David Baxa and I met with representatives of the Navajo Nation by phone about a week ago, as well as Joe Garcia. I've also been in contact with the Governor of the Laguna Tribe by email through his assistant. Here are the results.

1. We have decided to stick to the general plan for GDIN's Native American Network; but change the implementation sequence.
2. Since the Navajo have selected their site, we will begin with their Node, which will cover the region to the west of their Location, including all of the Navajo Nation.
3. As soon as the Pueblo are ready to set up their node, we will include their choice in the plan. For now, the idea is that the Lagun Pueblo will host a node on their reservation to service the Pueblo nations and the rest of Indian Country in New Mexico. The Governor has asked me to submit a proposal memo to him, which he will give to his Council. I'll send that next week.
4. The consensus is that IAIA should be the network HQ. We need concurrence from the new management of IAIA, so I am asking Ramos Suina to work with me on scheduling a meeting to accomplish that goal.
5. The project needs funds. We agreed with the Navajo on a plan to do that, which involves a mix of public and private funding. Our plan is to set up a 501(c)(3) Fund for this specific project. I have been given the material to do this and will by next week send them to all of you for review. On on the initial Board will be one representative each from the Navajo Nation, the Pueblo Nations. We have also proposed that David Baxa and I sit on the Board. We also proposed that IAIA have one Seat on the Board. In addition, we asked that Joe Garcia sit on the Board, representing NCAI.
6. We also discussed a plan for approaching Congress and the Executive Branch on funding. I won't go into the details here, except that it involves the Native American community tkaing the lead on approaches, with GDIN assistance.
7. GDIN figures it will take about ten nodes to cover the continental US and Alaska, all to be run by Native American staff, with some international staff support. Each node will service a "region" of tribes or varying sizes. The tribes within each region get to propose one additional Director to the Baord of the fund.
8. The system will act as a network within a global system of network serving indigenous peoples and remote people around the world.

Photos from November/Decemebr 2005 activity:

The Navajo Team and David and Larry with the Vice President of the Navajo Nation.

David Baxa inspecting the location for the Navajo Node for the GDIN Native American Disaster Network.

The Pueblo team at IAIA.