a. drilling of oil and gas on 6000 pernd it costs well on indian land. you're saying that indian land is not public land. example, 10 wells on a reservation would cost $60,000. in the state it would cost $500. i am asking that federal agencies, instead of hampering our efforts, think of points to support our efforts of economic development, and initiative. i think a lot of tribes, it is the first time we've heard a lot of your initiatives. a task force on economic avelopment, whether it be

small business administration, housing, transportation, or any other agency, should sit together with indian tribes to opportunities the you are sharing with us. a lot of tribes depend on gaming . we need to expand our opportunities and economic development. >> that is one reason why we announced $20,000 to encourage organizations to do a better job of working with tribal leaders to get the word out of various programs. a program is mentioned about waiving fees on small loans. we decided to create a small loan, and micro loan, program for agricultural reducers. up to $50,000, low interest rate, low security. we need to make sure folks are aware of them. the 2501 program is one way of doing that.

we had a conference recently which was another opportunity us to get out the word. that was a very good comment. we need to get more outreach. >> our time is up. like i said in my opening comments, there is never a marshall plan for indian country . the leaders in front of you represent individuals that still have some of the highest unemployment rates of any group in the nation. they have the lowest annual income producers of any group in the nation. the chairman said, to create a task force to come up with the obama plan to economic development in indian country, that could be part of his legacy going forward. let's give our panel a hand for joining us. thank you very much. [applause]

>> q and a is 10 years old. to mark a decade of compelling conversations we are featuring one interview each year. today is with author and .ommentator s e cupp after that, scientists and activists discuss trends in energy technology, and problems created by climate change. ofheard from mike phillips the endangered species association about how using help withenergy could

extinction. that is important to note it is not a speeding asteroid. it is us marching in this direction in a powerful way to do one thing. to domesticate the planet. that is what is driving this crisis as we speak. what is this have to do with renewable energy? well, i think the extinction crisis is a call for change in our relationship with one another, and the planet earth. extension crisis the call? it is loud, and clear as all clarion calls must be. it is almost deafening. i could imagine with each passing there is a celeste you'll bell that rings endlessly in the heavens marking the passage of another miracle. it is clear.

it provides clear evidence that something is amiss. the long sweepr of a billion years of multicellular life, there have been five events that rivaled the extinction crisis that we are in today. if that is not evidence that something is amiss, i don't know what a mess -- i don't know what amiss means. what is the extinction crisis? species,oss, invasive exploitation, and climate change. >> that was a portion of the at the american renewable energy institute in aspen, colorado. tonight on c-span two, it is book tv in prime time with authors and books on african-american leaders.

looks at hismiley book death of a king. then daniel joseph discusses stokely, a life. then cornell west examines his black prophetic fire. it starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. tomorrow kevin mccormick cormally- kevin mc offers advice for preparing taxes. -- a movement to unionize players. your phone calls, they still comments, and tweets. "washington journal" live on saturday at 7:00 eastern on c-span. sunday on q and a, washington ont fact checker columnist

the biggest pinocchio's of 2014 awards. democrats tend to get more upset at them. i think they have bought into the myth of the liberal media, and they think the media is on their side. republicans firmly believe in the myth of a liberal media. will not get ay fair run from a reporter from the washington post. i hope of the last four years ,'ve done enough back-and-forth treated both parties with equal fervor, that people have now ok, to begrudgingly say, you're someone we can do business with. pack, the senate majority

which is affiliated with harry they stopped answering my questions midway through the campaign season, because they they were not getting a fair shake from me. >> sunday night on c-span's q&a. recent conclusion of a white house tribal nations conference with a discussion on climate change and education efforts. the conference provided leaders from the federally recognized tribes a chance to meet with the president and members of the white house council on native american affairs. it is two hours. a continuation of their work. it starts with the native american documentary which premier last month. ♪ 2014 was the first year the

annual tribal nations has called native use to contribute. 40 use word selected to join president obama in washington dc to talk about the issues that matter most to them. these are a few of our stories. >> my name is janay jumping eagle. tribe.m the oglala sioux i started a campaign to stop suicide from happening. that i was selected to represent my tribe at the white house tribal nations conference for youth ambassadors. on our reservation, the suicide rate is high. two december we had suicides. i did not want anyone to feel like me and my family felt and we lost our close cousin to suicide. sometimes you need people to step up and make a change.

i said i wished all the sad kids to feel like i felt when i pick up a basketball. i want one sad kid to have a smile on their face. >> she was like a celebrity and our little school and our little community. not stop there. she wanted to do more. >> she dedicated her basketball season to the sad kids. >> she used it as a reason to go out there and play hard. >> i think she changed a lot of lives. hkota brown.s da i come from a rural community in california. americans have the least numbers in college. a lot of my cousins and native friends were doing the best in school. i wanted to change that. it became the start of nerds. native education raising

dedicated students. be able to help with the primary fundraiser? >> nerds is a peer to peer mentoring and tutoring program i started in eighth grade. most of my grades, except for pe and drama were fs. >> we want to improve the grades of native american students. >> through nerds i went to summer school to catch up on classes and credits that i had failed. >> nerds got me back on the right track. >> i got accepted into college. >> it helps them get on their feet. >> it is fun to be in a group with other natives, to have new friends. recently, i lost my best friend to suicide. i called janay and said i don't think i can handle this.

she said, you can't give up. we have basketball. i think that really helped. janay should be recognized so there will be more people like her. ♪ >> scott. >> my brother. to see the young natives be excited about the nerds program and the things you are doing. you are taking a lot of these young kids who were not doing well, and given them something to be positive about. i see it in the paper, and i get so proud. morethese children getting help, who knows what they can do. thank you for all you have done, little brother. tomorrow, i will be traveling to washington dc. i'm very excited about meeting the other kids from the program. it gives me a good feeling to know i am not the only one trying to make a change. i want to tell you how much you mean to us.

the hope you have brought to your little cousins and brothers. they see you and believe they can do anything. the kids want to sing a song that says grandfather, grandfather, hear me. the children are lost and they want to be found. ♪ give her a big hug. ♪ >> we are packed up and ready to leave for d.c.. an early flight. i have been before, but this time is different because i get to work with the white house and the tribal leaders. are you ready? >> yes. >> don't forget your homework. ♪ we are the first generation i .

it is a big deal. >> people want to hear from young leaders. >> we all have stories. >> i was chosen to be the native american princess at my high school, and used my voice to encourage native american youths to be proud of who they are. senior centere home every friday to play games and help the residents with their dementia and all timers -- and also timers disease. >> we have donated 18,000 books to schools. >> their other uc want to make a difference. >> i made a lot of friends. >> talking about things. and having teammates. i think it will make a big impact. i could take all of this back to my community. is going against the grain and promoting the well-being of native children. ♪

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the climate change panel with interior secretary sally jewell, gina mccarthy, craig seagate, acting director michael diver ofd moderator the fond du lac band of lake chippewa. [applause]

here.nk you for being climate change is one of the major initiatives of the administration. he has appointed a native american, as we call it, and there is a committee that is focused on climate change. we have tribal representatives on the president's climate resilience and adaptation task force. myself and mayor reggie joule rum alaska. wonderful relationship and participation by tribes in those efforts. share some ofto that work amongst the departments. if i get asked the panelists to speak briefly about what you do and your role with climate change.

