Mentor Program
We do have a mentoring program, however this program needs to be implemented much much more. While the concept is good I find it very hard to see where the program is working at all.
If we as a Tribe want to utilize Indian Preference, well then we need to work together and design a mentoring program that works. This program can be applied to all levels of job descriptions. Our Tribal Council and Executive branch are mandatory native elective positions. These are one of the highest more important positions in our Tribe. We have more and more Tribal Citizens receiving degrees in many different fields. I do not believe there is a position in any department from the Government Complex to the Casino or the Health Park that can not be performed by a Tribal Citizen, spouse or child of that family.
I believe also that the mentoring program was designed to fill the higher up positions, but faltered along the way. Well it comes as no surprise. Who would want to train a person so they could run themselves out of a job! Well I believe this may have been mentioned to several non native employees when they were hired, but was easily disregarded. Okay, but we have all heard the phrase Owned and Operated by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. I say practice what you preach. This doesn't mean we have to be 100% Tribal Preferred, but it could be. Why not? At the minimum the percentage of Tribal Preferred employees at our Casino should be near the percentage as in the Tribal Government.
The program can start simple. We can review the status of positions and have our membership that is going to College or planning on attending College to obtain degrees in the field of opportunity. Trend in this direction and percentages can change with time. Additionally the mentoring program can exclude Tribal Citizens from mandatory 5 year minimum Casino experience. If we started our first ever Casino this way how many of you would not have a job because of this rule. Rules should be in place for the benefit of our membership. We should not be penalized by our own rules. A trial period could be in place. If we act like business people and are up front with employees affected by the mentoring program well then it should work. After all we are not forcing non natives to work for our tribe. I would some day like to see our Casino General Manager to be a tribal Citizen. I believe their are a couple of qualified Tribal Citizens now and who's to say we can't start an assistant GM position. I repeat Owned and Operated by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.