Chairman Lowery's Monthly Report for April 2022
Dear Lumbee People,
One of the joys of being Chairman of our Tribe is the ability to work with such talented employees. With over 160 employees working for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, we are reaching our citizens through Housing services, Energy services, Elders services, Youth services, Veteran services, etc., while also collaborating with many partners on a weekly basis. One of our core partners, Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), has been with us through two hurricanes and the pandemic. With CORE’s help, we were able to provide thousands of COVID tests and vaccinations to our tribal citizens. The work CORE has done is invaluable and I hope we will be able to continue our work together on future events as we hopefully move past the COVID pandemic.
We recently met with the CREATE Economic Development Center, which is part of the UNC- Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flager Business School. CREATE’s Anchor Institutions Creating Economic Resiliency (AICER) is a project between CREATE and UNC-Pembroke. The Lumbee Tribe will work with the AICER project and UNC-Pembroke to support small business owners in our tribal communities. The Lumbee Tribe looks forward to working with the CREATE team and UNC-Chapel Hill.
During my swearing in ceremony, I discussed the need to create different advisory groups that would work in a temporary capacity to provide recommendations to my administration and the Tribal Council. The first committee created was the Agriculture Advisory Committee. I asked Mr. Eddie Moore, from the Prospect Community, to Chair this committee. Under Mr. Moore’s guidance, he selected numerous tribal members across the different agriculture sectors to sit on this committee. The group met three times and provided me with a list of recommendations. This month, I will send this list to the Council’s Agriculture Committee, which is chaired by Wendy Moore, to discuss these recommendations and hopefully bring them before the full Council for their consideration. Agriculture is a key component to the Lumbee way of life. I am thankful to Eddie Moore for taking on this task, bringing individuals to the table, and making the necessary recommendations. Once the recommendations have been considered and if passed by the Tribal Council, we will provide further information about the next steps.
We welcomed in the Easter Holiday with a Good Friday service. Reverend Horace Oxendine, Pastor at Gray Pond Baptist Church in Scotland County, provided us with words of encouragement as we began the Easter Weekend. We were also blessed with a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace by Ms. Alexis Lane Jones. I am thankful to Pastor Oxendine and Ms. Jones for volunteering their time to be with us on Good Friday.
With the year off to a great start with many fruitful collaborations, the days ahead shine with promise for the Lumbee People. I love you all and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve the Lumbee Nation.
John L. Lowery Chairman