chairman bits? acting director boots? an office within the white house that coordinates and environmental conservation institute. i want to talk about a task force that karen diver highlighted. earlier, this year, or late last year, the president named a set of governors, mayors, tribal leaders, and commissioners to give him ideas about the best way the federal government could as state,r partner local, and tribal governments ofe dealing with the impacts climate change. we will talk about the work we are doing to get ahead of carbon pollution, but with the impacts that are already here, the president wanted to hear from

those closest to the ground about what could be done. tospent a year traveling these locations and hearing the input from leaders who have unfortunately been on the short stick of extreme weather and national disasters. included,s, karen spent a lot of time with all of give backg input to to us. i went take a minute to thank you all are your process a patient. karen and reggie put together ande calls and webinars outreach mechanisms that got more than a thousand folks per dissipating in the effort, which was huge. was incorporated into the report that these guys deliver to the president a few weeks ago. today, karen and reggie are releasing a supplementary set of recommendations which give more

voice to tribes on specific recommendations that should be implemented across the federal government. there is a number of measures on that, that i want to say the two things that karen brought continually was the sense that there needed to be inclusion of tribes in all of the considerations we make across the federal government, and to be thinking about tribal governments as we do with state and local governments. the message of inclusion came through loud and clear. at the same time karen and reggie reminded us there are unique impacts, circumstances, and experiences that occur on tribal lands and we need to be mindful about how we tackle that. looked ate not yet the recommendations that kerry and reggie put forward, look at those and the broader recommendations submitted to the

president. there's a lot of work on our end to tackle that and implement it across the agency. ginaa administrator mccarthy. thank you for being here. >> thank you for monitoring -- for moderating this session. i want to highlight a couple of things. first, i have been to two incredibly robust listening sessions. how greate learned is it is to have this opportunity to be together, and how unique the time as we are living in, and our opportunities. we cannot squander them. i have learned to bring more paper. i leave with long to do lists, and we get them done. that is a good thing. i want to thank sally jewell for leadershiptremendous

on the council, and for her willingness to cochair a subcommittee with us looking at climate change issues. you probably know that president obama sees the climate as part of the legacy he wants to move forward to address. he very clearly recognizes the tribal issues are very much driven in so many ways by the changing climate we see, and the tremendous impacts that can have on post the ability of tribes to survive, but to maintain their culture. andave to recognize that 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 council and how it can get your needs. it is dealing with everything from the droughts, the fires, to the changing seasons, to the

ability to have wildlife interactions like we have had before and our fisheries. they are challenges we need to face together. is one of the, reasons why it is so excited to be here in these times, is the leadership of this president on these issues is something, i feel every day like like i died and went to heaven, to be honest. it is a tremendous energy boost for us who want to get good things done. he is cognizant of the fact that we have two years left and we need to take action on climate and tribal issues. m, andrd that from hi we are responding to his charge. some of you may be concerned there is no ability to get new laws. we are relying on creativity,

and applying the laws we have. we can do things we have never done before. initiative, at epa this week i put out a memo to all of the staff and reminded unique government to government relations with the tribes. i reminded them we have a right as well as an authority to remind ourselves in every work ando that tribal rights their resources are protected by treaties and treaties are the supreme law of the land. [applause] i reminded them we already have existing laws. our challenge is to look at how we are implementing those, how we are applying those, and when .nd where we have discretion we need to use our laws,

regulations, and implementations to enhance the work we are doing with tribes so we deliver the treaty rights every chance we get. you have my commitment that we will work strong and hard, and take as many notes as we can. you will see us doing what the president says, which is to build him the strongest legacy he can on climate and meeting tribal responsibilities. thank you. [applause] welcome secretary of energy ernest moniz. you, karen. let me thank my administration colleagues who are great to work with on this and many other issues. first, the department of energy, the way it interacts with the tribal communities, and it does it in two different ways. historically in our far-flung sites across the country, many of those are nearby contiguous

with tribal lands. we have those partnerships that we continue to develop. in 2011 the department established the department of indian energy to provide a focal point to focus on clean energy and it's to appointment -- and on tribal lands. last year we consolidated our tribal programs to have more management, and more importantly, in our request for fiscal year 2015 funding to congress. we increased our request by 50%. was well received in both chambers. now, they need to come together and actually pass a budget so we can have those funds to deploy. we remain interested in

continuing our growth in these programs. i'm not going to go into the issues of climate change. just to say the department of energy, one of our special r develop, demonstrate, and employee energy technologies we need to address climate change, and to address economic needs on tribal lands and across the country, and the world. often, we see in our travel lands, and in our alaskan native communities, tremendously high prices for energy. it is an important economic advantage in addressing these technologies. let me briefly mention four things. four announcements.

the administration has been announcing the first round of climate action champions. 16 communities are being recognized for their ambition and first steps and addressing climate change. i am pleased to say that two are a tribe of chippewa indians in michigan. [applause] in blue lake rancheria california. months, these tribes and other champions of climate -- there will be more rounds, hang in there -- they .ill get technical assistance they will be assigned a federal coordinator to help leverage resources to support the implementation of the climate strategy. second, our alaska start

program, which is strategic technical assistance response team program. we are announcing a new round. since it started in december 2011 it has helped 11 clean energyith and infrastructure projects. the third-round will add to that. you will have increasing resiliency, and energy efficiency and the like. it is also creating local job opportunities. [applause] in addition, another important is as the united states goes into the chairmanship of the arctic council, we are developing a 10 year plan to support and accelerate deployment of renewables throughout the arctic region.

our indian energy program just did 7 consultations with alaskan native tribal leaders, governments, villages, and regional corporations. this is the kind of outreach and consultation we need more of. not only in this program, across the board. >> only one more. that today, the engine energy -- the indian energy office released a inhnical program for support tries of alaskan villages and corporations. these are announcements, next spring, the department will .ost a tribal nation summit

in preparation, next week we will be in indian country in arizona to have a two day working group to plan the summit for next year. the exact place and date, we will let you know. wherever it is and whenever it is, we hope to see some of you there. >> thank you. administrator greg fouquet. >> good afternoon. act said said that you get asked the president for disaster help if you are a state or territory. aibes are recognized paragraph later where it said local governments and tried.

after hurricane sandy congress went back and change the law. he went from being after local governments to being at the same level of the state, territory, or federally recognized tribe. governments tribal now, through self-determination, can make decisions about requesting disaster assistance, and not go through a state. that is about self-determination. [applause] i want to give credit to the president and the administration . we had a law changed that for too long people said it would not change. you can change the law when you are in the right. the second thing that came out of sandy was the observation that there are many people debating climate change. the presidents fear is it is too late. we have to talk about adaptation.

