MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS (CONTINUED)

19. ORGANIZATION:

DATE INCORPORATED:
MEMBERSHIP:

INDIAN POPULATION

IN SERVICE AREA:

PROGRAMS:

FUNDING:

San Diego Indian Center
San Diego, California

June 1970

San Diego Indian Population

5,880

Health, Education, Housing, Welfare, and Job Placement

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The discrepancies in allocations to each state is the worst form of discrimination practiced by the federal government.

The disparity in funding

only tends to set the various sub-groups, reservation, non-reservation, urban, against each other and creates a needless atmosphere of animosity. In a recent suit filed by California against the Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding the misappropriation of Johnson-O'Malley funds, the Bureau attempted to construe the suit as an attempt by California to take Johnson-O'Malley funds from Arizona thus creating distrust among the various areas.

The disparity in funding is not only a case of discrimination against the various Indian groups by the federal government but an apparent attempt to divide the Indians. The situation the government has created has kept the Indian organizations in these states from creating more powerful alliances and has given the government continued control over the Indians lives.

It is not our suggestion that, to rectify this situation, funds previously allocated to Arizona be transferred to another state. If anything, the allocations to Arizona should be increased. We are suggesting that a more equitable method be used when considering funding requests from California and Nevada. By studying all available statistics, it would show that more funds are needed in California, Nevada, and Arizona. The needs of the Indians have not been met and will not be met unless increased services are provided to all Indians.

The discrimination in DHEW is not solely that of racial prejudice. The most significant discrimination is that which is inherent in the various guidelines used by the federal government. These guidelines consider

reservation Indians and totally ignore Indians off of the reservation.
Regardless how fair a program official may be, if the official follows the
exact wording of the regulation he will usually discriminate against the
off-reservation Indians. The guidelines, by our experience, are not binding
and an aware program officer can insure that the Urban Indian will not be
left out. It is encouraging to note that previously unavailable federal
dollars are now becoming available to urban Indian groups.

It would be a disservice for our report to reflect some serious difficulties in the federal programs without offering some recommendations that could hopefully rectify the situation. In each program area there are

The funding levels in California and Nevada should be immediately increased. We have no present statistics on the Office of Child Development (OCD) programs in Arizona but it is our guess that their programs could also use increased funds. The Indian and Migrant Program Division in Washington, D.C. should be made aware of the Indians in California and Nevada. It is impossible to expect the Inter-Tribal Council of California to serve the Indian population of California with $52,000 in OCD funds. Their funds should be multiplied by ten times for the next year and for each following year until their funds more realistically reflect the amount of Indians to be served. The allocation to the Inter-Tribal Council in Nevada should be doubled immediately. Council should not be expected to cover such a dispersed rural population with the small amount of funds now available to them.

The

The OCD should fully explore the feasibility of using mobile learning centers to reach the inter-city children.

Surveys within each major urban area in the Region indicate that there

are no non-reservation schools that have large concentrations of Indian children. In the San Francisco school district, with an overall Indian student population of over two-hundred, no school has more than ten students. This shows that learning centers established at any individual school would not reach the large amount of population for which it is intended. The possibility of utilizing the Urban Indian Centers as learning centers should not be ruled These Centers could be used as after school and, with the agreement of the local school districts, be used as a learning center during the day for schools in the local area.

out.

The practice of using non-Indian CAP agencies as a conduit for HEW funds allocated to Indians should be stopped immediately. The special relationship of the Indian to the Federal Government is to confusing to the other minority groups. They do not have a myriad of federal laws governing their lives. The other minorities refer to the Office of Civil Rights. They do not also have the Department of Interior passing judgment on their existance.

Further, the use of CAP Agencies as a conduit for Indian funds has proven to be a failure. A survey of those programs funded through a strictly Indian CAP agency, as opposed to a non-Indian CAP, will show that the Indian programs have suffered fewer administrative problems.

The Office of Child Development provides funds to CAP Agencies which in turn make grants to Indian organizations for Head Start Programs. The allocation of funds in this manner should be discontinued.

Non-Indian minorities

control every CAP, excepting Indian CAPS such as the Inter-Tribal Council's, in the Region. This results in non-Indians having control of programs on many Reservations. The cultural schizm between non-Indians and Indians is to wide to allow this type of control to continue. Almost every Head Start pro