Lummi Community 1

Running head: LUMMI COMMUNITY

Lummi Community Strategic Plan and Photo Essay

Kate Stewart, Lanie Dobbins, Ellen Teel, Brittany Wick, & Crystal Koplan

Western Washington University

Lummi Community 2

Table of Contents

History ............................................................................................... p. 3

Needs Assessment. ................................................................................ p. 6

Summary of Interviews ........................................................................... p. 9

Recommendations for Meeting Needs ......................................................... p. 11

Strategic Plan ....................................................................................... p. 16

References ........................................................................................... p.- 20

Asset Map ........................................................................................... p. 21

Lummi Community 3

History of Lummi

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The Lummi Indian reservation is located in Whatcom County, seven miles northwest of

Bellingham, on a five mile long peninsula and near the mouth of the Nooksack River. As of

2007, the population of Lummi Nation was 4,808. 50.3% were males and 49.7% females. There

were 229 people per square mile. 50.4% were American Indian, 43.6 White Non-Hispanic, 4.1

Black, 3.9 two or more races, and 1.1 were other. (Lummi Nation, 2009 & City-data, 2010).

The Lummi Indian Business Council (2009) describes:

We are Lummi. We are Coast Salish people with a rich history, culture and traditions. We

are fishers, hunters, gatherers, and harvesters of nature's abundance. We envision our

homeland as a place where we enjoy an abundant, safe, and healthy life in mind, body,

society, environment, space, time and spirituality; where all are encouraged to succeed

and none are left behind.

The language of the original Lummi was the Songish dialect of the Salish language.

Fishing is a significant part of the Lummi tribe and they are considered hunters and gatherers.

Their diet was protein based and included salmon, trout, elk, deer, crab, shellfish and sun-dried

berries. The structure of their village was family oriented and focused on relationships among

tribal members. Leaders gained status through the abilities that they demonstrated among their

people. The Lummi were known for making boats, nets, houses, as well as other artifacts. They

used totems and ceremonies to express their language and religious culture (Online Highways,

2010 & Lummi Nation, 2009).

Around 1800 the Lummi began to experience foreign influences through trade with

Russia, Spain, Japan, and England. Fifty years later, America forcefully sought out the raw

materials and lands that the Lummi tribe possessed. By the middle of the 19th century the social

and political structures of Lummi were beginning to experience destruction. "In 1855, the

Lummi Community 5

Lummi Nation signed the Treaty of Point Elliot with the U.S., which called for the natives to

relinquish much of their homeland in western Washington Territory. In return they were assigned

land reserved for them that initially consisted of 15,000 acres" (Online Highways, 20 10, ~ 5).

The assigned land was planned for other local natives such as Nooksack and Samish tribes but

was mostly occupied by the Lummi tribe. Today, about 12,000 of these acres remain.

Throughout their history, fishing has been an integral part of the Lummi tribe and they

fished without facing much harm. However, once Europeans arrived in the area the population

of fish began to decline due to overfishing, logging, farming, and the creation of dams. The

Lummi and many other tribes were excluded from the commercial fishing industry in Western

Washington. "However, in 1974, U.S. Federal District Court judge George Boldt handed down a

decision that defined Indian fishing rights and guaranteed treaty Indians 50 percent of the

allowable salmon harvest" (Online Highways, 2010, ~ 9). Although they have faced and

overcome struggles, fishing continues to play an important role in Lummi culture.

The current leadership and government structure in Lummi, a tribal business council, was

first constituted in 1948 and then amended in 1970. The tribal council is made up of 11

members who are also members of the General Council. The General Council meets yearly to

elect the Tribal Council. Committees are then appointed in which tribal members serve on

behalf of the Council. (Online Highways, 2010 & Lummi Nation, 2009).

Lummi Community 6

Needs Assessment

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Through the interviews performed, the pride that residents had in the Lummi Nation

community was very evident. It was a struggle in some cases to uncover where the needs were

in the community or where they had a gap in services, causing the group to rely heavily, though

not entirely, on research and observation to assess the needs of the community.