this comes into fema's role. --don't have strong for strong programs before or doing, that after an event the question building for we the future? too often our data and information has been based on the past. you are out there and seeing it. faster, andppening greater events than we have ever seen. the weather service uses the term a 100 year event. have you heard that in the news every week? is challenging us to work with new partners. you particularly look at how do you build resiliency? this is a term we throw around, but it is about how do we protect our way of life, heritage, coulter, faster than the environment is changing? for the federal government, we

often based all of our decisions on past history. we do not look to the future. this is where we need your input in the tribal council and tribal representation on climate change. you know your history, heritage, and passed. help us find the future. if we don't make the investments for the future, we may lose that . we are past the point of talking about the changes that are occurring. we are not debating climate change. we are talking about adapting and building for the future. that is our commitment at fema. to not miss the opportunity after a disaster just to build it back the way it was. we need your input to build a future. are strugglingr with what does that look like? the righting

decisions? it was the president's observations that we cannot continue to debate climate change, we have to talk about building a future. our is our commitment, and promise. we won't do it without you. we are one nation, with multiple nations, working together to solve this problem. thank you. [applause] secretaryt not least, of interior sally jewell. thank you for all of your leadership. >> thank you, karen, for your leadership on the task force. appear we have a leaders in many different ways. doesn't know that in addition to hud fema is a major provider of housing on indian reservations. how many of you have fema trailers? to our youthk

ambassadors. there's a saying that we don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. that is what climate change is about. we have an earth in trouble. we got it in trouble through our , andance, greed, practices they are catching up with us. ugateministrator fo said. there are catching up on our cultural sites within this country. on the things you hold dear from your ancestors. and you would like to have for your descendents. that is why our work is so important. gina mccarthy -- [applause] cochair,tepped up as as she referenced, on climate

change as part of the white house council on native affairs. -- ernie and i had an opportunity to do a hike outside ueblo and he said that would be a good place for low head hydro. he's always thinking about ringing renewals to indian country. the national energy lab is doing great work on the potential of a hybrid distributed energy that could drop into a remote place. it could be the bottom of the grand canyon, an island in the pacific, to make sure we are bringing clean energy that doesn't continue the sins of the past, and gives us a brighter future. and we'll give you a way to participate in the economy

without having to do it the way that we have now that has been so damaging. regulations can be frustrating, you do with those and so do we. thoughtful can be and important, like regulating methane, which the three of us are working on. like regulating carbon, the gina mccarthy has been a champion on with her power plant rules from the epa. difficult,ainful, and i know it is tricky. verynk the epa has been thoughtful on recognizing the impacts of tribes and working alongside them. we are talking about climate change, energy, and to listen to your thoughts and comments. it is a privilege to be here and represent the department of the interior and our work on climate change and energy. [applause]

we will take questions from tribal leaders. beeminder they are to questions and not statements. we hope you will keep them to four minutes so you can have answers, and have as many people dissipate as possible. >> state your name and where you're from. >> i am mark, the travel southern california north of san diego. hasate change in the west exacerbated everything. in particular the drought and wildfire cycle. in so doing had severe impacts in indian country, and is damaging tribal homeland, culture, and sacred sites. on availableessure water supplies. these acute pressures focus the

need or action when local and regional water agencies use more tribal water. water they should not use, and what it use if our settlements were in place. between all this acute pressure brought on by climate change driven drought, and the fact our water settlement has not been agreed place,egotiated, put in that is were the taking is occurring. it is water we will never get back. it is a lack of a sense of urgency. fundamental question. what will you do to utilize the resources available to you to settlinge the pace of indian water rights agreements and create an institutional framework for future

administrations? let me point out, at of 12 regions, 11 have identified indian water rights as one of their top four issues. 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 involved and my colleague, the 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 ,- the bureau of reclamation but with tribal leadership during his much we can to accelerate indian water rights but they take a long time.

we signed a third and final agreement with the klamath tribe and that was decades in the making. these are 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. and you know that. we know that. the governor knows that. so, we will continue to advocate, 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. we are on it on wildfire as well. leave a fix for dealing with hazardous fuel remover -- fuel removal.

you can contact my department, and we will make sure you are meeting with the right folks. it is very difficult i , appreciate you bringing that up. thank you. eugenquestion is for dr. moniz. presidentke to thank obama, his administration and and the department for naming the rancheria. a climate champion. >> we want to thank you for being the climate champion. as you know, the rancheria took the hydrogen and pumped it fuel cells to power part of our

casino. , and also many of the homes. in the course of doing that we had a lot of technical assistance from assistance from the office of andean energy. -- the office of indian energy. is can we count on the same level of technical help and assistance as we move forward in developing other projects? >> thank you. i think those projects are anducing renewable hydrogen micro-grids is why you are a champion of climate change. i would like to say, the economicalto develop noble sources of hydrogen is increasing as fuel-cell costs go down rapidly.

announcedago, toyota hydrogen mass-market fuel cell car. this is coming. answer your question, fundamentally yes. we are hoping to get a substantial increase in our budget in this fiscal year. that will continue to lift up our ability to do the kinds of technical assistance that you address. we still have more to do in terms of ways --. cleaning things like up the hydrogen strains. where we can drive cost down. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am the chairman of the show promise tribe in seattle.

history, andong ima am a residential appointee to the advisory council. week, weve heard all have a strong spiritual connection that our perspective tribes have with their landscapes and homelands. those are interconnected with natural resources, and climate change threatens our natural resources and our spiritual connection, and our ancestral ways. have heard, there's a lot of testimony from a lot of different state and indian leaders in this room. we have heard from alaska how seasonal changes are affecting moose, this, berries, and it is also happening in florida, arizona, california, too many other states to mention.

we are very concerned about salmon and shellfish. we rely heavily on shellfish for our sustenance. you've heard a lot about treaty rights at risk, and our treaty rights have been adjudicated in that her records. those resources are under threat because of these changes in the environment. trustee,on, for our is whatrator mccarthy, is the epa doing to ensure tried seven meaningful role in development of climate change regulation and policy actions. of you confirm a tradition --. can you institute helping tribes plan for adapting to change that is underway in our environment? >> first, thank you for being

with me. it was a pleasure at the last listening session to be at the table with you, and many of the colleagues that represented a variety of agencies talking about these issues. i'm glad you mentioned ocean acidification. things we know about climate change, scientifically, that is one that understandingt in , but he gives you a breath of the impact that climate change can have on our lives, particularly in our tribal nations. in terms of what we are doing concerning some of the steps we are taking on climate action plan that the president we have moved forward plan to clean power

regulate carbon pollution from our lives, our power plants. we have had extensive consultation with the tribes in advance of framing any rule. it has been an outreach effort that we have taken, that, as large as the issue as we are trying to tackle. we look forward to continuing those conversations. in the end we realized one of the biggest challenges is too much water or too little. the joy i have when i come to tribal meetings is to have you focus so heavily on water issues. in many areas they think it is all about air, energy supplies. it will be a magnificent --llenge that it all evolves all revolves around water. and water will be assignable as gold. self's -- remind her remind ourselves of that. one of the biggest things we are

doing with tribal knowledge is understanding tribal ecological knowledge into the decisions we are making. and our understanding on the impacts of climate as we move forward. have donewe internationally as we have worked with mexico and canada in cec.ontext of the commission. the commission formed with the nafta treaty to work together environmentally. we are acknowledged as three separate countries, our knowledge -- our knowledge meant that tribal ecological knowledge is central to our challenges. we are trying to go across borders and look at this issue.

