be, consultations but not face-to-face consultations until something happens. what are your thoughts in the policy? the confrontation policy and what is guiding actions and

policy development? regions is's starting a tribal response plan. will that be duplicated in other regions? yes, we do consultation, so part of our consultation policy and we are new at this, we are not going to be perfect. we are trying to set up as we design these programs, engage before decisions are made and we know that in some cases, traditional means that we have oftentimes used such as blasting out e-mails and conference calls, a lot of times we have to sit down for the first meeting. we are trying to adapt consultation based upon the problem -- tribal governments and it is not waiting until the disaster.

that is how we are building the future not just replacing something that gets destroyed next time or does not meet future needs we look at this as ongoing. it is dynamic. things, thatll of was to get something started. you get it in there, we will print it again. the last thing i wanted to add is since we have the youth ambassadors over here, we have been doing something called fema core -- corps. to tribal reach out governments to encourage you to apply for that. and recruit more tribal members, become part of that. the americorps program and an opportunity to get preparedness messages get out get the perspective of how

better to prepare and to make sure we are addressing the communities we serve across the country. the last part about the regional, we will get the other nine regions to do it. me toould ask you to join think this panel for their commitment not only to indian country but to our planet and working hard at making climate change and resilience and adaptation a priority. we know that this is important to indian country. and when you see the regard that each of these individuals hold that issue and commit to it professionally, we will all benefit from it. join me in thanking them for their effort. [applause] >> thank you.

>> good afternoon and welcome to the youth and education. we have secretary jewell again. have the director here is well. we have secretary promised -- thomas perez and the director, archuleta. heard money from me so i will not say much. i wanted to reflect the -- personally. as my kids are growing up and they grew up in the outdoors in

the pacific northwest, we used to sail and we would go on sailing vacations and we had a trailer behind the car and drop it in the water. we would login a cassette tape. you may not know what that is. and that it became a cd of a wonderful storyteller. johnny moses from the chilly lip tribe.- tulalip these and stories, creation stories, stories of rascally animals of the pacific northwest. we would play those because the kids have seen them. it was all of our bedtime story. and so is immigrants to the country not just to the pacific

northwest it was a way for us to connect with the region. and the place. and cultural knowledge was powerful for our children. brand-new now as a grandparent, my grandson would be one month old friday. with a about that next generation. there is one thing that is so critical and that is the education of young people. i would say the education of all young people. when i think about the cultural imparted that johnny to my kids, i worry about how many kids in trouble nations where the stories originated from around the country are not create ihose stories worry that our culture from this -- i recognize it

is a source of pride to know where you came from, to know the stories of your people and to be able to share those. interior,retary of and recognizing we have not been serving indian children well, we went about making some changes you have heard about that in the breakout sessions and i will answer questions as they come up. it is because we care about the future of indian country. about this emerging generation and the generations that will follow that they know. the modern science language togy and be able to compete effectively in that is what we are committed to with the educational reform and that is one of the key things i want to make real progress on and chart a path for

the that cannot be -- a path for the future that cannot be unbalanced when this administration is done. >> we have secretary thomas perez. >> it is an honor to be here with you and i have the privilege of serving as the labor secretary. i worked with many of you on .ssues of great importance i also referred to the department of labor as match.com. about connecting people to the middle class and to those jobs that enable you to punch her ticket to the middle class. i talked about employers who want to grow their business and people who want to punch their ticket to the middle class and

we provide through our investment in training and other opportunities, we provide those millions ofs to people across this country and that is why i love my job our work in indian country has been a big focus of what we have been doing. i want to share with you some of the things we have been doing. and what we get -- did a lot of is listening. we heard a number of concerns in to tribaloutreach leaders. for instance, we heard a lot of concerns about the fact that sometimes announcements would come out and at a minimum it was ambiguous as to whether tribal nations could apply for these grants. so we fixed that. that forvery clear instance, in the next couple of weeks when we put out a grant solicitation in the area of apprenticeship, it is crystal

will that tribal nations and should and hopefully will in fact be part of those of that equation. i'm a big believer that my parents taught me that education was a great equalizer. they were immigrants from the dominican republic and it was education. that is what they taught me and that is why i love my work and the department of labor. you have been competing incredibly well for the various grants that we do give out in our role as match.com. over the course of the past four years we have been working closely with arne duncan at the department of education to give out $2 million. $500 million roughly a year and call [indiscernible] grants. these were grants that were

