the navajo nation faces significant challenges, high poverty, lack of basic infrastructure like housing, public safety deficiencies among other things. the unemployment rate there is totally on acceptable -- it is near 50%, and an equally large percentage of the population is below the poverty level, and they have made steady progress on economic development in recent years, but they really need a boost. as part of the president's efforts, this promise own will help the navajo nation tackle the issues outlined in their application, which i have talked a little bit about here. i simply urge you to give consideration to the requests. i know there are many communities in need, but few face the extremely difficult conditions we see on the navajo nation. sec. vilsack: that is one of the reasons we include that area and our strike zone initiative, but you are right, the strikes on would extend that approach to the federal agencies, so i appreciate the comments, senator. sen. udall: could you tell me a little bit about the strikeforce effort? sec. vilsack: strikeforce was focused to -- was des

this promises own will help the navajo nation tackle the issues outlined in their application. i simply urge you to give consideration to their request. i know there are many communities in need but few face the externally difficult conditions we see on the navajo nation. sec. vilsack: that's one of the reasons we have already included that area in our strikeforce initiative. the promises own would extend that kind of approach to all federal agencies. i will take that back to the team. >> could you tell me a bit about the strikeforce effort? sec. vilsack: strikeforce was designed to focus on the areas of persistent poverty. they are in rural areas. inwere not doing enough work those areas to get folks to understand how to apply for help.ms they could get was told to go to areas where there's persistent poverty and work with the community building organization to identify projects and need we could address through usda programs. it is now operating in 920 counties, 21 states and several tribal areas. billion inted $26.3 strikeforce areas. a significant percentage of those would

who i am, where i come from. >> renee yellow horse a member of the navajo nation says when she first heard about the project she thought it was a cruel joke. >> the escalade development. when i first heard bit, it was through our local newspaper. it was drawing, the tram could go down to the bottom. i looked at it in the open newspaper and i laughed. i thought it was hilarious. somebody's playing a joke. >> you didn't think it was real? >> i didn't think it was real. i thought it was like the onion news or you know something laughable. >> why didn't you think it was real? >> because it is unfathomable to dig into the heart of the -- the side of the canyon, to put in towers, to develop an area where i go to pray. i laughed, and then i disbelieved and then the more i read, i got angry. don't they know? this is the heart of our sacred places. >> the developers, confluence partners, say the escalade project will bring jobs and prosperity to an area in desperate need of economic rescue. two past navajo presidents have thrown their support behind the project but the current tribal leadersh

as part of the president's efforts, this promise zone will help the navajo nation, help tackle the issues outlined in the application which i've talked about a little bit here and i simply urge you to give consideration to their request. i know there are many communities in need but few face the extremely difficult conditions we see on the navajo nation. >> well, it's one of the reasons why we have already included that area in our strike force initiative but you're right, the promise zone would extend that approach to all the federal agencies. appreciate the comments, senator, and i'll take that back to the team. >> secretary, could you tell me a little bit about the strike force effort there? >> sure. strike force was designed to focus on the areas of persistent poverty in the country. the reality is 85% of persistently poor areas in this country are in fact in rural areas and what we found early in the administration was that we weren't doing enough work in those areas to get folks to understand how to basically apply for a program that they could get help. so we instructed our team, o

a pristine area of the canyon, untouched by tourists. the canyon belongs to the people of the navajo nation. >> the whole canyon for me is a representation for me of who i am, and where i come from. >> when she first heard about the project, she thought it was a cruel joke. >> development. when i first heard about it through our local newspaper, the drawings, the tram will go down to the bottom. and i looked at it and opened the newspaper and laughed. it's hilarious, somebody is playing a joke. >> you didn't think it was real? >> i didn't think it was real. i thought it was like the onion news, or something laughable. >> why didn't you think it was real? >> because it's unfathomable to dig into the heart of the site of the canyon, to put in towers, to develop an area where i go to pray. i laughed in disbelief but the more i read, i got angry. don't they know, this is the heart of our sacred places? >> the developers say that the projects will bring jobs and prosperity to an area in desperate need of economic rescue. two past navajo presidents have thrown their support behind the project. bu

it belongs to the people of the navajo nation? >> the whole canyon for me is a representation of who i am, where i come from. >> rene yellowhorse says when she first heard about the project, she thought it was a cruel joke. >> the escalade development, when i first heard about it, it was through our local newspaper drawing the tram to go down to the bottom. i looked at it in an open newspaper and i laughed. it was hilarious. somebody is playing a joke. >> you didn't think it was real? >> i didn't think it was real. i thought it was like the onion news or something laughable. >> why didn't you think it was real? >> because, because it's unfathomable to dig into the heart of side of the canyon, to put towers to go to an area where i pray. i laughed and i disbelieved and then, you know, the more i read, don't they know this is the heart of our sacred places? >> they say it will bring jobs an processing parity to an area in desperate need of economic rescue. two past navajo presidents have thrown their support behind the project. the

in extremely high priority for me in that the navajo nation faces is a significant challenge ierty and among other things the unemployment is near 50 percent in the equally large percentage of the population is below the poverty level. and to make steady progress in economic development in this would make the difference and as part of the president's efforts it will help the navajo nation in tackle the issues outlined in their application. and i simply urge you to give consideration to their request for:in with those extremely difficult conditions that we see. >> it is one of the reasons i already included data area in the strike force initiative you are right it would extend that approach to all federal agencies. >> could you tell us about the strike force effort? >> fact in the reality is 85% and well we found early in the administration and was we were each doing enough work in those areas to basically to apply for the programs they could get in to go to communities across the country with consistent poverty work with the community building organization with the ec could add

the navajo nation faces siif

the land belongs to the people of the navajo nation. >> the whole canyon for me is a representation of am, where i come predominately. >> rene yellow horse, a member of the nation, says when she first heard about the project she thought it was a cruel joke. >> when i first heard about it, draws the tram to go down to the bottom, i looked at it in the open newspaper, and i laughed, i thought somebody is playing a joke. >> you didn't think it was real. >> i didn't think it was real, i thought it was like the onion news, or something laughable. >> why didn't you think it is real? >> unfathomable to dig into the heart of the side of the canyons who butt in tours to develop an area where i go to pray. i laved then, i disbelieved and then the more i read, i get angry don't they know this is the heart of our place. >> the developers confluence partners say the escalade project will bring jobs and prosperity to an area in desperate need of economic rescue. two path navajo presidents have thrown their support behind the project, but the current tribal leadership wouldn't talk to al jazeera. on

president from the great navajo nation. tribal leaders, thank you. i'm pleased to be here today to support the next president of the united states. you all know how much secretary clinton has committed her life to public service and children's issues. she's long been an advocate for disadvantaged communities. as a leader of one of the 23 tribal nagts nations here in arizona i'm supporting her for president because she's long worked to advocate for tribal nations. my community worked with her as first lady, then as senator clinton and now as secretary of state. she's visited tribal nations in new mexico and most recently in iowa. so she's seen firsthand the issues that we as tribal leaders must work to resolve. most importantly, she respects and honors treaty rights and the federal trust responsibility. and she's committed to build on the progress of president bill clinton and president barack obama. she understands that our brightest future lies in strong relationships and making sure that our communities are strengthened for seven generations to com