American Indian Advisory Council
Quarterly Meeting
August 7, 2002
Welcome
Hosted by Roberta Hopkins, Commerce Site Manager
Torres-Martinez Tribal TANF
Guest Speaker - Peggy Barnett
Director of Supportive Services
Torres-Martinez Tribal TANF
Los Angeles
The Torres-Martinez Tribe is the legal representative to the Federal Government for a coalition of tribes. Tribal TANF serves in the role of the County in providing assistance to the American Indian community. Torres-Martinez does outreach to in the L.A. area to identify and qualify families for TANF. The tribe provides the support necessary to attain and maintain self-sufficiency. Supports include:
q Determining American Indian heritage including DNA testing.
q Empowerment of American Indian involvement in the political process
q Culturally relevant counseling for youth, victim/witness, and domestic violence. Workshops provide help for completing forms i.e. restraining orders
q Health care, Medi-Cal, pregnancy care
q Childcare programs including Foster care homes
q Education assistance including Head Start, GED, financial rewards for good grades and working to develop an education orientation for youth to ensure they have a choice by graduation.
Torres-Martinez and SCIC co-sponsor Multimedia training through UCLA. The program offers training to youth and adults in the L.A. area who are interested in employment in the entertainment industry i.e. carpentry, screen writing, set design, entry level and up.
Torres-Martinez hosts a Bidders Conference to attract grant proposals from community / tribes to start up additional programs and services to meet the needs of the American Indian community. For additional information contact
Guest Speaker - Frank Lucero
Workforce Investment Act Director
Southern California Indian Center
Southern California Indian Center on Wilshire in Los Angeles covers the South Bay area that has a large American Indian population. Services include:
q Employment and training services
q Volunteer programs available to those needing to complete community service
q Foster care program and
q Youth Pow Wows
q For a listing of all Pow Wows across the country for the year www.ocbtracker.com or
q The Resource Library at SCIC at (213) 387-5772 for L.A. area Pow Wows.
General Discussion:
It’s often difficult for American Indian community agencies to attend all the meetings required as a mandated partner to the Workforce Investment Board (WIB). Some in the Los Angeles area cover 8 to 10 WIB’s.
Community partners need to help one another by finding and sharing resources such as affordable housing and services to children with disabilities. Please note that there will be a housing initiative on the November ballot.
Southern California Indian Center (SCIC) – 34th Annual Pow Wow and Arts and Crafts show at the Orange County Fairgrounds on August 23, 24, and 25.
Circles of Care / United American Indian Involvement (UAII) – 1st Annual American Indian Day Celebration at Ford Park in Bell Gardens on September 28th.
Candelaria American Indian Council (CAIC) – Summer gathering and Fund Raiser at Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler in Moorpark, on August 25th. CAIC offers a series of Life Skills classes that include choosing a career, time and money management, and physical fitness in the workplace.
Robert Sundance Family Wellness Center (RSFWC): National American Veterans Association (NAVA) host breakfast meeting Saturday mornings. For information contact RSFWC offers classes on starting a small business.
Elvia Salinas, Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with Dept. of Rehabilitation, provided information on a curriculum for job development for consumers with soft skills (see next page for outline of curriculum).
Grace Burque, Rehabilitation Supervisor, updated on the Dept. of Rehabilitation work preparation services, goals for increasing employment of individuals with disabilities.
Suggestions for future AIAC meetings:
include consumer success stories
the host for upcoming meetings will send out a copy of the minutes with the invitations.
Thank you to Roberta and staff of Torres-Martinez Tribal TANF for hosting
NEXT MEETING
November 19, 2002
Host: Dept. of Rehabilitation / Ventura
At Candelaria
Soft Skills Defined:
Non-technical skills, abilities and traits required to function in a specific employment environment to:
1. Deliver information or services to customers or co-workers
2. Work effectively as a member of a team
3. Learn of acquire technical skills necessary to perform a task
4. Work ethic
5. Interpersonal and teamwork skills
6. Problem solving and cognitive skills
7. Identification of problems and the formulation of evaluation of alternative solutions by weighing risks and benefits
8. Oral communication skills: to speak and listen well
9. Ability to give and receive instructions and communicate appropriately
10. Personal qualities important to job performance include:
Self-esteem, self-management, responsibility, and motivation.
11. Interpersonal and teamwork skills needed to negotiate with others.
12. To serve clients and customers in a way that exceeds their expectations.
13. Resolve conflicts maturely.