January 12, 2022
Wednesday PM

My Fellow Tribal Members,

My name is (Debi) A. White. I am of Tsimshian/Blackfoot descent, Mather family/Wolf Clan. Married to Charles White, Past KIC Tribal Administrator/Tribal Council. Mother, Barbara A. Pearce, Father (Late) Douglas Pearce.

I am a lifetime KIC member, Employed for 28 years at KIC as the JOM/477 Director, twelve years as a consultant to other tribes in the lower 48. As a past KIC employee, I was given such opportunity to develop wonderful working relationships with KIC employees and tribal administration. If elected to the tribal council, I will continue with such, to strongly support our administration and staff. It is their hard work and dedication that makes KIC a success. My 40 years of working with tribes provided me the opportunity to learn from many, develop skills to do extensive work with local, state and federal agencies. The skills I have developed will be of assistance in program development, dealing with budget constraints, prioritization within strategic planning, tribal representation, negotiations and cultural responsiveness.

There are many important issues facing our tribe today, and I believe my work and volunteerism will be an asset in helping this council to come to good sound decisions for our people and stay well informed on all issues. The votes or decisions I make will be for the sole benefit of you, the KIC Tribal members and KIC overall.

As an elected official, we are responsible for maintaining high standards of honesty, integrity, and fairness. We are elected because of you, and you are the top priority to all programs we implement. Therefore, I will always remain transparent.

First as tribal members we must be 100% involved in the strategic planning. The dollars received is based on our enrollment and count.

Our clinic and the services needed and provided is our immediate priority to be dealt with right now. Our memberships health is being seriously put to risk.
We need to address these important issues as to the health and safety of our tribal community:

• Substance abuse and the drug epidemic overtaking our community. Building of a community wide Wellness Center.
• Immediate affordable housing and homeless issues
• The needs of our elders, long term care to keep them here at home in Ketchikan
• The continuity and continued growth of our clinic. Optometry Clinic, more visiting specialty clinics
• Our children’s education, keeping them in school, providing cultural enrichment of all three tribes and tutoring for success, so they aren’t a statistic
• Cultural preservation and perpetuation of all three tribes equally

Thank you for your support, I would be honored to serve as one of your next Tribal Council members. In closing, please vote, January 17th,2022. Doy’ck-shin, Ho-wa’a, Gun-al-che’esh

Debi White
Ketchikan, Alaska

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Received January 11, 2022 - Published January 12, 2022

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