OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT JONATHAN NEZ | PRESIDENT MYRON LIZER |VICE PRESIDENT EXECUTIVE BRANCH SECOND QUARTERLY REPORT SPRING COUNCIL SESSION APRIL 2021 NAVAJO NATION OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT SPRING COUNCIL SESSION 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE NO. I. Department of Diné Education 2 II. Department of Human Resources 35 III. Diné Uranium Remediation Advisory Commission 40 IV. Division of Community Development 43 V. Division of Economic Development 55 VI. Division of General Services 68 VII. Division of Public Safety 73 VIII. Navajo Department of Health 84 IX. Navajo Division of Social Services 95 X. Navajo Division of Transportation 106 XI. Navajo Gaming Regulatory Office 110 XII. Navajo Nation Department of Justice 114 XIII. Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources 120 XIV. Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency 134 XV. Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission 139 XVI. Navajo Nation Veterans Administration 141 XVII. Navajo Nation Washington Office 143 XVIII. Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office 148 XIX. Office of Hearing and Appeals 158 XX. Office of Management and Budget 160 XXI. Office of Miss Navajo Nation 165 XXII. Office of Navajo Public Defender 169 XXIII. Office of Navajo Tax Commission 172 XXIV. Office of The Controller 175 1 Department of Diné Education SPRING COUNCIL SESSION 2021 I. MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS II. CHALLENGES III. OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATION 2 DODE finalized the Navajo Nation School Reopening Plan and presented it to the Navajo Nation Board of Education on March 16, 2021. The reopening plan is the result of many collaborative hours between multiple groups, including local community mitigation teams, the Navajo Nation Health Command Operations Center, and internal DODE work groups. The plan was designed with the best practices based on the recommendations by the Center for Disease Control, also taking into account any feedback received by both reservation schools as well as families of students attending these schools. The finalized plan can be viewed on the DODE website. During weekly school leadership meetings, updates and remarks are provided by Acting Superintendent of Schools Patricia Gonnie about the impact the pandemic has on the reopening efforts for schools on the Navajo Nation. Staff from OPVP and DODE programs give remarks on their schools and various programs, and the CDC and Navajo Nation Epidemiology Center also provide continuous updates on COVID-19 statistics. With the approval and rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines on the Navajo Nation, education workers and other essential staff have been continually reminded to sign up for their dose if they have not received theirs yet. DODE staff were first able to enroll for the vaccine at the end of January, and more employees were able to obtain their first and second doses throughout the quarter. In a special meeting on March 18, 2021, the Navajo Nation Board of Education recommended Harold G. Begay, Ph.D., for the Superintendent of Schools position. The recommendation now goes to the goes to the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee for approval. Afterward, the Naabik’íyáti’ Committee will discuss the recommendation and then final confirmation will be decided by the 24th Navajo Nation Council. Following the tabling of a resolution that would have rescinded restrictions on schools to online learning, DODE has returned to soliciting parent feedback on the Navajo Nation School Reopening Plan and is developing avenues for parents to have their voices heard on whether they feel safe sending their children back to school or if they want to have the option to remain online with learning for the imminent future. Monitor the ongoing developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout, particularly considering new variants being identified on the Navajo Nation. Continue to use the information provided by NNEC to maintain safe workspaces for staff. The Navajo Nation continues to make a fiber-optic broadband infrastructure a priority for families and communities. Issues such as connection quality, price, and technology remain obstacles for the reservation, but DODE has been collaborating with numerous external groups, such as the New Mexico Homework Gap Team, to address the situation. 3 MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship & Financial Assistance/Higher Education Grant Program Office of Navajo Nation Scholarship & Financial Assistance (ONNSFA) continues to provide essential services to students and families attending postsecondary education. All offices have operated at 50% so more personnel are teleworking. 