many issues that people are most concerned about relate to issues that cross our borders as well. particularly in the great lakes and the pacific northwest where we see so many significant challenges coming from our northern neighbors. work to do, but we have a pathway to move forward. jewell?tary >> we have centers across the that are overseen by the u.s. geological survey. tohave tribal liaisons climate tribal centers to reach out to tribal communities and knowledgeraditional to understand what is going on in our traditional landscapes. what is happening to our species that are culturally important. to bring scientists to bear to

those discussions. >> we have time for one more question, unfortunately. time flies when we are having fun. my name is terry and i'm the president for the wichita and affiliate tribes in oklahoma. it is an honor to be here. i want to recognize the white house and the center for native work on youth for their helping our youth become leaders of the future. my question, in regards to climate change and disaster preparedness, is toward the fema administrator craig fouquet -- fogate. realizing that it is a newly released document, i have a couple of questions.

the content, usefulness, and applicability, is the guy thought of as a living document subject to modification with tribal leader input? you mentioned earlier there consultations, but not face-to-face consultations until something happens. what is your thought on the consultation policy, and what guides famous tribal interaction and policy development? regions is --s starting aons is treble response plan, will that be duplicated in other regions? >> yes, yes. policy,our consultation and we are new with this, we won't be perfect, we are trying to set up as we design these

programs. to engage before decisions are made. in some cases, traditional means we have used such as blasting out e-mails and conference calls, a lot of times we have to go sit down for the first meeting. we are trying to adapt consultations based upon the tribal governance and leadership . it is not waiting until a disaster, i was referring to where we have dollars toward rebuilding. that is when we are looking at how we are rebuilding for the future, and not just replacing something that doesn't meet future needs. we look at this as ongoing. this is an ongoing dynamic. ideas, we'll put them in there and rent it again. it was just to get started. i wanted to add, since we have

the youth ambassadors, we have been doing something with corps tos called fema do outreach. we want to reach out to tribal governments to encourage you to apply. we want to do recruitment and recruit more tribal members. program, americorps that is an opportunity to get preparedness messages out in indian country, and get a perspective from the youth on how to better prepare to respond to disasters, and to make sure we are addressing the communities we serve. about the regional, i'm not sure. if you think it is a good idea we will get the other nine regions to do it. i would ask you to join me to think the panel for their commitment to indian country, working hard, to

making climate change, resilience, and adaptation of priority. this is important to indian country. when you see that each of these individuals hold this in regard and commit professionally, we will all benefit. join me in thanking them for their effort. [applause] > >> good afternoon tribal leaders. welcome to the panel on youth and education. jewell, andetary

administrator secretary -- we have director sicilian manaus. we have secretary thomas perez. and director catherine --. is my microphone on? is it working? you have heard plenty for me, i won't say much. as my kids were going up, and they grew up in the out doors of the pacific northwest, we would go on sailing vacations. we went to his elbow behind the water. we would tell it behind the car and drop it in the water. we had a cd of a wonderful storyteller from the tulalip tribe. do you know him?

we first heard johnny when we visited friends in the islands, and he would tell these incredible stories. stories, stories of rascally animals of the pacific northwest. we would play those, because the kids would see them. well play it at night when went to bed. as immigrants to the country, not just to the pacific northwest, it was a way for us to connect to the region and the place. that cultural knowledge was very powerful to our children. as i think now, as a brand-new grandparent, my grandson will be one month old on friday. [applause] we think about the future generation. there is one thing that is critical.

that is the education of young people. i would say the education of all young people. when i think about the cultural knowledge of johnny moses, i worry about how many kids in tribal nations, where these stories originated, are not getting those stories. thisry our culture from country, from our indigenous people, is getting lost. 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. as the secretary of interior overseeing the bureau of indian affairs and education, and recognizing you have not been serving indian children well, we made changes. you heard about that and the breakout sessions, and i will answer questions as they come up. it is because we care about the

future of indian country. we care about the emerging generation, and the generations that will follow. know where the indigenous people came from, and that they know the modern science and technology and language to compete effectively. that is what we are committed to the educational reform. want toa key thing i make progress on, and chart a path for the future they cannot be undone when this administration is done. [applause] >> >> thank you, sally. we have thomas perez from the department of labor. >> i have the privilege of serving as the labor secretary. before that, i worked in the justice department, and worked

with many of you on issues of great importance over there. it is great to be back with you again. i often referred to the department of labor as match.com, because we are -- we are about connecting people to the middle class. and to those jobs that enable you to punch your ticket to the middle class. we provide, through our investments in training and other opportunities -- we provide those opportunities to millions of people across the country. that is why i love my job. country hasindian been a big focus on what we have been doing. i want to share with you some of the things we have been doing. what we did a lot of was listening, because we heard a

number of concerns in our early outreach to tribal leaders. for instance, we heard a lot of concerns about the fact that sometimes grant announcements would come out, and it at a minimum was ambiguous as to whether tribal nations could apply for these grants. clear that,de very for instance, in the next couple weeks, when we put out a grant notification in the area of apprenticeship, it is crystal tribal nations will and should, and hopefully will in fact a part of that equation, because i am a big believer that -- my parents taught me that education was the great equalizer. they were immigrants from the dominican republic, and it was all about education. that is what they taught me. that is why i love my work at the department of labor.

you have been competing, and computing incredibly well, for the various grants we give out in our role of match.com. for instance, over the course of the last four years, we have been working very closely with arne duncan at the department of millionn to give out $2 , $500 million roughly a year, in what we call tax grants. director,ur acronym because our acronyms are not very good. but these are grants that were helping toted to catalyze partnerships. and 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. 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. and that brings a total in the four rounds of $38 million that has been awarded in competitive grants to tribal colleges. and you should be proud of that, because there is a lot of competition out there. [applause] callhen we have what we our section 166 grants. summer, we awarded 182 grants in those areas. those are the grants that enable us to do that critically important matchmaking, and enable you to do the in dash the critically important matchmaking to make sure people are connected to job opportunities. these are the grants that enable you to fund summer youth employment programs, which are critical. i am a big believer in helping teenagers and young adults get access to that job opportunity, where you can shadow someone, or in a 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, in young people. i remember the jobs i had when i was 17 and 18. they taught me so much, including showing up for work on time, working as a team, all those critical life skills. some people refer to them as soft skills. i refer to them as those essential skills. those opportunities are critically important. we are going to continue to work in this effort. i cannot help but look at your native veteran army hat in the front row, and i wanted to bring that up because first of all i want to thank you for your allice, and i want to thank of those in this country who have been of service. [applause] oftene of the little-known facts about the

department of labor is that we have a unit that is exclusively dedicated to veterans employment and training. work am very proud of the that we do there. my dad was a veteran, and after he got out of the service, he went to work at the va hospital, and worked there until the day he died. all of my uncles were veterans. they are all legal immigrants. they were so grateful for this country that they served. when we do this work on behalf of veterans, for me, it makes me think of my late other and late uncle, and the service they provide. and we have been working vigilantly to make sure, frankly, we do a better job of country,that in indian services for vets are readily accessible. and so we have a number of specific grant programs that are targeted for veterans. ,nd one of those grant programs for the first time -- it is

called the homeless veterans integration program. nex -- nezerce -- perce tribe received the first grant given out to a tribe. idaho,ne is here from great work, and keep it up. when you think of homeless veterans or veterans who are coming home and want to connect to a job, think about match.com. think about the department of labor. and about how we can go to work. arnerk very closely with duncan, because we recognize this is a seamless web, training and skill development. it starts when you are a toddler and goes all the way through adulthood. if you ever have a question, remember there is no wrong door, because we have been working hard as an administration to all sure we are in this together.