devoted to helping to catalyze partnership area these are competitive grants devoted to helping to catalyze partnerships across this country so that we know what the in demand jobs are and we are connecting job seekers to those jobs through training programs and for instance over the last two months we announced our latest round of grants and six tribal nations received a total of over $5 million in competitive grants in thet brings the total four rounds of $38 million that has been awarded in competitive grants to tribal colleges. thathould be proud of because there is a lot of competition out there. then we have what we call our section 166 grants. we awarded 182 grants in those areas.

they enable us to do that critically important matchmaking and enable you to do the critically important matchmaking to make sure that people are connected to job opportunities. these are the grants that enable you to fund summer youth employment programs which are critical. i'm a big believer in helping our teenagers and young adults get access to the job shadownity where you can someone, earn while you learn in the job and that will open up real windows of opportunity for you and that is why we have been investing in those programs and we have been investing in particular and young people. i remember the jobs i had when i was 17 and 18. they taught me so much including showing up to work on time and working as a team. all those critical life skills. some refer to them as the soft skills. i refer to them as the essential skills and those opportunities you get were critically

important. we are going to continue to work in this effort and i cannot help that look at your native veteran and iat in the front row wanted to bring that up because first of all, i wanted to thank you for your service and i want to thank all the veterans in the room who have -- one of often little-known facts is that we have a unit that is exclusively dedicated to veterans employment and training. i am proud of the work that we did there. my dad was a veteran. after he got out of the service he went to work at the va hospital and work there until the day he died. all my ankles were veterans. they were so grateful for this country and what they gave us. for me and makes me think of my

late father in late uncle and the services they provide. we have been working vigilantly to do a better job of ensuring that in indian country services for vets are readily accessible. specific number of grant programs that are targeted for veterans and one of those grant programs for the first time is called the homeless veterans reintegration program. tribe receivedce the first grant that has ever been given out in this program during thereceived obama administration and they have been going great guns. fromyone here -- is here the tribe, great work and keep it up. when you think of homeless veterans are veterans who are coming home and want to connect to a job, think about match.com. think about the department of labor. think about how we can go to

work. we work very closely with arne because we see this as a seamless web. it starts when you are a toddler and a goes all the way through adulthood. if you have a question remember there is no wrong door. we have working hard as an administration to implode our silos and make sure that we are in this all together. toope that you will continue see those opportunities arrive and i hope we will continue to lay that match.com role for you across the country and learn more about how we can do a better job. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you. yourrtainly appreciate enthusiasm and your matchmaking skills. next on the panel from the white house to mystic policy council,

director cecilia munoz. of leadinghe honor of issuesl on a range that affect the american people and that affect indian country. we have a pretty enthusiastic cabinet when it comes to these issues. a year ago when we had the last tribal nations conference, i have been to all six. thank you. president made a commitment to visit indian country and in june he went to the standing rock community and south dakota. he pulled us together after that meeting to make good and sure that we understood the experience that he and the first lady had, particularly when they were meeting with young people. they had a private meeting. that left them very deeply moved

and the president is very clear -- is clear marching orders were to make sure we focus policy and attention particularly on native american youth. are there youth ambassadors in the house? [applause] we are really honored by your theence and i want to hear -- you to hear that. deepe you're hearing a commitment and partnership from us. we understand and the president and first lady understand how important you are. of they -- to the future country. the youth ambassador program is one of many ways in which we are focusing energy and -- on tomorrow's leaders either direct -- on tomorrow's leaders. these are direct marching orders

from the president. -- we are serious about making sure that we are good and strong partners in this making sure we make opportunity real, that we make economic rose real in every corner for this country, especially apparent to the young people coming up in indian country and around the country. it is a focus for today's conference, but more importantly, it's a focus of the work we do day in, day out will stop we have two years left in this administration and if there is anything we wake up every morning feeling, if we don't feel it, it is instilled with us by the guy we work for, but we want to make every bit of those two years count. enough experience and

humility to know that we can only make it happen if we are doing this in real partnership with all of you, which is why the tribe of nations conference is so important. also why the relationship that happened in between the conference is so important to us. i think you for your presence here and the long traveled many of you have taken to be with us. importantly, i thank you for the relationship we have day in and day out will stop it is tremendously important if we are going to make everything successful for the young people here and those they represent. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. next, we have from the department of education, secretary arne duncan. >> thank you so much. good afternoon. before i begin, i would like to acknowledge all of the ambassadors again and while we all work together and work for the president, at the end of the day, we work for you guys.

