This construction is required to initiate the broadband, high-speed Internet project. Construction will take place throughout the summer.

Broadband will bring high-speed Internet and digital voice access to all Cattaraugus residents!! In order to accomplish this goal, we must contract with NGRID, VZ and Asplundh to complete the required construction and tree clearing. Seneca Nation’s construction will begin once the “make-ready” construction has been completed.

You will see NGRID, Asplundh and Verizon trucks on the Cattaraugus Territory. We ask the community to be patient with the construction taking place on Territory as this is necessary to provide high-speed internet access to the entire Cattaraugus Territory.

Nya:wëh,
Seneca Nation / Seneca Energy / Seneca Telecommunications

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See video message below:

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The USD and its Center for Cybersecurity Engineering and Technology (CCSET) is offering a unique cybersecurity training program this summer called, the GenCyber, “Academy of Distinction”(AOD). This program is exclusively for Native American rising 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade high school students and is paid for by a National Science Foundation and National Security Agency grant so there is no cost to students.

This is a five-day-long cybersecurity training program focused on teaching the technical aspects of cybersecurity including core concepts in a fun and unique hands-on way that includes; animated coursework, building your own VM, and securing your own home technologies. It’s designed to prepare students for a college or career pathway in Cybersecurity. Program dates: Monday, July 26th – Friday, July 30th, 2021 | 8:00 PM – 5:00 PM.

Space for the GenCyber AOD program is limited to 35 students so please have your students apply today!

Link to apply:

https://lnkd.in/gjEWYht

If you’d like to speak with Renita DiStefano, Chief Information Officer for Seneca Gaming Corporation, about the career landscape for information technology/cybersecurity, she can be reached at 716-501-2038.

See flyer below:

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Reprinted from syracuse.edu | June 1, 2021

On any given day this summer, Logan Booth ’21 might be found unpacking a case of portable studio equipment and carefully editing the recording inside. She’s producing audio interviews with Indigenous students as part of an internship with Sound Beat, a National Public Radio show featuring archived recordings from Syracuse University’s Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive.

The post-graduation internship calls upon the expertise Booth has gained as an English and textual studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences and public relations major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It also draws on her passions—she has been fascinated with photography, videos and storytelling since she was a child. The project is one of many ways she promotes her heritage as a member of the Seneca Nation residing on the Onondaga Nation near Syracuse. For Booth, documenting current students’ experiences to provide knowledge for the future reflects the value of the Good Mind, a traditional teaching of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. According to the Haudenosaunee, being aware of our thoughts and intentions causes our spirit to grow and helps us fulfill our purpose on Earth. “Practicing the Good Mind, we can help others in future generations of our community,” Booth says.

A first-generation college student and a Haudenosaunee Promise Scholarship recipient, Booth takes great pride in representing the young Native women of her community at Syracuse University. She acknowledges there were challenges at first. On campus her first year, she struggled with homesickness and adjustment to college life. But before too long, she says, she found her communities among some 350 Native American students at the University.

During a three-day focused orientation program for new Indigenous students, Booth was introduced to specialized resources that helped her navigate what she says can feel like “two worlds” to a modern Haudenosaunee college student. She recalls occasions when she attended a ceremony at the Onondaga Nation and had a class on campus soon after on the same day. She needed to build effective time management skills to maintain her involvement with her traditional culture and community, while also being fully present as a University student. “My professors seemed to understand that the traditional part of my identity is very important to me,” Booth says. “At Syracuse, I’ve been able to stay close to my culture and my identity and still be the very best student I can be.”

A Mentor and a Mentee

In addition to her involvement with Onondaga Nation culture and traditions, Booth has been an academic tutor for young people in her home community, responding to a need that developed as a result of remote schooling during the pandemic. Every week during her senior year, she has helped students in grade school through high school—including her brother Arrow—with their homework assignments. The tutoring takes place online and on-site at the Onondaga Nation School, where Booth was once a student herself. She says it’s rewarding to pass along the value of critical thinking she’s learning at Syracuse, and all the possibilities she’s exploring. “I know I’m having an impact on students when they see that each success leads to the next one,” she says, adding that she would have benefited from this type of peer support when she was in school and is happy to offer it to younger generations.