i hope you will continue to see those opportunities arrive and are arrive, and i hope we will continue to play that match.com role for you across the country, and i hope we can learn from you about how we can do a better job. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you, thomas. certainly appreciate your enthusiasm and your matchmaking skills. [laughter] next on the panel we have from the white house domestic policy council director cecilia munoz. >> thank you very much. good afternoon, everybody. i have the honor of leading the domestic policy council, a council on which these members of the cabinet and other members sit on a whole range are of issues that affect the american people, including the issues that affect indian country. i hope you have observed we have a pretty enthusiastic cabinet when it comes to these issues. a year ago when we had the fifth tribal conference -- i've been to all six, i'm proud to say -- [applause]

thank you. the president stood here and made a commitment to visit indian country before the year was out, and in june, he went to the standing rock community in south dakota. and he pulled us all 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 with young people that left them very deeply moved. and the president's very clear marching orders were to make sure that we focus policy energy and attention particularly on native american youth. so are the youth ambassadors in the house? are you here? >> mostly over there. >> where are you? hi. [applause] we are really honored by your presence, and i want you to hear that directly. we're excited that you're here, but we're also honored that you're here, and you, i hope, are hearing a deep commitment

and partnership from us to you because we understand, and the president and the first lady understand, how important you are not just to the future of indian country, but to the future of our country altogether. and so the youth ambassadors program is one of many ways in which we're focusing energy and attention particularly on tomorrow's leaders. these were direct marching orders that came from the president after that experience at standing rock, and as you'll hear from from secretary jewell's extraordinary leadership as well as the leadership of the other members of the cabinet, again on this panel and on the others, we're very serious about making sure that we are good and strong partners in this nation-to-nation relationship, making sure that we make opportunity real, that we make economic growth real in every corner of this country and

especially visible and apparent to the young people who are coming up in indian country, but also all around the country. so that's a focus of this, of today's conference, but more importantly it's a focus of the work that we do day in and day out, year by year. we have two years left in this administration, and if there's anything that we all wake up every morning feeling -- and if we don't feel it, it is instilled in us by the guy that we work for -- is that we want to make every single day of those two years count. and we know and have enough experience in government now to know and to have the humility to know that we can only make that happen if we're doing this in real partnership with all of you which is why the tribal nations conference so important to us. it is also why the relationship that happens in between the conferences is so important to us. so i thank you for your presence here, for the long travel that many of you take, have taken in order to be with us every day, but more importantly, i thank you for the relationship that we have day in and day out. it is tremendously important if we're going to be successful in making opportunity real not just for these young people, but for all of the young people that they represent.

so thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, cecilia. and next we have from the department of education, secretary arne duncan. >> thank you so much. good afternoon. before i begin, i just want to, like cecilia, acknowledge all the youth ambassadors again. and while we all work together, we work for cecelia, we work for the president, at the end of the day, i really think we work for you guys. i think it's really important to understand that. if we are helping you get a better education, then we're doing a good job. if we're not helping you build positive futures for yourself, then we're part of the problem, not part of the solution. so i really want you guys to ask the hard questions, to challenge us, to hold us accountable, and whatever we can do to help you be successful. that's why we come to work every single day. that's what motivates us. i'll speak for myself, but i also know i speak for all of us and for the president on this one, our visits to indian

country have been both our most inspiring visits, and i have been to hundreds and hundreds of schools around the nation, but also sometimes, quite frankly, some of the most heartbreaking visits. and the reality of what so many of our young people are dealing with, they deserve better. they deserve more from us. and we commit every single day to try and do a better job. i am convinced the only way we have strong fames, strong communities, the only way we have strong tribes is if we give our children a great education, a world-class education. if we fail to do that, everything else we do i don't want to say it is irrelevant but , it's band-aids. if we want to break cycles of poverty, create more jobs and reduce unemployment, it has to start with high quality education. what does that mean? for me it means a couple different things. it always starts with early childhood education. the more we can get our babies off to a great start at 2 years old and 3 years old and 4 years old, we have to do that. before they ever hit kindergarten. hhs has been a fantastic partner. we've invested more in our department over the past couple

of years than ever in the past, but there's still tremendous unmet need there. we're going the continue to push very hard to expand access to high quality early learning opportunities for children before they enter kindergarten. on the k-12 side, i know sally has talked about this, she has -- and i do not sho say this lightly. she has shown more courage and leadership on the bie schools than anyone i've ever seen before. we have a huge amount of hard work to do there. it is her leadership, her guidance, her courage, whatever we can do to be a good partner, we're doing that. but i want to be very, very clear, tinkering around the edges is not going to get us where we need to go. what the bie has done or, frankly, hasn't done for too long needs to be changed in a pretty fundamental way, and we do have a moment of opportunity with sally and her team to take that step. change is hard, change is scary. i think change is absolutely necessary here, and, again, listening, partnering, working together but not collaborating around the status quo, i think we have a once in a lifetime

opportunity, quite frankly, to do something pretty special there, and i just want to act -- want to publicly acknowledge sally for all her hard work and leadership. beyond that, we know school is hugely important. thousands of hur children go to school -- our children go to school, so we have to continue to improve access to language, support of culture, better support for teachers. we've been working hard with the national board to increase the number of native teachers who can go through national board certification, which is like the best professional development, the best leadership that we can provide. they've been a fantastic partner. that's getting underway. we want to do more of that going forward. we know in many communities , access to technology, access to the internet, broadband is a huge challenge. this is one i honestly think we can have some pretty significant breakthroughs over the next couple of years. the fcc next week is having a very significant vote. stay tuned. we think it'll bring more than a billion dollars to add high-speed internet access to

rural and remote and native communities over the next couple of years. the private sector's stepping up. we want children to be able to learn anything they want anytime, anywhere whether it's taking an ap class or learning a foreign language. you shouldn't be limited to what you have or what you don't have in your school or in your house. and if children can be empowered and teachers can be empowered in ways that simply haven't existed before, we think that's a game changer. so please stay tuned on that. we're working very, very hard to increase access there. hopefully, you saw that we're going to put out some new grants, native youth community projects looking at both those in-school and out-of-school factors that prevent academic success and, again, really trying to empower them. -- to empower you. at the core of this, again, sally's provided great we think for the schools to improve, tribes have to be driving this. we need to help, to support but , frankly we need to step back

here in washington, and all of this is about trying to listen to your good ideas and empower you with the resources and the capacity to take those to scale. i also want to thank, i've had many tribes step up around the president's challenge in my brother's keeper, and we know so many of the young boys around the country, so many of our young boys of color struggle today, and having so many tribes step up and make commitments to try and change those opportunity structure, again, that's the only way we're going to get to where we need to go. ultimately, we have to increase high school graduation rates, we have to reduce high school dropout rates and make sure more young people are going on to college. and tom talked about the huge role that tribal colleges play. i've been fortunate enough to speak at a number of tribal college commencements in may and june each year, and they just do an extraordinary job often on a shoe string budget. what they're doing to empower the next generation of leaders in a whole host of fields including our future educators has been remarkable.