to understand that if we are you get an important education -- we're helping you get an education, siu don't do that, we are part of the problem and not part of the solution. usould like for you to hold accountable in whatever we can do to help you be successful. that's what motivates us. i know that i speak for all of indian our visits to country have been our most inspiring visits. i've been to hundreds of schools around the nation and it has been some of the most heartbreaking visits. the reality of what our young people are dealing with, they deserve more from us and we to do a better job. the only way we have strong families, the only way we have strong communities and strong tribes is if we give our children a great education.

everything else we do, i don't want to say it is relevant, but it is a band-aid. ofwe want to get to the root the issue and break the cycle of poverty and reduce unemployment, it has to start with high-quality education. it means a couple of different things. it's ours with early childhood education. at two years old and three years old, before they hit kindergarten, we have two do that. hhs has been at fantastic partner. there is still an unmet need and we're going to push hard to expand assets before children ever enter kindergarten. i know sally talked about this and i don't say this lightly, she has shown more courage and schools than the anyone i've ever seen before.

we have a huge amount of work to do there. her leadership and guidance, i'm going to be very clear, tinkering around the edges is not going to get us where we need to go. it needs to be changed in a fairly fundamental way and we have a moment of opportunity to take that step. change is hard and change is scary but i think change is absolutely necessary here. begin listening and partnering having thed not status quo. we have a once-in-a-lifetime to do something there and i want to acknowledge sally for her leadership. thousands of our children go to school -- the vast majority of native children go to more traditional public schools. language and have better support for teachers. tove been working hard increase the number of native

teachers who can go through board certification, which is like the best leadership we can provide. know in many communities, access to technology, access to the internet is a challenge. is one where i think we could have significant breakthroughs over the next couple of years. the fcc is having a very significant vote. tuned. we think they will bring more than a billion dollars to add high-speed internet access to native communities over the next couple of years. the private sector is stepping up and we think they can do anything, anytime, anywhere. you should not be limited to what you have or don't have in your school or in your house and if children can be empowered and teachers can be empowered in ways that hasn't existed before, we think that's a game changer.

we are going to put out some new those inoking at school and out of school factors that prevent academic success and really trying to empower you. we think for schools to improve, they have to provide the leadership. all of this is about trying to listen to your ideas and empower you with the resources to take those two scale. tribes step upy to the president's challenge in my brother's keeper and we know so many boys, whether it is in your tribe, whether it's an inner-city communities, young boys of color struggle today. having them step up and make a commitment to do something better and try to change those opportunity structures, that's the only way we are going to get

where we need to go. we have to increase high school decrease the high school dropout rate. they do an extraordinary job, often on a shoestring budget. what they are doing to transform remarkable.s been i appreciate your hard work there and the more we can strengthen tribal colleges, there can be an economic engine in the community, on the reservation, the better is going to be. the way through college graduation, a high school diploma is a great harding point but it cannot be an ending point. thinking how we help our young people take that next up on the educational journey has to become the norm rather than the exception will stop thank you.

[applause] >> thank you. the last panelist from the office of personnel management. but thank you. can you hear me? i thought i would start out this afternoon by telling you a little about myself. i think it's important for you to know me so you know where i am at. myas born in denver and husband and i have a daughter. , you have toents decide how you are going to educate your daughter. the most important thing we do as parents. and havingbout her, the opportunity to decide where we would live in razor, we decided we would live and raise mexico,lbuquerque, new

because we knew the tribe cultural environment that existed in new mexico was an important one that would enrich her life. i had the opportunity to sit on indiantitute of american arts board of trustees for seven had anill stop i excellent education in the culture, history, resources and talent that tribal colleges take advantage of in indian country. education not only served me well but served our daughter very well. i tell you that story because i bring those values to the job i have as rector of the office of personnel management. frankly, i am the chief recruiter for the president and his administration. my job is to hire the top talent to fill the positions that tom,

