CIRI Partners with Indian Education

CIRI Community Relations Specialist Dawn Dinwoodie was recognized by the Anchorage School District as an outstanding volunteer for 2003. Dinwoodie works with the Anchorage School District’s Indian Education Program Supervisor Edna Lamebull, who nominated Dinwoodie for Outstanding Volunteer for an Agency. According to Lamebull, “Dawn has been instrumental in several Native education projects, both on her own time and as the community relations specialist with CIRI.” Dinwoodie was recognized for bringing Native speakers into the school district, mentors to students, and recognition of Alaska Native cultures.

Attole on Wall of Tolerance

CIRI shareholder Mary Bertha Attole, who has written a book about racism, was invited last spring to be listed among The Wall of Tolerance, a public tribute to thousands of Southern Poverty Law Center supporters and others who have advanced the cause of tolerance. The Wall will be displayed in the future Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama, a city rich in the history of the struggle for human rights. The Wall and Civil Rights Memorial Center are scheduled for completion by the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 2005. They will be located around the corner from the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and 1956 and not far from the capitol steps where the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march ended in 1965. The names of those honored on the Wall of Tolerance will symbolize the strength of the tolerance movement in America.

Victoria Hall Founds Consulting Business

CIRI shareholder Victoria Hall is the majority owner of Athabasca LLC, a newly founded healthcare consulting, management and outsourcing company. Victoria, an Athabascan, was born in Anchorage and raised throughout Alaska. Her mother is Alberta Williams of Fairbanks, and her grandmother is Helen Williams of Nenana. Victoria was a scholarship recipient of The CIRI Foundation and graduated from Haskell Indian Nations University with honors in 1992. Since then, she says she has had a successful career in healthcare finance. Victoria and her partner, a certified public accountant, concentrate on healthcare reimbursement, specializing in revenue enhancement. Athabasca’s corporate philosophy is to provide high level services to Indian health facilities. “Ultimately we want to help bring healthcare facilities up to speed with the private sector, in regard to healthcare revenues,” she says. She has worked with facilities such as Gila River Healthcare and Phoenix Indian Medical Center. Her company web site is www.athabascallc.com.