tom, i really appreciate your hard work and leadership. the more we can strengthen tribal colleges -- they are often the economic engine in the community. on the reservations, the better they are going to be. he have to continue to think, from our babies through college education -- a high school diploma is a great starting point. it cannot be the ending point and how we help our young people not just graduate from high school, but take the next step in the education journey. that has to become the norm rather than the exception. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, arne. panelist, from the department of personnel management. >> can you hear me? there it is. well, i thought i would start out this afternoon by telling you a little bit about myself. because i think it is important for you to know me, so you will

know where i am at. i was born in the west, in denver. edmundo, have i, a daughter named graciella. , you have torents decide how you're going to educate your daughter. it is the most important thing we do as parents. thinking about having the opportunity to decide where we would live and raise her we decided we would live and raise her in albuquerque, new mexico because we knew that the tri-cultural environment that existed in the new mexico state was an important one that would enrich her life. i had the opportunity to sit on the institute of the american indian arts board of trustees for seven years. del warrior gave me an excellent education in the culture of the history, the resources and

talent the tribal colleges take advantage of within the indian country. that education not only does -- not only served me well, but also served our daughter very well. i told you that story as i bring those values to be director of personnel management. frankly, i am the chief recruiter for the president and his administration. my job is to hire the talent to fill the positions tom and arnie and sally need for the jobs that they have in each of the departments. i need to look all over the country, and i need to look for diversity not just because of the numbers that we want but because i strongly believe that when we include diversity of thought, diversity of experience, diversity of culture and language and history, we

bring the top talent to government. so in the last year i served as the director of the office of personnel management, i traveled all over the country meeting with individuals, institutions, colleges, and universities and i made a point to reach out to the tribal colleges and universities. in new mexico, i was in wonder of the tremendous stem classes that are available to the students there, and the work done to train students to join stem career path that so many employers, including the federal government, are seeking in their employees. i have been to a college in north dakota, the college at fort bechtold, and met with the governor to talk about internships that we could work

with with with the all indian public counsel both in new mexico and to the southwest states. my job is to bring top talent, but i have to think about what are the opportunities not only for us as a federal government but those that could come in to the federal government, and i need to make sure that those opportunities are strong ones. so with the help of the white house, and with the departments throughout government, we are focused in on internships and career development and bringing more native americans into the federal government. not because we want more native americans in the federal government, but why do we want that? because it brings such richness where the decisions are made. we need you at the table to

inform us about water quality, as the last panel talked about, or the educational decisions that are being made to affect your children, or the labor practices to protect the workers. all of these are very important, and we need these voices at the table. that is my job. that is where i help these wonderful people here. i reach out. but i also have to think about the cultural impact that your families bring with the individuals we hire and i want to draw that culture. but i also want to be respectful of the culture. della has taught me that. 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? how can i make sure that i respect where and how they need and want to work, and match them with the needs of the federal government? i have been learning a lot on my travel through indian country and i thank you all for the education that you're giving me. but i want you to know that i don't only reflect the values and the experiences that i've had myself, but i reflect what this administration stands for. the diversity and inclusion of people from every part of the country reflects the president's commitment to make the american workforce, the federal workforce look like the people that served -- the people it serves. and that is my commitment to you, to reach out further in the next three years to make sure that the federal workforce reflects indian country.

and i promise you that will be at the top of my commitment. [applause] >> thank you, catherine. at this time, we will take questions from tribal leaders. we will limit them to four minutes. as you are queuing up, i just want to say good talking to you and thank you all for your leadership. and as tribal leaders to the sustainability of the nation educating the youth in developing the leaders. as we see the ambassadors here please stand up and be recognized. [applause] future leaders, thank you so much. at this time we will turn it over for questions. nativeeaking in a

language] chippewa.der of the so i have to go at 3:30 and i'm honored to ask you the question because the former president of a charter school so i don't know if you got a chance to see it we all were proud when we got to see our little boys from the tribe that sang with such power in their language with such power and pride, and you can see it on their faces. also when the vice president was hoping, i was kind of hoping he would slip up and swear. he didn't. he didn't. but it was a big deal to hear him speak. i will not fill in the gap there. he was in the senate when they passed the indian education self-determination act. so what we heard if there is a recommitment to the self-determination part of that.

it's 39 years ago that it was passed and the focus was on self-determination, so it's time to get back to that. andthe study group, the bie department of education study group, 10% of the kids benefit through bie. are outside of that. i made the argument to mr. russell. he does a phenomenal job and represents the government very well but we need to do well. i like the term he used. we need a school improvement plan. we need it not only on the bie, but on public education as relates to indian country. how do you do that? how do you do that, because -- how do you do that, because you have local control, state control. the dropout rate has not improved in 20 years.

it is a crisis. we are the only group where the federal government has a specific obligation to educate its citizens. that might surprise people because it doesn't exist for everybody. it is the right thing to do. we are the only group that has a specific requirement. and we have the worst experience in the public education system , with a dropout rate of 50%. so here are my recommendations. a school improvement plan that is data-driven, with specific benchmarks and requirements or increased retention towards graduation. align title vii and impact aid dollars, and maybe some incentives to get schools to align their efforts with tribes, not with strings attached. i am a doctoral student, getting ready to graduate by may with a doctorate in education leadership. we need a logistical study of the factors that predict whether or not native american students will graduate high school. that hasn't been done.

i was going to do it for my dissertation, but i want to graduate. but i think that we need to have funding to conduct a study. lastly, a recommendation of the midwest vice president -- we need an assistant secretary of education. that is not to give up on the bie, because we need to mend it, not end it. but if we are ever going to face the 90% of the kids that are educated in the system we need to transcend any individual president and the legacy on education and create the assistant secretary for indian education. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> there is a lot in that question. i am not sure i can get to it all. i'm glad the vice president didn't swear when he was here, so let me start with that. but if our goal is to reduce dropout rates and increase high

school graduation rates it has to start with early childhood education. inly, i think we can predict second grade who is going to drop out. if you look at the attendance rates in first and second grade those children that are missing school,d four months of those are the future dropouts. i can tell you that with a high degree of probability. making sure we are getting to babies early takes time but it was the best investment we could make. beyond that, i think -- i know i believe the more we empower tribes, the more we build on self-determination, it is a school improvement strategy. to think that we can do it in washington would be the height of arrogance. much of what we are trying to do is empower tribes to take ownership and

leadership, with resources and capacity building, to provide education to young people. we know that huge importance of language and of culture, where children understand who they are and where they come from where , they have a sense of history and a sense of self. it gives them a way to power through the difficulty and when they feel connections to the past and have the troubles of hopelessness and desperation comes upon them. those pieces are important but the mental health aspect we cannot go through. i worry a lot about dropout rates and teenage suicides. there are devastating rates of teenage suicide in native communities. if we are not giving children the counselors and psychologists that they need to deal in the tough situation. it's hard to concentrate in schools when you're dealing with that. for me, that is a foundational building block. so there's not a simple answer. there are lots of pieces. i think this is common sense. i don't think it's rocket science. allkly, we have to work on

these pieces, and work on that simultaneously. >> [speaking a native language] president of the pawnee nation. this is again for secretary duncan. erin on many parts. when i look over there, i see all these young people, and i think about the education part of it. and so many of us, when we was growing up, we had trouble with education. big dropout rates. being made fun of in school because we are brown, whatever. but i had an old man tell me one time, he said, if you are willing to pay the price for something you can have it. but if you are not willing to pay the price, you will never get it. and he was talking about

education. and he told me, he said, you know, when you get an education, they can take your car away. they can take your job away. they can even take your life away. but they can never take that education away from you. that education opens many doors. but we need help with that education. and one of the things aaron mentioned was the second secretary for education, specifically for native americans, so that we make sure that when our children go to school on columbus day they aren't reading about someone that was lost. i mean, some guy that said he claimed this country. [applause] but telling about the people that greeted him when he got here. system, makehool sure our books are telling about our history. , they teach about

the land run, but they do not teach about the dawes allotment act that took that land away from us. those need to be in the history books, just not for us, but for the white people. for everybody to read what really happened. who ran the first sub four minute mile? do you know in 1873 in nebraska there was a scout that ran in -- a pawnee scout that ran the three minutes and 57 seconds, clocked by the army? he said, my watch must be wrong.