arnie and sally need for the jobs they have in each of their departments. i need to look all over the country and i need to look for diversity, not just because of the numbers we want in diversity, but because i strongly believe that when we include diversity of experience and culture and language and history, we bring top talent to government. in the last year i have served as director of the office of personnel management, i have traveled all over the country, leading with individuals, meeting with institutions, with colleges and universities, and i have made a point to reach out to tribal colleges and universities in new mexico -- i tremendouser of the

stem classes available to the students there and the work being done to train students to important career path so many employers including the federal government are seeking. not come in my north dakota and met the college at fort but hold. i met with the governor to talk about internships at -- that we could work with with the all indian public counsel in new mexico and in the southwest states. my job is to bring top talent, but i have to bring top talent inking about what are the opportunities not only for us at the federal government, but for those that can come into the federal government. sure thosemake opportunities are strong ones will stop with the help of the

white house and departments throughout government, we are focused on internships and career development. we are focused on bringing more native americans into the federal government not because we want more native americans in the federal government, we do want that, but why? to ourgs such a richness stables -- to the tables where decisions are made. need you to inform us about water quality or educational decisions being made to affect your children or the labor practices that protect our workers. importantse are very and we need those voices at the table. that is my job and that is where i help these wonderful people here. i reach out, but i have to think cultural impacts your

families bring with the individuals we hire. to draw that culture but i also want to be respectful of that culture. i need to come to you and say this is how we can employ your members. i need to understand where those jobs fit and perhaps where they don't. how can i make them richer experiences for the young ambassadors? iw can i make them sure respect where and how i want them to work with the needs and match those with the needs of the federal government? i'm learning a lot on my travels through indian country and i thank you all for the education you are giving me. but i want you to know i not only reflect the values and experiences i have had myself, but i reflect what this

administration stands for. of diversity and inclusion people from every part of our country reflects the president commitment to making the american workforce, the federal workforce look like the people it serves. that is my commitment to you, to reach out further in the next three years and to make sure the federal workforce reflects indian country. i promise you want that will be at the top of my commitment. [applause] >> thank you. takeis time, we will questions. thank you all for your leadership in this field. as tribal leaders, there's no greater responsibility than to

the sustainability of our nation and educating our youth in developing this teacher leaders. as we see our youth ambassadors here, these stand up to be recognized. [applause] thank you. our future leaders. thank you. time, we will turn to your questions. >> i'm the chairperson for the chip what indians. ofet to ask my question secretary duncan. i've been told i have to go over there at 3:30. and i'm honored to ask you this question because of the former president of a charter school. i don't know if you got a chance to see it -- we were all proud when we got to see the little boys who sang with such power

and they sang their language with such power and pride and you could see it on their faces. was talkingsident -- i was hoping he would swear, it was a big stop deal and i won't fill the gap there. he mentioned he was in the senate when they passed the indian education and self-determination act. is this recommitment to the self-determination part of that. years ago that was passed in the focus was on self-determination. it time to get back to that. group -- 10% of our kids benefit and i made the indiant -- he represents country and the federal

government very well, but we need to do more. we need a school improvement plan. we need a school improvement plan on public education as it relates to indian country. how do you do that? you've got local control, state control -- the dropout rate for native american is 50% and has been for about 20 years. it is a crisis. are the only group or the federal government has a specific obligation to educated citizens. that might surprise people because it doesn't exist for everybody. are the only group that has that specific requirement and we have the worst experience with the dropout rate of 50%. the school improvement plan that is data-driven with specific and marks. seveno align jail m title

and impact aid dollars and may incentives to get schools to align their efforts with tribes with strings attached. -- wedoctoral student need a logistical regression study of the factors that predict whether or not native american students will graduate high school. that has not been done. i was going to do it with my dissertation, but we need funding to conduct that study. , we and assistant secretary of education. that's not to give up on the bia. we need to amended and keep that commitment, but if we are going to face the 90% of our kids educated in the public education system, we need to transcend any

and start president the path to the president's legacy on education and create the secretary for indian education. thank you. [applause] >> there's a lot and i'm not sure i can get to it all. let me start with where i before, our goal was that it has to be to reduce dropout rates. it has to start with early childhood education. sadly, we can predict in kindergarten and first grade those children most at risk of dropping out and we can do lots more study and data analysis. look at attendance rate in first and second grade in kindergarten and those children's are missing a month, two months, three months of school. i can tell you with a high degree of probability.