From our observations it was apparent that the community could use more playgrounds

and fields for families to use as a space to cormect with other families in the community with

children. An open field would also be helpful in uniting the community for events like the

Canoe Festival hosted by the Lummi Tribe in 2001, bringing many families , community

members, other tribes, and non tribal community members together on the Lummi Reservation

(1. Solomon, personal communication, February 17,2010). Solomon also said that the tribe has

expressed a desire to host other events of this caliber but the facilities do not grant that

opportunity because of their poor conditions and non-central locations. Smith (2008) reiterates

the fact that community space and community pride are important to building relationships

within a community because of the common space and interest it harvests.

Development of the community facilities on the Lummi Reservation could also

contribute to improvement of existing programs. Solomon helped to show that the community

had an abundance of programs and interactions available for intergenerational activities with the

youth and elderly population and another space for these programs and activities to be held

would add a refreshing attitude to those taking part. Through this interview it became clearer

that although there were an abundance of sources for young and old community members, the

availability of programs for middle-aged adults is lacking. As Beaulieu (n.d.) says, when a

certain portion of the population is not given an opportunity to exercise their abilities, the

community as a whole suffers. There were two main needs we recognized that applied to the

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middle-aged population, one being a way to better connect parents of elementary school aged

children with each other as well as with the school, and another being a way for adults to interact

with youth in the community such as a baseball or basketball league.

Research shows that parent involvement and advocacy for their children improves

learning for children and community relations for parents (Taylor & Adelman, 2000). Creating a

gateway for parents to have open communication with teachers and the school community is

important when encouraging involvement. Providing a space in schools or in the community for

parents to gather is an important first step to creating these relationships between parents and

fostering the talents within parents in order to be able to advocate for their children.

Since there are intergenerational pieces in action already in the Lummi community

involving elderly individuals and young children, we thought it was important to build

relationships between middle aged adults and older youth. A sports league where adults and

youth can interact creates positive relationships and encourages use of the facilities as well as

recreational activities which could contribute to the health of the population as well.

Beaulieu (n.d.) and Homan (2008) enforce that it is important to focus on the assets of a

community when promoting community change. The fact that the community members were so

proud of their assets is a good start to positive community organizing; however their lack of

acknowledgement regarding their needs may be a hurdle when it comes to implementing change.

One way to combat this is to involve the community members in every aspect of development

and change in order to gain support and encourage change.

Lummi Community 9

Summary of Interviews

Little Bear 'Creek Assisted Sche-schetxwen St'oteio.

2400 Lummi

Owned and Operated by The L

Lummi Community 10

From the mUltiple interviews we have conducted with Lummi community members the

responses to our questions have been similar with one overall theme; that pride is extremely

important to the Lummi community and their culture. Every community member we talked with

expressed their pride of being Lummi, the elder leadership within the community, and the

dedication of the community members . Almost all of the interviews we had with community

members gave us little information of the gaps in services they saw in their community.

However, there was a common theme in the few gaps they did mention.

Four of our interviewees were mothers, all expressing their concerns for their children

within the Lummi school system. The resources already available in the Lummi community are

programs such as Head Start, YESS (Youth Enrichment and Social Services), childcare centers

and the Youth Academy. Programs such as these give the youth of the Lummi community places

to go and the ability to be a part of a positive atmosphere. However, the biggest concern they

had was for their children once they entered the public school system. Two of our interviewees

were extremely informative, expressing to us that the Lummi school district is behind and tribal

schools are at the bottom of the education pool, there is no way of transferring their kids to

public schools at the moment putting the children two years behind. Because the youth of the

Lummi community are "set up for failure" as one ofthe community members told us there is a

very high rate of drug and alcohol abuse which has begun to start younger and younger.

Some ideas the community members had to start fixing the youth issues were to get more

funding to improve community sports, a community gathering place, more youth programs and

more accessibility. Although we only gathered one main gap in service from our Lummi

interviewees, it is enlightening and powerful to know that Lummi community members of all

ages are supportive in their community and are open to positive change.