“It’s important to reconnect to the water, the land, the elders, but also to call the salmon home,” said Peone, who organizes the Spokane tribe’s canoe and often serves as its skipper. “But we need a good, clean home for the salmon to come home to.” The tribes have been making strides toward that goal. Late last year, Colville tribal biologists observed the first spawning chinook salmon in the Upper Columbia river system in a generation. This spring, Spokane tribal biologists found a newly hatched salmon in Tshimakain Creek, also spelled Chamokane Creek, on the eastern edge of the Spokane Indian Reservation.

The Indigenous Photograph database gives a platform to indigenous storytellers, whose perspectives are often missing in the media

If an organization truly wants to support women transitioning back into the workforce, use the interview process as a chance to learn what potential candidates bring to your team, including creativity, problem-solving skills or independent judgment. These skills will be particularly useful as government organizations continue to be challenged to innovate. Instead of treating the interview process as a tool to reinforce the status quo, consider the following,,,

Public agencies aim to provide service delivery in a professional, unbiased manner to the entire community. Generally, they do well providing services to the majority, but they might not always be serving the needs of all equally. This may be a form of benign neglect in pursuit of economies of scale. Attempting to tailor services at an individual level would be costly and time-consuming, based on what Alvin Toffler referred to as, “Diseconomies of complexity.” However, public agencies might be well served in achieving this mission if they altered their approaches in identifying socially vulnerable groups.

The USDA has announced their multi-billion-dollar Pandemic Assistance for Producers, which aims to fill in gaps from CFAP. The new effort puts at least $6 billion into new programs to reach a broader set of producers than earlier efforts, including small and minority, specialty crop and organic producers.

This may mean we should all ask ourselves the question: Am I living a lie to fit in?

With over 59 million acres of Native-operated farms across over 30 states within the United States, Tribal Nations and Native producers are perhaps the single most underappreciated resource for sustainable, rural economic development in the U.S.

OLYMPIA — All timber sales conducted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources would be subjected to an "environmental justice assessment" under the Healthy Environment for All Act, which has passed the Senate and is poised to advance in the House.

Join Shaun Harper, one of the world’s leading racial equity experts, and Zoom’s Chief Diversity Officer Damien Hooper-Campbell, for a multi-part series focused on practical approaches to improving and advancing racial equity, diversity, and inclusion in organizations.

From country towns to South Seattle, activists say the government must listen to long-marginalized communities that feel climate change’s biggest impacts.

$5 billion would go to farmers of color, who have lost 90 percent of their land over the past century because of systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt

In Oregon, state GOP lawmakers walked out of a Legislative session last week over the Democratic governor’s vaccine plans, citing rural vaccine distribution among their concerns.

As public administrators, we are both aware of and resigned to the lack of diversity in our public meetings. Laudable creative strategies are punctually deployed to increase it, including taking meetings with key stakeholder groups, providing evening childcare, making some meetings more ‘fun’ and even doing away with the chambers altogether by hosting off-site meetings.

Federal funding, “and a very significant amount of it,” will be needed to bring broadband access to all of rural America, he said. “I’m skeptical the private sector by itself is ever going to do what it needs to make sure that every remote area of this country has access to high-speed internet” because of the cost of providing service. The government took a prominent role during the New Deal in electrifying rural America.

Discrimination in the Workplace March 2, 4-5pm Please join us for an informational webinar that will cover what discrimination is, the various types of discrimination, and what to do if you believe you have been adversely affected by discrimination.

Saldana's assertion that denying farmworkers overtime pay was grounded in racism comes as lawmakers consider whether to intervene and shield agricultural employers from backpay lawsuits, suits that farm groups warn pose existential threats to some producers.

Applications are now open until April 12, 2021. NYCALC will take place online from July 5 - July 29, 2021. Sessions will be held on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday from 2pm-6pm EST. The week of July 19th will be offline to accommodate community engagement projects.

Award-winning, conservation-minded landowners will soon be sharing their knowledge by serving as mentors for historically underserved farmers and ranchers.

A KING 5 investigation reveals the cost of Seattle’s cheap electricity, and the price is salmon, orcas and a way of life for Native American tribes.

It’s been a little over six months in the development, but the Ellensburg City Council approved on first reading to create Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commission to develop ideals on how to make the city more inclusive in its lifestyle.

Former Tacoma Mayor and current U.S. Rep Marilyn Strickland will host a conversation with Olympia author, community leader, and former state agency head Merritt Long at 6 p.m. Thursday on Facebook Live. They will discuss the experiences he shared in his new memoir, “My View From the Back of the Bus” as well pressing issues facing the Black community in Washington and across the nation.

However, the concept of unconscious bias training is still part of the foundational effort many organizations made in 2020. They began by appointing DEI practitioners to lead the charge. Hiring for all levels of diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals increased more than 90% over last year, according to LinkedIn data.

“Washington is seen as a great agriculture state, and it is, but that industry is dominated by white farmers and ranchers. Only about 90 of the state’s 63,000 or so producers are Black, while fewer than 1 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native, 1.37 percent are Asian, and 4.66 percent are Latinx. 97 percent of our producers are white."

If you are joining a meeting where people are different from you, whether in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, ability, religion, age, language proficiency, socioeconomic background, education, degree of introversion, level of seniority, or other characteristics, then your identity can influence not only how others see you, but also how you see yourself.

“The reality is there are inherent, legacy barriers and practices that have prevented black farmers and other producers from getting access to programs, and I will do everything I can to remove those barriers,” Vilsack said in an email to The Associated Press.