Policy Committees

Legislative Chair:
Wanda Scott, Chickasaw Nation (OK)
Lucille Hooper, Laguna Pueblo (NM)

Private Sector Chair: Marcia Green, Seminole Tribe of Florida

In 2001, NFWL created the Intergovernmental and Intertribal Policy Committee to connect tribal leaders with women legislators to work on many of the issues effecting Indian Country, including sovereignty, jurisdiction, domestic violence, access to health care, and substance abuse. The Committee has been working to encourage elected women in Indian country to become more involved with all of NFWL's Policy Committees, Especially the Health & Empowerment and the Crime, Justice, Terrorism, and Substance Abuse Policy Committees. Access to alternative health care (NFWL understands that natural healing is important in Native American culture) and social model detox treatments for illicit drug users (understanding the rising Meth problem on Reservations) are among the forefront of the issues the Committee is working on.

Committee Initiatives:

• Finding new ways to combat substance abuse in Indian Country
• Instituting a national drug education to prevent youth in Indian Country from using illicit drugs, such as methamphetamines, and rehabilitating those in Indian Country who are already using drugs by building a coalition with the Department of Interior, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Department of Justice
• Fostering dialogue between tribal, federal, and state officials to address security issues as a result of checker-boarding and jurisdictional issues
• Promoting the election of women tribal leaders to official offices with their tribes as well as the local, state, and federal government
• Securing funding for Indian healthcare initiatives
• Partnerships with the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)