1. Having a student pursuing post-secondary education involves the entire family, which also impacts family finances. ONNSFA funded 4,083 students with $11,925,592.00 thus far. Most of students and their families were able to continue their college and vocational education despite the challenges of the pandemic. Continuation of education despite the pandemic also means students were sheltered at home, off campus or on campus housing and their basic needs were met with food and supplies. CHALLENGES 1. The primary challenges on families during the academic term continues to be closure of schools, businesses and government functions due to the pandemic, which caused a domino effect in people’s lives causing a lack of food, lack of housing, lack of necessary tools to continue their education such as computers, Internet and supplies. 2. In addition to basic need challenges resultant of the pandemic, funding to more than 400 students were delayed because the Navajo Region Bureau of Indian Affairs decided to decline the Successor Annual Funding Agreement, (SAFA) citing a lack of funds, which further delayed awarding the funds when the funds were received. The BIA has not had funds on time, but it has never declined due to lack of funds. BIA and Navajo Nation always processed the SAFA pending receipt of the federal funds. Upon receipt of funds, Unilateral Modifications were processed and funds 2 awarded. This year the BIA decided to take the Nation through an extra layer of bureaucracy, just because, causing delays in funding students this spring term. B. Behavioral and Mental Health NNSFA services continued 8 - 5, Monday through Friday. ONNSFA personnel were in their offices for students and processing their applications, answering telephones, email messages, receiving mail 4 and logging in documents. Having an employee answering your phone call and email messages goes a long way when the government is not complete open to the public. Students and families were very grateful that we were answering their calls. The challenges were related to communication breakdown because of telephones not working including email and Internet being down periodically. We also got behind in processing awards because the BIA funds were significantly delayed. C. Housing Financial Aid awards covers the cost of attendance, which includes housing for students, so funds provided by the Navajo Nation provided housing for many students. The biggest challenge is closure of college campuses creating a lack of housing for students. The other challenge is not enough resources to help students with more funding. D. Budget and Finance The goal of the program is to having the federal funds be Forward Funded, so the budget will be in place for two years beginning in July and well before the Fall term begins. We currently have a declination letter from the BIA because they have not received the higher education funds. The budget for the Navajo Nation Scholarship Office needs to be stable. Evidently, BIA funding is not stable even though Congress has authorized the funding in the Continuing Resolution. Effective advocacy is a major challenge because we cannot use federal funds to advocate for funding. It’s a major challenge when the Navajo Nation Human Resources continues to operate on a limited basis and create roadblocks for people. E. Education & Cultural Language Preservation The Navajo language and culture preservation is important to the Navajo people. The Navajo Nation Scholarship office supports the preservation of the Navajo language and culture by offering the Chief Maneulito Scholarship. The students are required to take two units of Navajo language to qualify for this funding. In addition to Navajo courses, it is important for students to have and aspire for high academic achievement, which is indicative through ACT scores above 21; however, the greatest challenge right now is the Navajo Board of Education trying to change the criteria of scholarship mid-year by waiving the ACT requirement. Instead, the board wants to lower the high academic achievement bar. F. Government Affairs and Policy Going through the Federal legislative process to get the BIA Higher Education Grant forward funded. It’s a major accomplishment to get this far with support from the Governors of Arizona, Colorado and Utah and state legislatures, many tribes and national organizations including Diné College and Navajo Technical University and the Arizona Board of Regents. 5 The challenge has to been to gather support and educate everyone about the issue but all of that is done. Waiting for the introduction of the bill. G. Public Safety System ONNSFA has an Agreement with NTU for students to receive a certificate in law enforcement. If passed, a student can successfully pass the law enforcement entrance exam. Biggest challenge is not enough recruits are taking advantage of this program. H. Infrastructure There are no accomplishments in infrastructure. We remain in need of additional office space and improved ventilation. The Navajo Educating Center is an old building because it wasn’t taken care of properly. There is a constant bad odor in the north entrance. The building is either too hot or too cold. It needs a lot of repairs and cleaning. Plexiglass sneeze guards are supposed to be installed; they are not all installed in all spaces yet. I. Economic Development/Tourism Education is a key component of Economic Development. Education providers account for all students and that is how funding is allocated.