Department of the Interior • Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians Volume 16/Issue 1 Spring 2016

TRUST MATTERS

www.doi.gov/ost

The Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) hosted nine 

tribes and consortiums at OST’s Albuquerque, NM location, April 12 - 14, 

2016. The visit was for the Tribal Methodology (TM) project which is an 

initiative to develop a web-based application to streamline the evaluations of 

trust programs compacted under the Indian Self-Determination and Education 

Assistance Act. The tribes and consortiums volunteered to be pilot tribes and 

some began working with OST as early as May 2014. Chairman Vernon Finley, 

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, along 

with other Tribe/Consortium representatives participated in the working group 

with OST to collaborate on the software development phase, a major milestone 

of the TM project. The web-based application leverages information technology, is less intrusive on tribes/consortiums, provides for more timely reviews, 

and will assist OST in meeting the annual evaluation requirement. Nationwide 

rollout is projected in the first half of 2017.

OST Hosts Tribal Methodology Working Group

OST On Social Media

Have you had the chance to 

check us out on social media? 

We’re on Facebook and Twitter. 

Like and follow us to keep up on 

the latest OST news and events. 

Find us at 

www.facebook.com/specialtrustee and 

www. twitter.com/special_trustee.

Where would you like to see OST 

next on social media? A blog? 

Tumblr? Send your ideas to genevieve_billia@ost.doi.gov today!

Participants in the Tribal Methodology Working Group pose for a picture to commemorate the event. Repesentatives from all nine pilot tribes and consortiums attended to 

kick-off the program.

Back Row: Justin Mariano - OST Auditor, Jeremy Rogers – OST, Robert Scabby – Salt 

River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Eric Larsen – Kawerak Inc., Cecilia Smith – OST, 

Gerald Nicholia – Native Village of Tanana, Michael Gallagher – Confederated Tribes 

of Siletz Indians of Oregon, Paul Mayo – Tanana Chiefs Conference, Carl Flensburg – 

Bristol Bay Native Association, CloAnn Westerman - Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes of the Flathead Reservation (CSKT), Michelle Hill – Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, 

Cathern Tufts - Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, Shannon Erhart – Native Village of Tanana, Nora Brock – Kawerak Inc., Chairman Vernon Finley, CSKT, Debra 

DuMontier – OST, John Constable – OST, Robert Wauneka – OST, 

Front Row: Brandon Trujillo – OST, Nolan Solomon – OST, Sabrina Savo – Bristol Bay 

Native Association, JoAnn Byrd - Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Nicole 

Rommel - Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Carolee Wenderoth – CSKT, Danielle Moss – 

Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Hans Axelsson - Tanana Chiefs Conference, John White - OST

Table of Contents

OST Hosts Tribal Methodology Working Group

OST on Social Media

Treasurey Debuts New 

Reirement Savings Program

Higher Education Corner 

- Haskell Indian Nations 

University

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Treasury debuts new retirement savings 

program

By Alejandra Y. Castillo

Do you or your part-time or seasonal employees not 

have access to a retirement savings plan? Now, there’s 

an easy way to start saving. myRA is a new retirement 

savings option developed by the U.S. Department of the 

Treasury. It’s designed for workers who don’t have access 

to retirement savings plans at work, or who lack other 

options to save.

myRA was developed to remove common barriers to 

saving and to provide a simple, safe, affordable way for 

people to start saving for retirement. It costs nothing to 

open an account, there are no fees, and myRA carries no 

risk of losing money.

Staring an account for yourself and helping your employees start saving with myRA is easy. You don’t administer myRA employee accounts, contribute to them, or 

match employee contributions. Simply introduce your 

employees to myRA, and then set up an automatic direct 

deposit from each participating employee’s paycheck 

to the designated myRA account in the amount of the 

employee’s choosing.

If you or your employer doesn’t use direct deposit for 

your payroll, your and your employees can fund their 

myRA accounts in other ways– from a personal checking or savings accounts, and from federal tax refunds at 

tax time.

Wendell Kimbrough is the CEO of Area Resources for 

Community and Human Services (ARCHS), a St. Louisbased nonprofit organization that designs, manages, 

and evaluates 15 education and social service programs, 

including support for child care centers.

Retirement savings can seem out of reach for many 

child care workers who often work for very small businesses or are self-employed. Since learning about myRA, 

Wendell has helped build awareness of the program by 

spreading the word among child care business owners at 

trainings and conferences.

“myRA is a wonderful opportunity for a community 

of employees who historically don’t save to start saving 

for retirement,” Wendell says. “In some cases, they 

haven’t been exposed to retirement options, or don’t 

see the advantage. myRA makes it so easy.”

Make a committment and help your employees make 

commitments to their financial futures with myRA. 

Visit myRA.gov for more information.

Higher Education Corner - Haskell Indian 

Nations University

By Mike Choate

Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, 

Kansas has educated generations of Native American 

students for over 120 years. The school opened in 

1884. Its original purpose, to provide training in the 

trades and agricultural education to students, mirrored assimilationist efforts common during that era. 

HINU evolved from a residential boarding school to 

a secondary school to a vocational-technical institution during the first half of the 20th century. 

In 1970, Haskell began offering a junior college curriculum and became Haskell Indian Junior College. 

In 1992, after a period of planning for the 21st century, the National Haskell Board of Regents recommended a new name to reflect its vision for Haskell 

as a national center for Indian education, research, 

and cultural preservation. In 1993, the Assistant 

Secretary for Indian Affairs (U. S. Department of the 

Interior) approved the change, and Haskell became 

“Haskell Indian Nations University.”

Today, Haskell Indian Nations University has a 

Memorandum of Understanding with OST’s Office of 

Trust Records. Records Management Specialists from 

the American Indian Records Repository (AIRR ) 

help teach Records Management classes at Haskell. 

Each semester, Records Management students from 

Haskell tour the AIRR and learn about day-to-day 

operations. For over a decade now, Haskell students 

have interned at the AIRR. Many of them have 

become OST employees or used their education and 

AIRR experience to take on other important jobs 

supporting their communities and Indian Country.

Find out more about Haskell at www.haskell.edu