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So long fallow, welcome back community garden MISSION — After a year in fallow, the Community Garden will soon receive the attention of a professional green thumb. Using funds from a five-year 51 million grant, Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center has hired Bethany Davidson to reinvigorate the garden, which is located along Confederated Way in the housing projects. A resident of Pendleton, Davidson retains degrees in forest biology, botany and museum studies. She has worked as an environmental educator, botanist and biologist, and hopes to share her knowledge with community members interested in gardening. "The idea is to work myself out of a job," Davidson said. "I'm here to learn and assist. I hope I can provide a program the community can rally around. Thanks to past efforts by Kristi Yunker, Teresa Jones, and many other individuals in the community, there is already a great l g ard en i n place. Even stronger are the neighborhoods of community members who know the climate, know the Garden markers made by the Cay-uma-wa HeadStart StudentS
Bethany Davidson
CUJ photorMIranda Vega
the Senior Center, will be watered with earth boxesa self-contained water system — to save on irrigation costs. Davidson said that community in v olvement is the key to a successful garden and that it will be
open to anyone interested in using it. Because of that belief, every third Saturday of the month between 10 a.m. and noon will be Community Garden Day, where gifts will be offered to participants. The first event will be a Garden Planning barbecue on March 21. The barbecue is free and community members are encouraged to attend and share their ideas and experiences. Soon Yellowhawk will purchase a greenhouse that will be used in the fall for Nixyaawii Community School (NCS) students. Jewel Kennedy, science and health teacher at NCS, and Davidson will use the greenhouse to teach students about healthy eating and gardening. All these outreach programs are made possible because of the federal grant Yellowhawk received last September. Yellowhawk's goal is to prevent chronic disease, promote healthier lifestyles, reduce health disparities, and control health care spending. With the "Comprehensive Approach to Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country" grant, Yellowhawk will use 5200,000 annually for five years. The grant is administered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
CUJ photolMlranda Vega
know how to make the gardening program succeed ... I'm eager to connect with anyone interested in participating or offering counsel." Davidson has already started a once-a-month program at Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start where she works directly with students and staff to provide craft workshops and discussions on healthy foods. Robbie Bill, Community Health Representative and Youth Outreach Leader,and Davidson also have teamed up to provide garden-related workshops to middle school students. Recently, middle school students set up a camera in the woods tolocate pests, such as raccoons and deer, and their effects on gardening. In addition, Davidson is hoping to set up a demonstrative garden on the back patio of the Senior Center to teach innovative gardening techniques. The garden, which will serve
Umatilla County Community Corrections work crew spend a day tilling and cleaning the fallow garden
CUJ photolWII Phlnney
Day Training Program crews start April 1 MISSION — The ad on Page 12 says: "This is an opportunity for all CTUIR Tribal members to work." That means the Day Training Program, last year known as "Day Labor," is gearing up in March with a budget twice as large as last year's hoping to provide jobs to twice as many tribal members. The first crews will begin working April 1. The Human Resources Department for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) began taking applications for the new Day Training Program on March 5. An "Open House" is planned March 11 from 1-4 p.m. at Nixyaawii Governance Center to accept applications and provide more information. Tribal members hired through the Day Training Program will be able to work in Housing or Public Works, according to Marcus Luke,
March 2015
who on March 3 was named director of the CTUIR Housing Department — a position he'd held on an interim basis for two years. T eams o f f i v e p e o p l e w i l l w o r k o u t s i d e t hree d a y s a w e e k , T u e s d a y t h r o u g h T h u r s d ay, w i t h e m p l o y m e n t e x p e c t e d t o l a s t i n t o S eptemb e r . Last year 55 applications were received. The majority of the applicants had faced long-term unemployment. "The intent was to create an avenue for employment without the barriers that were keeping some of those people out of work," said Alaina Mildenberger, Office Manager at Public Works. Last year the program was offered to tribal members 18 and older. A total of 55 applications were received and four people found permanent employment while in the day labor program. The program used two work
Confederated Umatilla Journal
crews of five people for a total of 10 positions filled at a time. The workers performed both labor and skilled jobs in an area that spanned from Mission Creek Housing subdivision as far as Indian Lake. This year the program is being rebranded as CTUIR Day Training Program. One major difference as indicated by the name is that participants are no longer employees in a typical sense, but they are being considered trainees. With the CTUIR Board of Trustees doubling the budget — from 560,000 to 5120,000 — the hope is to increase the impact to the community by increasing the duration of the program, which will result in the ability to include more people in the program. Mildenberger said it is currently estimated that the program should be able to employ 10 people to work four weeks at a time, with a goal of reaching up to 60 trainees.