SECRETARY’S REPORT PAULETTE JORDAN Coeur D’Alene
G reetings and welcome to all the Tribal Leaders attending our Tradeshow in Anaheim, California, this year. It is a privilege to serve you as the Executive Secretary of the National Indian Gaming Association. In 2021, the Association continued our work on behalf of Indian Country, working with a new Administration and Congress while preserving through the continuing pandemic. With new faces, there are new challenges, but our enduring commitment to Tribal Sovereignty remains steadfast. It has been heartbreaking as a mother and as a proud Tribal citizen of the Coeur D’Alene Tribe to have witnessed the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 virus. The pandemic only added to the obstacles faced by Tribal governments. We are all too familiar with the shortcomings in our tribal educational, health, and administrative agencies. Fortunately, through the hard work of the Indian Gaming Association and our sister organizations, the Federal Government provided aid to Tribal governments as co-equal sovereigns with State governments for the first time in this Country’s history. Of course, our gaming revenues continued to be a vital source of pandemic income and provided that invaluable lifeline to our communities. It is incredible that in 202, Tribal gaming revenues held steady, and with the influx of federal aid programs, Indian gaming has preserved many of the 700,000 direct jobs on the Reservations.
12 INDIAN GAMING - ANNUAL REPORT 2022
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