William Mendoza, executive director of the White House Initiative on American Natives and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), will consult with tribal leaders in Bloomington, Minn., on Thursday, May 31, to get feedback on education matters affecting American Indians.
The consultation is an outgrowth of President Obama's Nov. 5, 2009 Presidential Memorandum and Executive Order 13175, which direct agencies to develop a plan of action for providing regular and meaningful consultation and strengthening of government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes. Mendoza will listen to tribal leaders provide comments on the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Departments of Education and Interior, which aims to expand educational opportunities and improve academic achievement for AI/ANs. He will consult tribal leaders on the strategic implementation of both the Initiative and the Bureau of Indian Education's proposal to adopt a unitary accountability system for BIE-funded schools.