making sure we get to babies early takes time, but it's the best investment we can make. think the more we empower crimes and build on self-determination, that is the strategy. to think we can do it from washington is the height of arrogance. we are trying to do is empower tribes to take leadership to provide education for the young people. we know the huge importance of language and culture where children understand who they are, where they come from, and i have a sense of history and self. it empowers them to get through those difficulties. those nieces are hugely important. about dropout rates and teenage suicide.

if we are not giving social anders, counselors psychologists help they need to deal with the tough situations, it's hard to concentrate in schools when you are dealing with that. a simple answer here. i don't think this is rocket science, but we have to work in all of these people. >> thank you. >> hello. i marshal grover and i'm president of the pawnee nation. i agree on many parts. when i look over there, i see all of these young people and i think about the education part

of it. we have a big dropout rate and ,e get made fun of in school but i had an old man tell me one you are willing to take -- to pay the price for something, you can have it but if you're not willing to pay the price, you can never get it will stop he was talking about education and he told me when you canan education, take the job away and even take your life away, but they can never take that education away for. that education opens many doors. thate need help with education. education,ry for

specifically for native americans, so we make sure when our children go to school on columbus day, they are not reading about some guy that said he claimed this country. [applause] but tell him about the people who graded -- who greeted him when he got here. our own skill system, make sure our books tell them about our history. teach about they the land run but they don't teach them about the dollars allotment act that took it away from us. does need to be in history books. us, but for the white people, for everybody to read what really happened. who ran the first four-minute mile?

did you know in 1873 in nebraska, there was a pawnee scout that ran the mile in three , clocked byeconds the army. they said my watch must be wrong. turned around and ran it in three minutes 58 seconds. never got the credit. need an assistant secretary, to make sure our history for our children, for everybody's children know the true history of the americas. [applause] >> i will give you a quick two-part answer.

i hear the question and i will i have aut that and fair amount of skepticism. it has to be clear on the curriculum side. we are headed by law from touching curriculum. textbooks, all of those things, develop those on the local level. the gaps on what is taught as a huge issue, but our ability to influence textbooks, our ability to influence curriculum and what is taught is very tight. i will think about that one. >> thank you. next question? >> i'm sorry, it's not a

question but it's my last chance to say something to represent my fellow tribal youth ambassadors. is marilyn fox and i stand before you today to represent my fellow travel youth ambassadors. i am enrolled in the standing rock sioux tribe. [applause] i wanted to tell my fellow youth ambassadors to speak up. it's not easy, i'm not going to lie. you have all of these eyes watching you. something.ay

he heard, even if your voice shakes. everyone fornk being here. can we get a round of applause for those who have put this all together? [applause] did you hear that? together --clapping that represents what we can do together. that was a strong war of clapping. just imagine what we can do without hearing just clapping. imagine what we can do with our actions, what we can see. do you even know how amazing we are as? we are wonders.

we are amazing. we are unity, we are indigenous, we are beautiful, we are intelligent, we are human. because of what all of you have do, we aren you history in the making. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for your courage, wisdom and leadership. >> good afternoon. is christina danforth,

chairwoman of the oneida tribe. my question is about access and you juston will stop heard comments about needing to do programming and services for our use and our families. titledon't have access to information to do servicing, then how do we know what direction to take? there are things that are very specific to preschoolers as you get into middle school, there's a lot of development going on and it's a very vertical age for our children. they are forming their theologies and thoughts and their cultures either with them or not with them and they have to catch up. in order for us to create relevant cultural programming for children, students and families, we need the critical data available to the public

school district. oneida is split into six school districts, public school districts plus our tribal school district. it's a very difficult task for educational gather beta so we can do appropriate programming and i want so much to bring all of our districts together. it has been a long-standing problem and it is a subtle way of saying gerrymandering did occur for our tribe. access.give us we can't do it without your help. thank you. [applause] >> two issues and i will come back and hopefully you can to maggie smith. the