Page 14 - April JSF Report

RESERVATION ECONOMIC SUMMIT REPORT (2)
On Wednesday, I had lunch with Sarah Echohawk, CEO of AISES, Kellie and Alicia Mitchell, who is a senior development officer. I shared with them the specifics for the convening: the date would be October 18 – the day before their conference starts (I do not want to pull any folks away from the conference); that I would be inviting about 4 to 5 alums, maybe a few folks from Gonzaga, and then the JSF board/staff. The total would be about 20 – 25 so we would need a meeting room to accommodate that number and for the day. I also said that we would also look to host a reception for the alums/students that evening. The timing was great as Sarah and Kellie are going to be in Spokane the week of April 9 to work with the hotels and convention center on their conference. Sarah agreed to comp the registration for any of the alums/students who want to attend the AISES conference – and any JSF folks. JSF is also a sponsor of their conference (unused funds from the grant). Sarah or Kellie will get back with me following their trip. We will set up that call with the JSF folks as well so we can all learn what needs to be done on our part. We would also be included in their hotel room block and benefit from their contract.
I attended a number of general and breakout sessions during the conference. The sessions with Jeff Wilke were excellent – he stepped down as CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer a few years ago (he had been slated at one point to be Jeff Bezos’ replacement as CEO) and has started an entity called Re:Build Manufacturing. He is also very heavily involved in computer sciences at the TCUs and has set up a program at four TCUs and given the College Fund a substantial grant to manage this. Angelique was on a panel called “Building an Enterprising Workforce” with Cheryl Crazy Bull (American Indian College Fund), Sarah Echohawk (AISES) and Melvin Monette-Barrajas of the Cobell Scholarships. Unfortunately I was unable to get to this one because of a scheduling conflict. I also had the chance to run into Emily White Hat, who is one of the JSF Discovery Associates.
There were two breakout sessions on Cross-Border Partnerships between US and Canada. I sat in on the session with Native women business owners from Canada which was very inspiring. I was not able to stay the entire last session as I had to get to the airport for my flight on Thursday, but it was about research on Native CDFIs done by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve’s Center for Indian Country Development. I may follow up with the presenter to get the slides and research report as I think there is good information there. There were probably 3 or 4 sessions about CDFIs. I also attended sessions on the upcoming Farm Bill, State of Native Agriculture, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, and Economic Sustainability for Native Nations.
The trade show was amazing as well – so many Native businesses were represented. Overall, it was a good experience to go to RES. It is a great networking opportunity and to see what is happening and new trends.
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