Grants awarded

PENDLETON, Ore. – The Wildhorse Foundation recently awarded second-quarter grants totaling $159,658 to 23 organizations. Funding for the foundation comes from a percentage of the income from the Wildhorse Resort and Casino on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation.

Health care and education were the largest recipients. Athena Library Friends Association received $20,000 to partially fund a history room which will serve as a repository for heritage materials. Twenty thousand dollars was also given to Wallowa Memorial Hospital to help with construction costs of a hospital to be completed in 2007.

Blue Mountain Community College received $15,000 to reinstate a diesel technology program. Ten-thousand-dollar grants went to Umatilla County Special Library District; Umatilla Reservation Housing Authority; Court Appointed Special Advocates of Union County Inc., which works with abused children; and the La Grande Lions Club.

Total dollars awarded in grants have grown yearly as income has increased. Total amounts awarded in 2005 were $507,188, to 85 organizations. The foundation has awarded $299,203 in 36 grants after two quarters of this year.

Health care
facilities expanding

SPOKANE, Wash. – Ground was recently broken in Spokane using digging sticks traditionally used for digging camas root: but this time it was for a new health care facility. This will be a $3.9 million expansion of the Native American Treatment InterVention Education Project’s health and behavioral health clinics to consolidate them and dramatically increase what can be offered to the public.

Spokane has a population of roughly 12,000 urban Indians representing 150 tribes. Last year, NATIVE’s clinics provided services to more than 22,000 clients, Indian and non-Indian. Dr. Kim Thorburn, Spokane Regional Health District officer, was quoted in the Spokesman Review as saying the facility would help alleviate the health disparity felt by low-income and minority groups in Spokane and that nowhere is the gap more dramatic than among Native populations.

Monies for this facility have come from a variety of sources, including the state of Washington, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Washington Trust Bank, a Spokane Community Development block grant, the West Central Neighborhood Council and Foundation Northwest.

‘S’ word revisited

PLUMMER, Idaho – The Coeur d’Alene Tribe is asking to have the “S” word removed from maps of the Inland Northwest. The 13 references in this region to the word “squaw” have long been attached to such natural aspects on maps as lakes and streams. The tribe is suggesting that word should be replaced with Native words that reflect history or terms that honor women.

Chimeash Creek is suggested to replace Squaw Creek, as chimeash is a tribal term meaning “young woman of good character.” Neachen Bay is another suggestion to replace Squaw Bay, as neachen refers to a place where deer were herded into the lake to be killed. Other suggestions include Steamchet Creek, a word used by a man to refer to his older daughter, and Spotwean Creek, which means matriarch. Other suggestions include names of specific individuals who were important in tribal history.

Chief Allan, chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council, commented, “The place name change is important to allow historical significance to be tied back to the nation’s first inhabitants. By looking at names of these areas, we hope it will educate people about the Native language and tribal history that underlie the names given to geographic areas. There is a story to tell with each tribal name given.”

The adjoining states of Washington and Montana have made a number of changes in recent years, but Idaho has been slow to respond. Four changes have been made in Idaho, but statewide the term is used 93 times for various landmarks plus a number of other sites where names are attached referring to other portions of the female anatomy. The American Association of University Women has been working with Idaho tribes for six years in an effort to change these names.

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names will make the ultimate decision and that won’t occur until at least February. County and state officials have opposed changing any names, claiming history is being changed with a name change and that local people are against it.