+ DFWUUG Native American Indian Outreach

This project is aimed at helping a disadvantaged group who want to improve themselves and give members of the DFWUUG the opportunity to gain the “X years” of experience needed to promote their careers.

For those in the American Indian community who wish to learn more about programming, systems administration et al, they are welcome to work side by side with the DFWUUG.

The project started from two separate actions which occurred in a short period of time.

The Career & Consulting SIG:

While leading the Career SIG, a repeating theme continued to assert itself: we can't get the jobs we want because we don't have the X number of years of experience that the job calls for and we can't get the experience because our employers won't let us do so. This was a major stumbling block for many people. The action to do to get around this block? VOLUNTEER!

Volunteer to aid a charity, church, user group, anything. By working as a volunteer for no money, you can gain the experience that can be leveraged into another position. This has been confirmed by many different recruiters during the Career SIG as well as the main group when the recruiters have presented to the group.

What to do and who to help, though?

The Native American Indian Community:

In April of 2006, I was listening to the program “Beyond Bows & Arrows” on KNON when I heard Tracy Palmer talk about jobs and finding jobs. I called in, talked with her as the DFWUUG Career SIG leader and was invited to the studio to discuss this on the air. Instead of talking about jobs, I was interviewed as a physicist instead, with how much math, how much science, astronomy I had and other such questions. There is a push to get the kids interested in math and science, with a physicist being perceived as the highest math and science. Oh well...

While at the station, Eugene Folsum, a Choctaw and veteran of Vietnam and kin to one of the original WWI (yes, “one”) Choctaw Codetalkers, asked about computers and finding computers for kids. This was the start of the effort to find older computers that engineers, sys admins and the like find too slow and stash away in closets, garages and attics, but are fine for those who are trying to surf the net, write reports and learn office based software but can't afford one.

On again, off again over the following year, it was obvious that a place was required to collect PC's, a place where a classroom could be set up where kids and the elders could be taught to go online and to become computer literate. Old PC's and junkers could be collected and usable PC's made for those who need them.

In September, 2007, a burglary of the Dallas Indian Methodist Church where, their only computer was stolen, seems to have brought all the pieces together.

Their computer stolen on a Thursday, it was only passed on to me that Sunday night at the radio station when Tracy mentioned this to Albert Old Crow, the “Beyond Bows & Arrows” DJ. Next day at work, a colleague asked me if I was still looking for computers, which I said I was. He then asked if there were more PC's, would I be interested in them? That was when the “truck load” came to be. Logistics issues of meeting to acquire the PC's from a small business that was retiring only slowed things slightly.

I talked with Reverend Billie Nowabbi (No–aww-bee), pastor of the Dallas Indian Methodist Church and delivered one PC with Windows XP. We discussed classrooms, working with the elders (the Silver Eagles), networking and other possible projects.

This is where we are focusing the collection point, assembling and configuring of PC's and teaching.

Sounds of Thunder:

Following the burglary and radio broadcast, I went to a Pow-wow in Springtown, where I was approached for another project, unrelated to the church and teaching. With some 60,000 American Indians in the DFW area, many have asked why there isn't a Pow-wow of the Red Earth or Gathering of Nations scale here. A location was found in Weatherford, which also has high speed internet access in the city.

Gathering of Nations is a large Pow-wow which also has streaming video and sound from the pow-wow. It is desired to do a streaming broadcast of the Sounds of Thunder pow-wow when it debuts next October (in 2008). Financial and technical sponsors are needed as well as help to do the streaming broadcast over the 3 day event.

Also requested was a web site where pow-wow notices could be posted with information, images or copies of brochures posted for all to access. This could lead to the website being the link for the streaming audio/video of the Sounds of Thunder Pow-wow.

The DFWUUG, by volunteering, can gain publicity, members involved can gain experience, and the Pow-wow can gain a major boost. The DFWUUG could obtain a banner and a booth at the Pow-wow, promoting the UUG and a future in Information Technology (I do have a source for making flyers, handouts and mailings).