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The Coeur d'Alene Reservation area tackles several kinds of poverty

Poverty isn’t always about money. It can be emotional for those who are isolated or physical for the disabled. It can  also be cultural, as traditions and meaningful relationships are lost in a money-obsessed digital society with  little cultural memory. UI Extension’s Horizons program assumes this broader poverty definition.

"Enter the Coeur d'Alene's
culture," could be the message of
two lads at a West Side Rendevous
tipi. The event aimed to break
down barriers between Anglo and
tribal cultures near northern Idaho's
reservation land. Laura
Laumatila, UI Extension liaison
with the Coeur d'Alene tribe,
helped with the event as part
of one of Horizons effort
to defeat poverty.

PLUMMER, IDAHO —The West Side Rendezvous isn’t your average community days celebration. Early  pioneer antiques sat displayed beside Native American regalia; instead of hot dog stands and a dunk tank, Mariane Nomee cured venison the traditional way, and Coeur d’Alene  tribal elders taught onlookers to play the Salish stick game.

This summer’s first annual reservation-wide festival—open to both white and native residents—was an effort of  local people aided by UI Extension Horizons coaches to create a sense of community in a stretch of Idaho  where financial poverty is magnified by a profound sense of cultural misunderstanding and loss.

“Not that long ago, you could survive,” Nomee, 65, recalled of the disappearing self-sustaining lifestyle  of hunting, gathering, and trade. “But today, if you don’t have the dollars,  you are lost.” Nomee herself lives in a federally subsidized housing development where monthly rent is capped at $100. Each day she babysits her bright 8-year-old granddaughter who loves to read and write. 

In Idaho, 1 in 25 children lives with a grandparent (2000 census), an increase of 79 percent over the prior decade. Grandparents raising grandchildren are 60 percent more likely to live in poverty than other grandparents.

In some cases, grandchildren live with grandparents because parents  are working or because of substance abuse and the associated neglect,  violence, or incarceration.

Cultural differences are also a factor. In many Hispanic and native communities, child care is  provided  by extended family, and it is believed to be pivotal for helping  elders live what Nomee calls “a full life.”

UI Extension Horizons leaders from on and off the reservation have begun networking across the reservation’s geographical and ethnic divides  to build trust among diverse residents. After the reservation-wide rendezvous, they’re planning a community center face-lift and other projects jointly with the tribe.

Sometimes cultural obstacles  present themselves even before the meetings begin. Take Indian time, for example, the idea that “it will start when it’s time and end when it’s over.” Recognizing cultural differences between tribal members and non-tribal area residents and just getting the two sides talking about shared goals is a big first step, explained city clerk Donna Spier.

The catalyst, Spier adds, is UI Extension educator Laura Laumatia on the reservation, a bridge builder. “We really took to heart the fact that the definition of poverty is not strictly financial,” said Laumatia. “Financial poverty may have improved in recent years, but hopelessness has not. Here it’s about poverty of relationship and meaning because of the loss of traditions and lack of understanding between white and native cultures.”

next: Demographics of Poverty

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