California Nations Indian Gaming Association

According to San Bernardino International Airport Executive Director Michael Burrows, the Third Street tower is owned by San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The tribe is working on a future project to preserve and relocate (within the property) the tower. This project will entail considerably more work than the Inland Valley Development Agency's re-coating of the west tower and will come at a later time, Borrows said.

An in-person job fair will was held today to fill nearly 50 guest services positions at the Morongo Casino, Resort and Spa owned by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Applicants had to wear a face covering and submit to a temperature check before entering as precautions against the coronavirus.

Check out Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation Chair Cody J. Martinez as he talks about the historic confirmation of Deb Haaland as Interior secretary and how Native Nations are progressing on all fronts also a takeaway from this last year.

From our families to yours - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation is accepting grant applications for its Technology in Schools Program for the 2021-22 school year. All applications must be submitted online by April 30. Santa Barbara County school administrators and faculty seeking to purchase hardware and/or upgrade infrastructure to boost their school's curriculum now can apply for technology grant dollars to fund specific projects.

Redding Rancheria opens COVID-19 vaccination clinic for the community!

Palm Springs historians often regard businessman Lawrence Crossley as the city's first Black resident. But his legacy went beyond that, to the neighborhoods he developed an impact that will be explored during Black History Month at a time when city leaders aim to take steps to address Palm Springs' problematic past. In the 1940s and '50s, affordable housing was scarce in the city. Those primarily affected were Black, Mexican-American, Filipino and working-class white residents. Crossley worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a conservator for some tribal members. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians offered affordable housing such as trailers and small homes on its reservation, or homes that renters built themselves. This area of Palm Springs is referred to as Section 14.

The Redding Rancheria is making progress getting its patient population vaccinated. By the end of this week, the Redding Rancheria will have more than 400 people fully vaccinated with both doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Soboba’s Department of Public Safety works hard to provide needed services for all residents of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Reservation and surrounding areas. Always looking for ways to continue its important work, Director of Public Safety Brian Herritt recently applied for and received a grant to open a Victims Assistance Center near the DPS offices. One of our long-term goals was to create a program that linked our DPS and Family Services together and offered these... types of resources to our tribal community, Herritt said. When the opportunity to apply for this grant presented itself, we jumped at the opportunity. The grant, from the National Congress of American Indians and NCAI Fund, was made available in June of 2020. Eligible tribal nations could use the funds to support victim service activities across a range of tribal departments.

The Wilton Rancheria tribe on March 9 broke ground on their casino-resort project, which will be built on the former site of the Ghost Mall at Highway 99 and Kammerer Road. They introduced the project’s new name, Sky River Casino, and announced that the casino will open in late 2022. The Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp. will build and operate the casino on land that is owned by the tribe. Among the casino’s features will be 2,000 slot machines, more than 80 gaming tables, and 12 distinct dining options.

On Friday, Jan. 29, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, in collaboration with Inland Empire Economic Partnership (IEEP), surprised 50 local businesses severely impacted by the COVID-19 closures with $20,000 grants. The grants were part of the San Manuel Cares $1 Million Small Business Relief Fund announced during a live-streamed and socially distance event held at the Bear Springs Hotel Event Center in Highland.

CNIGA Golf Tournament 2021 Happy Hour & Welcome Reception Recap RECAP! #cnigagolf2021

Our amazing team members at Harrah’s Nor Cal are kicking off the season of giving by raising funds for the local Amador community Through an employee-hosted s...ale, team members raised $7,776 for Amador Stars. Our team members selected Amador STARS to not only honor cancer awareness months, but also recognize the increased hardship cancer patients have endured this year. #norcalfun #amadorcommunity #amadorstrong See more

Happy Indigenous People’s Day! #indigenouspeoplesday #shastacounty

Today we celebrate our history and our culture. Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! #indigenouspeoplesday!

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians take the health of their guests and team members seriously.

While the region’s casinos have been reopened for months, many of their poker rooms have stayed closed due to the pandemic. However, this week, Morongo Casino, Resort and Spa will reopen its poker room, but there are some changes and new safeguards in place.

