Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
President Biden has announced that he has nominated Patrice H. Kunesh, a descendant of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, to be Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). Ms. Kunesh currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs and was confirmed by the Senate on March 8, 2023 to serve as the Commissioner for the Administration for Native Americans in the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Prior to joining HHS, Ms. Kunesh began her legal career at the Native American Rights Fund and served as in-house Counsel for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.
Ms. Kunesh has also served on the faculty at the University of South Dakota School of law and held appointments as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior, and as a member of the Treasury Community Development Advisory Board (CDFI Fund) as a representative for Native communities. She also established the Center for Indian Country Development—an economic policy research initiative at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis—and founded Peȟíŋ Haha Consulting, a social enterprise committed to fostering culturally-centered Native economic development.
Should you wish to voice your support for the confirmation of Patrice H. Kunesh to become the next Chair of NIGC, USET SPF has drafted a template letter of support for our member Tribal Nations to send to the leadership of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. To download this template letter of support, please click here.
For more information, please contact Brian Howard, USET SPF Senior Policy Analyst, at bhoward@usetinc.org.
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