Claudette Graves District 4, Washington County

Shirley Byrd District 5, Mobile County

Joseph Lofton District 3, Mobile County

2020 - 2024

Halito and we hope you all are doing well. The 14th annual H.E.L.P. scholarships deadlines are upon us! The initial part of the Frank Johnston, Jr. Scholarship is due on September 1st as it is every year and the remainder of the other scholarships are due on September 15th. Simply go to helphaskell.org and scroll down the front page to the scholarship tab. This year's essay requirement has changed to the following: On June 22nd, 2021, United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a national initiative concerning the histories and realities of Indian boarding schools. A sample of this announcement can be found at this link (and many others): h t t p s : / / w w w . d o i . g o v / p r e s s r e l e a s e s / s e c r e t a r y - h a a l a n d - a n n o u n c e s - f e d e r a l - i n d i a n - boarding-school-initiative When the first study of the issued was released, (see here for the release: h t t p s : / / w w w . d o i . g o v / p r e s s r e l e a s e s / d e p a r t m e n t - i n t e r i o r - r e l e a s e s - i n v e s t i g a t i v e - r e p o r t - outlines-next-steps-federal-indian ) historic “non-federal”/state-recognized tribal attendance at these schools was purposefully omitted from the historical record despite direct conversations with the federal government and the providing of exhaustive amounts of documentation demonstrating the attendance of tribes such as the MOWA Choctaw, Lumbee, Haliwa-Saponi, Nanticoke and other historic “non-federal” tribes. The scholarships being applied for at helphaskell.org (the website which contains this exhaustive documentation) are in fact named after boarding school attendees Gallasneed Weaver (MOWA Choctaw), Frank Johnston (MOWA Choctaw), Laretta Weaver (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), and Meghan Weaver Harbuck (descendant of boarding school attendees). Please write a one-to-two-page essay on how this purposeful omission of factual history impacts you as a community member of a historic “non-federal” tribe whose people attended the Indian boarding school system, but are now being excluded from this history. Use the helphaskell.org website to research this issue in relation to your tribe.

Job Opening REGISTERED NURSES/PHLEBOTOMIST Job Description Summary: The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is seeking registered nurses/phlebotomists who may be interested in working alternate Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 3:30. This is a temporary position based on funding but could lead to a full-time position depending on funding. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Click here for details and Registration.