The Katie Hobbs Gubernatorial Campaign, after gathering input from Tribal Community Leaders during the campaign and the first phase of her Solutions Can’t Wait Tour in Southern Arizona, has unveiled a policy proposal called A Collaborative Arizona: Uplifting Tribal Communities and Ensuring Equitable Access to Opportunity.
Part of Secretary of State Hobb’s plan for a more inclusive Arizona, these proposals for lifting up tribal communities include goals to:
- “Actively engage tribal leaders in discussions and policymaking. This includes a plan to hire a Tribal Policy Advisor to work in the Governor’s office.
- Increase and promote access to economic security for tribal communities including access to capital for women and tribal-owned businesses, and a housing assistance program for tribal seniors and homeless veterans.
- Ensure that educating and preparing the next generation of leaders fully includes students in tribal communities including increasing post-secondary school opportunities, preserving the Navajo Language and culture, and improving access to rural broadband in tribal areas.
- Protect and expand the fundamental freedom to vote for everyone including expanding resources for voter education and ballot access.
- Build a fairer and more accountable justice system to better protect and serve tribal
communities by appointing more Indigenous People to judicial posts, acting on the reports of murdered and missing indigenous persons including those who attended boarding schools. - Expand access to health care, especially for our children by increasing membership in KidsCare, finding ways to reduce maternal mortality, and improving opportunities for cancer treatment stemming from exposure to coal and uranium mining.
- Protect our water and adapt to a changing climate by investing in energy infrastructure, allocating $15 million to secure wells from contamination, and giving tribal communities a portion of the four billion dollars in federal drought relief to help the areas in greatest need.”
Commenting in a press release announcing the Collaborative Arizona Plan, Secretary Hobbs wrote:
“For far too long, our elected leaders have failed to prioritize proactively working with tribes to both address the challenges their communities are facing and include them in key discussions impacting the state as a whole. Each tribe is an independent sovereign nation, and they are at the heart of Arizona’s identity and culture. As governor, I will fight to make sure they are a central part in the journey toward a better Arizona that works for us all.”
She also posted on social media:
Respecting tribal sovereignty & working together with tribal governments as partners to deliver solutions is just the first step to a more equitable & inclusive Arizona. I’m proud to release my plan to support & uplift tribal communities – check it out👇https://t.co/rBXZ2kFeaE pic.twitter.com/M9nh30ZTVP
— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 25, 2022
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