The Wrap: Tribes, organizations offering treatment vans

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Tackling the opioid epidemic

PORTLAND, ORE. — Across the Pacific Northwest, Native nations and Native-led organizations are working to combat the opioid crisis, offering substance use disorder treatment programs to support their citizens, other Indigenous people and the broader community. Services span from the Native American Rehabilitation Association and Painted Horse Recovery in Portland to clinics across Oregon and Washington.

A new model of care is also popping up to address the opioid crisis: treatment vans. The vans administer medication and provide services for those struggling with substance use disorders. A recent study found that these vans expand access to treatment options, specifically medication for those in recovery, for both Native and non-Native people.

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde opened the first opioid treatment facility run by a Native nation in Oregon in April 2021. In Washington, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe have all recently launched similar services.

“We know anecdotally that culture is prevention, that culture is medicine. But we are starting to understand now what that really means,” Danica Brown, citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and behavioral health program director at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board told Underscore/ICT in an interview in February. “It’s your connection to culture that can mitigate those impacts of substance misuse.” READ MORE — Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore News and ICT

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Oklahoma governor says tribes owe state $5 million

TULSA, Okla. – After Oklahoma’s governor tweeted the terms of a 10-year car tag compact with the Cherokee Nation late Monday afternoon, the tribe responded within two hours to say no agreement had been reached.

“If any compact is reached, tribal citizens and Council of the Cherokee Nation will be the first to know and not through the governor’s social media page,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in the statement.

Gov. Kevin Stitt issued the tweet after repeating his message Friday that “the Turnpike Authority, just the Cherokee tags, owe the state of Oklahoma $5 million just since May.”

“They’re running illegally on the turnpikes. I think that’s weird. I think that’s unfair,” he said in a live-streamed press briefing.

Stitt spokeswoman Abegail Cave said Monday the governor was referencing numbers from a report provided by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, which collects pictures of tribal license plates traveling on toll roads. The authority’s data shows nearly 80,000 unique license plates counted more than 2 million times, for a total amount due nearing $5 million, according to information provided by Cave. READ MORE — Felix Clary, Tulsa World and ICT

'Bacone College is not closing,' despite leadership change

TULSA, Okla. – After Bacone College administrators announced a leadership change at the Muskogee campus, the school’s new acting president said nine seniors are still set to graduate next month.

Bacone College Interim President Nicky Michael has been replaced with board member Leslie Hannah, according to a statement released last week.

“Bacone College is not closing ... (after the school) experienced several difficult years,” the statement reads.

The school has been under threat of losing accreditation for more than a year because of an ongoing lawsuit over uncompensated HVAC work done on campus.

Hannah, acting president of Bacone, said that at least until June of this year, the school is not losing its accreditation. Commencement is still set for May 11 for remaining seniors who weren’t able to find comparable degree plans after Bacone suspended spring classes . READ MORE — Felix Clary, ICT and Tulsa World

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Relocation of eroding Alaska Native village seen as a test case

The Yup’ik village of Newtok, perched precariously on thawing permafrost at the edge of the rapidly eroding Ninglick River, is the first Alaska community to begin a full-scale relocation made necessary by climate change.

Still, the progress of moving to a new village site that is significantly outpacing relocation efforts at other vulnerable Alaska communities, remains agonizingly slow, say those who are in the throes of the transformation.

“There is no blueprint on how to do this relocation,” said Carolyn George, one of those still living in Newtok. “We’re relocating the whole community to a whole different place, and we did not know how to do it. And it’s been taking too long — over 20 years, I think.”

George, who works at the Newtok school, was one of the self-described “Newtok mothers” who made comments at a panel discussion at the recent Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage. The river waters, once at least a mile away, have edged closer and closer, and the village, once sitting high on the landscape, continues to sink as that permafrost thaws, she said. READ MORE — Alaska Beacon

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Other top stories:

• Joe Biden nominates Native woman to federal bench : Danna Jackson would become the first American Indian, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian to serve as a federal judge in Montana
• 40 years of Gathering of Nations : Since the Gathering of Nations started officially in 1984, people from hundreds of tribal nations across Turtle Island have met every fourth weekend of April in New Mexico to celebrate
• $500 million for solar energy for tribal families : This will ‘revolutionize solar energy access within Native American communities’
• Northern Plains tribes get $135 million for solar power : New funding from the EPA could help tribes to revolutionize energy in rural lower-income communities

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