he immediately turned around and ran it in three minutes and 58 seconds and never got the credit. that needs to be in the history books. that is why we need an assistant secretary, to make sure that our history for our children, , everybody's children know the true history of the americas. [applause] >> i will give you a quick two-part answer. i want to get to other questions. i definitely hear the question and request for an assistant secretary of education. i will think about that. i also will think about it. i have a air amount of skepticism about our ability to solve all these things in washington. i get the idea of institutionalizing that role. i want to be really clear on the curriculum side. we are prohibited by law from touching curriculum, textbooks, all those things. we in washington cannot do that.

that is always developed on a local level. the gaps in what is taught, the absence of knowledge is a huge issue. but to be very honest our ability to influence textbooks and curriculum in what is taught is tight. i just wanted to be clear. i heard the first request, and i will think about that one. >> thank you. next question. >> i am sorry. it is not a question, but is my last chance to say something to represent my fellow tribal youth ambassadors. this is a message to all that are here before me. name is marilyn fox, and i stand before you today to represent my fellow tribal youth ambassadors, sitting right over there. north dakota, and i am enrolled in the standing rock sioux tribe.

[applause] i just wanted to tell my fellow youth ambassadors to speak up. it's not easy. i'm not going to lie. you have all these eyes watching you. [laughter] speak up and say something. be heard even if your voice shakes. and i just wanted to thank everyone for being here. can we get a round of applause for those that have put this together? [applause] did you hear that? that is like, all of us clapping together.

that represents what we can do together. that was a strong roar of clapping. just imagine what we can do, hearing just clapping. imagine what we can do with our actions what we can see. you even know how amazing we are as people? we are -- i'm sorry. we are wondrous. we are amazing. we are unity. we are indigenous. we are beautiful. we are intelligent. we are human. and because of what all of you have done or continue to do, we are history in the making. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you for your courage and wisdom and leadership. >> good afternoon. [speaking a native language] my name is christina dan first, tribe,n of the oneida wisconsin. my question today is about access to information. access to data through the family rights and privacy act. you heard comments about needing to do programming for our youth, children, and families. if we do not have access to vital information to do servicing, how do we know what direction to take? all the way from the children to high school there are things , that are very specific to

preschoolers. as you get into middle school, there is a lot of development going on. a critical age for our children is middle school. they are forming theologies, culture is either with them or not with them. they have to catch up. but in order for us to create relevant cultural educational programming for children, students, and families, we need the critical data available to the public school districts. oneida is split into six public school district was our tribal school district. a very difficult task for us to try to gather educational data on our students, so we can try to do a appropriate programming. i so much want to bring all of the districts together. it's been a long-standing problem for oneida in wisconsin and it's a subtle way of saying

gerrymandering did occur for the tribe. please give access. we cannot do it without your help. so thank you. [applause] >> thank you. yesterday about internet stuff. hopefully, we are going to connect back on this. she is extraordinarily smart and will hopefully help there. the idea of six or seven districts trying to solve the problems by themselves when the problems are much more in common than unique does not make sense. everyone trying to reinvent the wheel is inefficient and not going to give the best answers. what i will do is have the chief of staff help think through how we maintain privacy but also share important data. always a fine line. i will have catherine styles reach out to you. the basic goal has to be to work

together, share best practices, stop doing what does not work. i could not support that more. i will have catherine reach out correctly and that your out how best to get you the data that -- and figure out how best to get you the data that you need. >> good afternoon. good afternoon. my name is joe nelson. i'm a chairman of the board of directors. during the day i'm the vice chancellor at the university of southeast in juno, and my question is about the department of education regulation that just came out. first, i want to give a quick thank you to the panelists in the crowd. thank you for making this day count. there are new regulations that are out in the teacher preparation and the tribal colleges and native serving institutions. they are turning out a lot of teachers with a hard and fast mission of putting native teachers in native classrooms. that is a high priority i know the department of education is behind. one concern is that the new

regulations, how they might impact the institutions in the ability to and the ability to keep serving the main mission of producing teachers in the requirements for the the state constricting budgets, the rising tuition and state education standards that don't align very well with our native indigenous ways. it is a tough environment to add another burden on. i wonder if you have a response our institutions to prepare for these new regulations. >> so first of all i hope it isn't just a burden. i'm happy to have that conversation. what we fundamentally believe is that our teachers deserve better teacher training than they are receiving today. they enter the classroom

our children deserve teachers , and it's close to 2,000 schools of education. they have access to technology. we need the next generation of amazing teachers to enter the classroom with the baby boomer generation retiring. i want the new wave of talent to reflect the diversity of our students. we need many more teachers of color. we need more men, african-american, latino, native american. the need to get a pipeline to the tribal colleges is extraordinarily helpful. what we want to do is reward colleges where more teachers are working in hard to staff communities, on reservations. in hopeso reward folks that that is where they stay, where there is commitment. at the end of the day, we hope we have tribal colleges doing a great job of producing fantastic talent that is well prepared and

wants to work in underserved communities, and wants to stay. we want to see them get more resources. let us know. we just put out a draft, 60 days of comment. lees give us your best thinking. we take those comments very seriously. we will continue to have those conversations online. or us to have the education we need for children, we need classroomho enter the to be successful. across the nation, frankly, that is more the exception than the norm, and that is the status quo we are trying to challenge. >> thank you. honorable tribal leaders, secretaries, directors, tribal matheson, past president of the american congress of american indians, from a tribe located in part of the redwoods specific coast. historically, native american students have not experienced

success in the school system, and almost all of those located are theeservations lowest-performing schools. at times, it impedes learning. our schools are the least funded and do not have the necessary educational tools compared with other local schools. our students deserve access to a quality educational experience, one that intertwines our culture, language and the curriculum and one that has adequate funding to allow our children to have access to equal educational opportunity, especially given the government's trust and treaty obligations to us. the it ministration has made great progress advancing the sovereignty of education and the state partnership program.

there are sovereignty and education grants. these programs demonstrate that native american students perform bieer in public, state, and schools when the tribal governments, language, and culture are prevalent in school. it is a priority for tribes and must be a priority for you. we need an assistant secretary of indian education in order to maintain the momentum and focus on the indian education beyond this administration. we also need an interior budget that reflects the commitment being made through these reforms. secretary, can you commit to this? >> i think i have the microphone. thank you so much for the question and for driving at the heart of the issues we are trying to solve. thank you for recognizing the sovereignty in indian education grants. it is relatively small, i think

