DISTRICT’S INDIAN LIAISON JUMP-STARTS PHOENIX MEETING AS PART OF WIDE-RANGING AID TO SOUTHWESTERN TRIBE

Jack Jackson Jr., executive director, Arizona Commission on Indian Affairs

Glynn Alsup, whose formal title is Tribal Liaison, Native American Special Emphases Program Manager, helped jump-start a February meeting in Phoenix. Called the American Indian Liaison Meeting, it offered participants a forum to coordinate tribal working strategies for businesses, tribes and state and federal agencies. They also discussed best business practices.

More than 50 people were invited, and two members of Gov. Janet Napolitano’s staff attended.

Alsup had been asked by Steve Grey, the Dept. of Energy’s headquarters tribal representative, and Derrick Watchman of JP Morgan Chase in Arizona, to assist in organizing the event. They also asked him to be the guest speaker representing federal agency liaisons.

No surprise at either request: For a decade, Alsup has been helping tribes within the District deal with a diverse range of problems. Most prominent have been his long years of work investigating the environmental impact of played-out uranium mines dug long ago on Indian land. His and other team members’ research caught the attention of tribal leaders in determining any health hazards from the mines, and District folks also suggested ways to purify water in radiation areas.

His thousands of hours and miles devoted to these tasks have made him almost an honorary tribal member, so it was logical for his guidance to be sought in February. “We have to worry about budgets and allocations,” Alsup said after the conference, “but we’re still dealing with real people with real problems.”

Some 170 tribes live in the South Pacific Division, 59 of them within the District’s boundaries. Corps tribal projects include building and remodeling schools for the Bureau of Indian Affairs; promoting the American Indian Society of Engineers and Scientists; providing excess computers to Indian schools; staffing a federal agency water task force; and studying abandoned mine lands with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The liaison meeting at the Bank One Building was hosted by Bank One, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, JP Morgan Chase and Arizona Public Service/Pinnacle West.

Kathy Anderson, a District environmental project manager, also attended; she’s being groomed to replace Alsup when he retires.

L-R the District's Glynn Alsup and Kathy Anderson; Rose Grey (Navajo Abandoned Mines Land Reclamation Program); and Steve Grey (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory).

Other key guests: Nick Melcher, director of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Arizona Water Science Center; Dr. Elvira Bitsoi Largie, executive director of the Navajo Education Technology Consortium; William McCabe, director of Native American and Resource Programs for a Colorado-based renewable energy developer; Harold Skow, director of information technology for the Navajo Nation; Preston Thomas of the General Service Administration’s Federal Technology Service; Michelle Garcia, Southern California Edison’s Washington representative; and Suzy J. Baldwin, who provided technical writing services.

The group tackled several subjects besides best business practices: What develops good working relationships with tribes; what is a tribal liaison; what are their purpose and goals; and the best methods of forging relationships that have already accomplished projects with tribes.

Reactions to the meeting were uniformly positive. “It was a wonderful opportunity to collaborate and meet other entrepreneurs interested in investing in the Navajo Nation and other nations across the country,” said Dr. Largie of the Gallup, N.M.-based consortium. “How do we keep people interested and committed to development in Indian country? By developing businesses and partnerships is how.”

Watchman, a vice president of JP Morgan Chase in Phoenix, found the meeting “very informative, especially about learning how fellow liaisons work for their entities.” He added that while every tribe is different and unique, “there are commonalities, like communication and how to bundle your services. This was a review of lessons learned.”

Cellular One has operated on Navajo land for some 10 years, the past five “in a growth mode,” said Gilbert, the Show Low, Ariz.-based tribal relations official. The telecom company has to place a lot of its towers on tribal lands so “we’ve got to learn to work individually with tribal governments,” he added. The liaison meeting “was beneficial to listen to some of the other tribal liaisons and the techniques they have learned working with tribal governments.”

“I found it highly valuable,” said McCabe of Distributed Generations Systems Inc., Lakewood, Colo. “A liaison is a person highly in demand. To share our experiences and provide communication between industry and tribes, between federal agencies and tribes or even between tribe and tribe allowed us to communicate business opportunities for tribal economic development—which the cornerstone of tribal self-determination.”

The Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs’ Jackson, a former U.S. congressman, observed that it was his first such meeting. He provided an update to participants on the commission’s statewide activities, including tribal outreach, government offices, the main tribes and the Arizona legislature. “Throughout the day, business cards were exchanged” he added, “and ideas were shared about economic development, banking and the environment on Indian land. I found it very useful to make those connections.”

Northern Arizona University’s Gishey called the meeting “helpful in a lot of ways.” He described liaison people as “diplomats or ambassadors who can connect two organizations together so that whatever jobs need to be done can get done.” He added: “You have to be familiar with your organization’s missions and goals and can articulate those when you meet the public. You have to make the link to what the tribal needs are to where the resources are—what are your limits, what are your resources. It’s not all black and white—you have to be very imaginative.”

Sounds a lot like Glynn Alsup.