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians recently awarded a grant of nearly $300,000 to the San Bernardino Valley College Foundation. The funds are designated to enhance and expand support of the Valley-Bound Commitment Program, a student success program created to eliminate economic barriers that might prevent low-income students from attending college. San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is a transformative partner for SBVC and Valley-Bound students. Since Valley-Bound’s inception in 2008, more than 1,700 students have been served through the program. San Manuel has contributed nearly $2 million to support the Valley-Bound program over the past 12 years.

The American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC) reached an important milestone in 2020 - its 50th anniversary of service to college-bound Native American students. Although the Center elected, in light of the coronavirus, to forego any formal celebrations, it still has had plenty to cheer about this year. Last month, it learned it was one of the recipients of a donation from MacKenzie Scott, who recently announced the $1.7 billion in gifts she has made in the past several months to more than 100 nonprofit organizations focused on racial justice, gender equity, economic mobility and other social causes. The AIGC received a $20 million unrestricted gift from Ms. Scott, the largest individual gift in its history, according to Angelique Albert, the Center’s executive director.

As the Apple Fire continued to rage this week, spreading more than 43 miles through remote, mountainous terrain near Banning, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians has been caught on its perimeter. An upper portion of the tribe’s reservation has been singed by flames, while its more populated lower half was bisected by evacuation notices. But Morongo is also playing a critical role in battling the blaze, which had burned 29,267 acres by Friday morning. The tribe’s own Morongo F...ire Department is responding alongside other units, and its reservation is being used as a staging area for equipment and crews from across the western United States. Water-dropping aircraft are also refilling their tanks on tribal land between drops. As of Friday morning, overall containment of the Apple Fire hovered at 30%, as the many crews of wildland firefighters worked to control the fire and construct fire breaks, assisted by a contingent of fire engines, bulldozers and helicopters. Nearly 2,600 personnel are involved. Thick smoke has blown hundreds of miles to the southeast, all the way to Arizona, and still covers the northern part of the Morongo reservation and some surrounding areas to the east. Firefighters are expected to maintain a presence as far as the high desert to prevent the fire from spreading. Morongo Fire Chief Kevin Gaines, who retired from CAL Fire after 34 years and has been with Morongo’s department for five, said his brush unit has been working the fire since last Friday. The tribe is also working to protect areas that have cultural and historical significance to tribal members. Morongo firefighters train every day for situations just like this and we were dispatched soon after the fire started, Gaines said.

After a highly successful academic career at California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM), Rachelle Peterson found a graduate program that could deliver what she wanted. With an ultimate career goal of working as a school psychologist serving the Native American population, this member of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians found what she needed at San Diego State University (SDSU). Peterson is enrolled in the School Psychology (Ed.S.) program and is also a scholar on the SHPA grant for the upcoming school year. SHPA stands for Supporting High-Intensity Mental Health Needs of Native and Indigenous Youth: School Psychologist and Counselor Advanced Preparation.

In an effort to keep the wide-open spaces of the Soboba Indian Reservation as pristine as possible, the Soboba Tribal Environmental Department implemented an annual Community Cleanup Day more than 10 years ago. This year’s event produced the best results so far as residents have used the state’s sheltering-in-place guidelines as an opportunity to clean out garages, sheds and yards.

Proud of our Sonoma County tribal governments!

On June 9, San Manuel Fire Department was notified that it has received a Class 1 ISO Community Hazard Mitigation rating, placing the department in the highest tier for training, equipment readiness, fire prevention, staffing and emergency response. The class 1 rating also places the department among the top 1 percent in the nation and among just 37 fire departments in California. According to Mike Smith, who has served as San Manuel Fire Department fire chief since its establishment in 2003, the rating is a testament to the dedication of the department and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to investing in the safety of the reservation as well as the surrounding community.

A brush fire on the edge of the Pechanga Indian Reservation in Temecula scorched about five acres before crews gained control of it Thursday, July 30. The blaze was reported about 5 p.m. in the area of Murphy and Pechanga roads, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department officials. No structures were threatened. Several Pechanga Fire Department and Cal Fire teams were dispatched to battle the fire, and encountered flames moving at a slow rate in medium vegetation.... Air tankers and a helicopter were summoned to drop fire retardant and water onto the blaze, Pechanga Fire Department spokesman Jacob Mejia said. Firefighters successfully established containment lines and stopped the fire’s forward rate of spread at 5:40 p.m.