This will be my final note for this year. As ususal it has been very gratifying hearing from you all in response to individual messages. Since I will be leaving this weekend to attend the 58th annual National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) convention, I thought you might like to have a little bit of information about this venerable organization. I will also list some other national intertribal Indian organizations' website links at the bottom of this message for you to view at your leisure. Thank you again for your warm response and kind words - we are all related. Lori

Welcome to NCAI

Indian Nations are sovereign governments, recognized in the U.S. Constitution and hundreds of treaties with the U.S. President. Today, tribal governments provide a broad range of governmental services on tribal lands throughout the U.S., including law enforcement, environmental protection, emergency response, education, health care, and basic infrastructure.

The National Congress of American Indians was founded in 1944 and is the oldest and largest tribal government organization in the United States. NCAI serves as a forum for consensus-based policy development among its membership of over 250 tribal governments from every region of the country.

NCAI's mission is to inform the public and the federal government on tribal self-government, treaty rights, and a broad range of federal policy issues affecting tribal governments.

Website: www.ncai.org

National Tribal Environmental Council

National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development

http://www.ncaied.org/index.html

Intertribal Bison Cooperative

http://www.intertribalbison.org

Native American Fish and Wildlife Society

Native American Journalists Association

Native American Rights Fund

http://www.narf.org/index.html

American Indian Education

Native American Public Telecommunications

National American Indian Court Judges Association

http://www.naicja.org/index.htm

White Bison (Wellness and Sobriety)