My first task!

My first day was an eventful one! I had intentions of learning more about how tribes work with other governments and organizations, like Phoenix, but didn't expect it to happen this fast.

Before I start, I wanted to mention my blog posts. Since this is fall semester and my internship was this past summer, I may refer back to the day as if it happened today. I kept a detailed journal and use it to write my blog.

When I first came into the office most of the staff was not in yet so I learned how to open my email and login to the system. Every morning, the department comes in and reads daily publications and periodicals to learn about what is happening in the political world. I read a few articles John Wayne thought would be beneficial to the issues I would learn about. They also answer correspondence and go over what happened the day before. Karen must submit at the end of the week a "weekly" report to David Cavazos about what happened during the week. It includes bill tracking and issue reporting relating to the city on the local, state, and federal level. We also have within our department the RWC or Regional Wireless Cooperative. I'll discuss the RWC in another post. Following an introduction into the department and taking a tour, I was given my first task.

The department has a thick binder about the Native American Communities in Arizona. It includes maps of all the tribes, election dates, leadership positions, and any information relating to the tribe. If a tribe has a Constitution or other relevant document, it is also included in the binder. The binder has not been updated in a while and needed to be. I worked on this binder throughout my internship and still left a few sections needing to be updated.

The first tribe I updated in the binder was Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation. President Pattea was coming to meet Mayor Stanton the next day, and Stanton wanted to learn more about Ft. McDowell and the President. I researched Ft. McDowell and rewrote the section so it could be included in the daily packet that Stanton reads to be prepared for his next day's meetings. Since being in his position, Stanton has met with businesses, governments/organizations, and tribal communities to become acquainted with their work. Meeting with tribal community heads is an area he finds important. After submitting my research, John Wayne informed me that I would be sitting in on the meeting between Stanton and Pattea. The meeting was very informational and I was honored to be there to see how the city works with tribal governments, like Ft. McDowell. Due to sensitivity and confidentiality of the information, I cannot discuss what was said during the meeting.