Booth has been on the receiving end of such uplifting mentorship from other Native American members of the University community. She says Scott Manning Stevens, citizen of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation and director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program, has taught some favorite courses in her minor and has been a valuable resource and colleague. “He has a helpful perspective on the experience of a Native student, a Native studies expert and a Native professor,” she says.

Throughout her time as a student at Syracuse, Booth says she has also cherished her involvement with the Native Student Program through the Office of Multicultural Affairs and its director, Regina Jones. A member of the Oneida Nation and a resident of the Onondaga Nation, Jones works with Syracuse University students, faculty, staff and families on initiatives that help Indigenous students transition to college and remain connected with their heritage, which is recognized as key to the success of their college experience. “Regina Jones has the ability to make anyone feel at home,” says Booth. “Having her here really helped me, in my best moments and my worst.”

Connected Communities

Booth also feels bonded with her peers in Indigenous Students at Syracuse (ISAS), a community that celebrates traditions through projects and activities on campus. During her sophomore year, the student organization put on a major runway fashion show for Native American Heritage Month featuring members from many nations and areas of study. Booth oversaw public relations and helped plan for the event. “The show represented our people through three themes: traditional regalia, a mix of contemporary with reflections of longhouse and smokehouse styles, and contemporary interpretations of traditional dress,” she says. Participants were from the Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk and Tuscarora nations, among others. Booth went on to serve as secretary for the group, and in her senior year she has helped launch a pilot program for Indigenous students in which upper-class students are paired with first-year students to serve as mentors.

Booth’s college experience has also led her to adventures far beyond the communities she has known. Thanks to the Haudenosaunee Promise Scholarship, she studied abroad last year, taking courses on Shakespeare and fashion media in London and traveling to Madrid before the pandemic ended the program early. “Being so passionate about and involved in my home community, it was amazing to be in a land outside my own,” she says. “I recommend that all students—maybe especially Native students—go abroad if they can. It’s an incredible experience.” And, after participating in competitive volleyball throughout high school and playing on the practice team at Syracuse for two years, Booth has enjoyed her community of club volleyball. “We have fun, and we’re all connected just by the love of volleyball,” she says.

While she is producing those audio interviews for future generations this summer, Booth will also pursue a job as a media practitioner and participate in her hobby of traditional smoke dance competition. “It’s important for me to keep broadening my perspective,” she says. “It inspires me, because I want to represent my culture and communities the best way I can.”

Source: https://www.syracuse.edu/stories/logan-booth-haudenosaunee-promise-scholar/

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We wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

Ja:goh.

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Below is a letter written by “Dar” Dowdy in 2009 that still resonates today.

Over the past three years, l have spent a great deal of time trying to find a solution to help my people deal with the various social and health problems that attack them emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. I learned, through different discussions with other educators and healers that the majority of our physical ailments begin as emotional problems. I further came to understand that these emotional triggers begin at childbirth and can even be transferred to us through our mothers and fathers. As I dug even deeper into the extent of our emotional attachments I found that collectively, as a distinct race of Native people, we have all been exposed to the same type of emotional garbage: forced assimilation, education process, cultural persecution and genocide, prejudice, boarding schools, relocation, substance abuse, diabetes and other health disorders. We are walking around with five hundred years of emotional and spiritual trauma strapped to our backs. Throughout our lifetime, we grow accustomed to bearing this heavy load and we learn to live our lives without any outward signs of discomfort or disease. But the deep, ugly signs of this bodily stress are there: domestic violence, low self­ esteem, drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse, greed, sickness, indifference and a general lack of caring. Our ancestors were wise when they advised us to “Let it go”; let go of the negativity; don’t own the pain. They understood the connection between the mind, spirit and physical body. Throughout our history, we learned to consistently adapt and change; this is how we arrived into this new period of time; we are survivors. But we are not free of the emotional burdens that we carry. Many of us walk around with our heads down; behaving as helpless victims. Once, we had an entire community, extended families, clans, who would help us to bear these loads. Today, too often, we find ourselves alone. So we self-medicate and bandage up the pain; hoping that it will just go away. Before long, it appears as a disease, an illness that robs us of our vitality and the will to be happy and healthy. That unhappiness spreads to anger and affects our families and communities.

