Native America Calling

Wednesday, January 6, 2016 — Slipping Through the Safety Net

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Winter is an especially harsh season. It exposes the gaps in the safety net set up to catch our most vulnerable residents. While most of us work on paying our heating bills, many of our neighbors don’t have their most basic needs met to be protected against  below-zero temperatures. In Gallup, New Mexico, 17 people have died from exposure. Those people are often substance abusers and often Native American. What do cities need to do to eliminate exposure deaths? Which cities have found solutions to keeping the most vulnerable residents from freezing to death?

 

Guests:

Carl Smith (Navajo) – executive director of Battered Families Services

Lisa Caldeira – program director for Brother Francis Shelter in Anchorage

Camille Monzon-Richards (Tlingit) – executive director of the Seattle Indian Center

 

Break Music: Great Grandpah’s Banjo (song) Pura Fe (artist) Full Moon Rising (album)

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 – Coming Home After Being Homeless

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What does it take to get back on your feet after a bout of homelessness? For some homeless Native Americans, the journey home is not as simple as finding an apartment and a job. They also need to reconnect with family and reestablish a place in their tribal communities. In today’s show, we discuss the issues homeless Natives face and we put the spotlight on programs and groups that work to try to bring homeless Natives home. 

Guests:  

Samuel Johns (Ahtna Athabaskan) — founder of the Forget me not movement

Colleen Echohawk (Pawnee) — executive director at the Chief Seattle Club and on the Chief Seattle Club Facebook

Dr. Jennifer Denetdale (Diné) — commissioner on the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission and a professor at the University of New Mexico. Also on Facebook

Deb Foster (St. Croix Ojibwe) — executive director of the Ain Dah Yung Center

Break Music:   Spirit Dance (song) Anthony Wakeman (artist) Handprints Of Our People (album)

Friday, January 9, 2015 – Ending Veteran Homelessness

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs vowed to end homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015. The number of homeless veterans is declining but statistics show almost 50,000 veterans were homeless on a single night in January 2014. What is the VA doing now to meet the ambitious goal of ending veteran homelessness this year? How are tribes working with the federal government on this issue? We also want to hear what you see in your community. Are veterans struggling to find safe, stable housing? What do you think should be done to make sure those who served their country in the armed forces have a place to call home?

Guests:

Mitchelene  Big Man (Crow) -President and Founder of Native American Women Warriors, retired Army Veteran.

Roger Casey – Director of Education and Dissemination for VA’s National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans

Teresa Pitman – HUD-VASH Regional Coordinator for the VA

Dr. Ricky Robinson (Cherokee) – Manager of the Cherokee Nation Veterans Service Center

 

Break Music: Ocean Prayer (Version A) (song) Pamyua (artist) Side A/Side B (album)

 

 

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