$1.2 million in total. six tribes have signed up for them. without calling out names, one tribal chairman was being challenged by staff members of the bie, because there were people that work in the schools , that work for me, who are more concerned about their own jobs and they are about the future of children. there is not enough money in our budget to deal with school construction. not even close. a third of the schools the bie operates are in poor condition. that is poor condition. i visited a number of them. i have not yet visited a school that is in good condition, other than a handful of new ones, and many of those have been supported with tribal resources. so the short answer is, yes, we are advocating in the budget process.

we have a boss that gets it very much. and he is supporting those efforts. know, you work so far in advance that when a budget actually gets done, and you work very hard for a budget to not get done -- we are now in fiscal 2015. we do not have a budget, as you know. of moneye running out to operate this place on december 11 if congress doesn't act. 2015 isn't what i would like it to be. we need to work on that. the pressure and the voices that you have are important. we are in the middle of a four-part series that tribune is doing on the challenges and the education that is helpful. it's painful to hear it's not fixed because we do not have the money to fix it, not because it

doesn't need to be fixed. it does. we are working very hard with a lot of members of congress on both sides of the aisle building the kind of momentum and support that we need to really address the challenges in indian education. because it is going to take money, but it's also going to take all of you as the tribal ambassador suggested, all of you standing up and saying, we want to do the right things for the children of our nation. we want help from the bureau of indian education and become a provider of support for the the bright spots, and how can we build a school system you want, so the teachers are accountable to you and to your children? and when the teachers, the staff, or the boards, or lots of adults implied in our school system are not serving your children, you are going to hear about it and be able to do something about it. which right now, you cannot do and it is very hard for me to do

because of the way we are structured. that is what it is all about. >> if i can add two cents to that, secretary jewell is absolutely right. there is no reason that conversation the about funding, should be part of the conversation. ins is an area where you communities have allies on both sides of the aisle. as are incredibly important conversations to be having. there are a not of places we can have bipartisan conversations to get things done. this is one of them. he had the same sense of urgency. >> thank you. next question. >> good afternoon, cabinet members. a band ofhairwoman of mission indians in california. we are located in the foothills of the san bernardino mountains, about 50 miles northeast of los angeles. i am so happy and proud to be here today with all my friends,

all the distinguished tribal leaders here today. i give for being here. it makes me glad to see the young ambassadors who we as tribal leaders will mentor, generation after generation, and make sure that we tell our kids, don't forget who you are or where you came from. thank you all for being here. also, i just wanted to address this question to secretary perez. probably know, on the reservations, a lot of our younger people want to go through the education, want to go through the training, and are interested in staying on the reservation, helping with the economic diversification, working for their own tribal members, working to help and mentor all the other generations to come in the future. to complete their training and education -- so the challenge for the tribal governments is to create a workforce opportunity for our people while preserving our

fundamental right of sovereignty. we believe the tribal decisions -- we believe the tribal decisions about the workforce on indian reservations should be left with the tribal governments. tribal policye should reflect our fundamental right of tribal sovereignty. with this in mind, secretary perez, did you support federal legislation that clarifies that tribal governments are governments under the national labor relations act? >> the department of labor -- this is something that people are oftentimes unaware of. the department of labor actually does not enforce the national labor relations act. the national labor relations ordered enforces the national labor relations act. the spirit of what you are saying is something i very much agree with. and i mentioned before that and a lot of the grantmaking that we were doing, when i came early

asked, why are we having more competitive grants awarded in indian country? part of the reason that came back to me -- i learned this a lot from my outreach to all of you. we were not making clear enough that tribal nations were eligible to apply for these grants, and shame on us. that was our bad. we have issued very explicit guidance. i mentioned early on, in a week or two, we are going to have a very am working $100 million solicitation to encourage partnerships that will help build apprentices. this is all about you. 17, 18, 20-year-olds who can go into high-demand occupations on that can helpns

build that pipeline to the middle class. and what we have attempted to clarify through our guidance is that absolutely you are eligible to apply, and i hope you will apply, because in the apprenticeship context, there is so many other contexts. for our youngs people, we are doing for young adults and so many others. my mother started college the same year i started college. she taught me that learning is lifelong. that is what we do. we help people who are 19 years old get access to an apprenticeship. we help people who are 58 years old, whose job has been lost and may not be coming back, to retool and again punch their ticket to the middle class. and i want to make sure that as we give out these competitive grants that tribal nations are absolutely at the table, exercising their sovereignty to

figure out what is in the best interest of their communities, where the job opportunities are, and putting together those proposals that will enable us to better serve you. >> thank you very much. i know it is always an education as tribal leaders to educate the general public on sovereignty, and it is ongoing all the time, whether it is with our state legislature or on the rural level with the house of representatives and congress, and we will continue to do that. as we all know, it is our inherent right. we will continue to be out there and try to be sovereign nations. thank you very much. >> thank you, and this will be our final question. of the the vice chairman tribes up in washington state. before i get on with my question, i want to say to the want ambassadors here, we

to raise our hands and say thank you to the youth ambassadors. youth ambassador is sitting over here. she feels she is already a tribal leader, because she is on this side of of the room. i want to raise my hands to her, to our youth ambassador. [applause] much supportvery education, just like everybody does in indian country. that hour before school and afterschool programs are very, very critical to the school learning. we operate a boys and girls club of america on our reservation. we were the seventh boys and girls club, and we are very successful. we get about 400 kids per day coming to this club. across indian country, it is not the same. at one timen apex

of about 250 boys and girls club's in our country, and we are down now to about 175. i do not know whether secretary jewell or any of you can speak to how we increase the before ,chool and afterschool programs one of them being the boys and girls club of america, by finding more ways to get that into indian country? that question.pt i am having a coughing attack over here, so my apologies. i have been to a lot of tribes. this is not because i am about to get choked up. it is because i am about to cough. [laughter] boys and girls club's, community centers, gyms, schools, a safe place for young people to go is absolutely critical to the lives of kids i have seen across the country.

some people build a gym facility, and it has become a couple oft, with a staff members who become the fathers and mothers for a lot of young people because of what home.ind a i think partnering with these organizations is very helpful. a lot of the rural and tribal clubs do not have the kind of financial support. of the things we are working to do is re-energize a philanthropic arm around indian education. the kellogg family foundation has supported the work we are doing in indian education transformation, with a 400,000 dollar grant. we think there are others out there that can do that, supporting other organizations like that, that can become the safe gathering place where young people can interact with each other and support each other when they do not have the support structure at home. in the our work structure of indian education is also looking at schools as the

focal point. if we build them so they can also become places where people learn parenting skills, and come for counseling and support, basketball, camaraderie, culture, and language, we believe the school becomes positive for young people. the vision the vision is a long way from reality. . the boys and girls club's and ymca are critically important. many of you on the reservations have supported the kind of community service that makes a big difference in the lives of young people. thank you for pointing that out. [applause] add, youruld quickly vision is exactly the right thing. schools being open six hours a day, five days a week, nine

months a year makes no sense whatsoever. afterschool academic enrichment, arts, schools, language, culture, classes for parents, these are amazing resources our communities do have and we need to fully utilizes them. i will reach out and see if they can do more. funding is always a challenge. . the idea of the schools being the heart of communities and community centers, not just the academic piece but more holistically open 12, 13, 14 hours a day for six or seven days a week. that is the right vision. to help that,n do we need that desperately. >> thank you. we have the final question, comment. >> i am the youth ambassador from the confederated tribes. i attend boarding school in