Finally, the spirit begins to falter and all hope is lost. That hopelessness spreads to the borders of our communities and affects everyone and everything. Because we have abandoned our traditional ways of caring for one another we’ve lost our sense of community. Our society is becoming one of; every man for himself. Deep in our hearts, we know that this type of thought is wrong but we don’t know how to correct it. It is too simple to realize that the change has to begin with one’s self. We need to come together again as a community, as an extended family of caregivers. We need to stand one another back up; to lend that helping hand or to express our caring. These are easy things that we can remind ourselves to do; to start making that difference. When we see our children adopting another culture as a way to behave, dress and belief; we have taken a giant step toward terminating our Native culture and defining who we are as a distinct Native people. There is a feeling of indifference to preserving our language and culture, not realizing that these are the foundations to our sovereign survival. We are who we are because our grandparents chose to speak their Native language and to retain the customs and traditions of our ancestors; they knew that this would someday matter. They knew that the day would come when we would need our traditional thoughts and ways to carry us through these difficult times. I do not recommend a return to the ‘old ways’; history will not allow us to go backwards; I’m recommending a going forward with our language, culture and traditions firmly preserved and rooted in our communities.

I’m advocating that we again think like our ancestors; to understand that it is our responsibility to make a better world for our children. Our life roads can all be different but they should all lead to creating the best possible results for those yet unborn; that thought will insure our survival as Native people. With the help of all the Native educators and healers we can raise an awareness of the true strength and power of our Native spirituality. No one has to have a title or position of power to raise this issue; all it takes is caring, love and compassion for our Native people. It is my greatest desire to find a way to help our people, to give them the spiritual strength to better themselves, their families and their communities. That is my intent and I look forward to all your positive suggestions, solutions and feedback.

Lehman ‘Dar’ Dowdy
2009

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June is here which is the end of the school year for some students and for some others it’s time for graduation from high school. Our prayers are with all students for a safe and happy summer and for the graduates our prayers are for a successful future. Congratulations go out to all students and parents for completing the school year.

June is also a time to celebrate fathers. Our community needs strong male role models to build strong loving families. We all have one father – the Creator – who shows us his love every day of our lives. We can be thankful for our earthly and heavenly Father.
Please continue to pray for those in our communities who are affected by drug or alcohol abuse, those who are struggling with illness and those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. Pray for their families. We all need healing.

Everyone is invited to join us at Four Corners on Sunday morning 8:30 a.m. to meet with Pastor Holly or just to visit. Worship service begins at 9 a.m. We look forward to seeing you!

Peace.

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“All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (Doing the right things in life).” 2 Timothy 3:16.”

“Jesus said to Him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (Creator in Heaven) except through Me’.” John 14:6.

Come and celebrate with us on Sunday mornings at 10:30am as we praise, pray to, and preach concerning our Creator, Sustainer, and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory. Come and hear his word, it is living and powerful, it can and will bring new, everlasting life if you will believe and follow Him. Titus 2: 11-14.

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The volunteers at the Burchfield Nature and Art Center have missed having the annual Treaty Commemoration Ceremony for the last 2 years. It was always such a wonderful day.

We wanted you to know that we have continued to make the public aware of the Seneca Nation history in this area. The weekend of May 15th, a group of Boy Scouts completed a project in the park to improve the area around the Commemoration area. The area has been cleaned up and planted (including a Three Sisters Garden). The white pine tree the Nation presented us with 2014 is now over 8 feet tall. A seating area has been added near the tree. A post was put in to hold a QR code that leads people to an SNI history page. Penny Minner provided us with a design that was printed onto a sign that highlights the clans.

The area is now an informative and beautiful section of the park.

We look forward to seeing you next year.

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