Shawaan Jackson-Gamble Selected for Advisory Panel Tribal Seat Public Safety Staff Attend FEMA Training

In March, staff from Tlingit & Haida’s Public Safety Division (Corey Padrón, Sabrina Boone and Matthew Nunnally) attended the 8th Annual Tribal Nations Training Week which took place at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) campus in Anniston, Alabama. The training was intended for state, local, tribal, and territorial emergency responders, and included a variety of comprehensive trainings such as Healthcare Leadership for Mass Casualty Incidents (HCL), Isolation and Quarantine for Rural Communities (IQRC), Barrier Precautions and Controls for Highly Infectious Disease (HIC), Emergency Management Framework for Tribal Governments, and Managing for Public Information for All Hazards Incidents (MPI).

Congratulations to tribal citizen and former Emerging Leader Shawaan Jackson-Gamble who was appointed to fill a new tribal seat on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s (NPFMC) advisory panel.

During the Alaska Federations of Natives (AFN) convention last October, Southeast Alaska AFN Delegates unified and unanimously supported the nomination of Shawaan to fill the seat.

Shawaan graduated from Northwest Indian College where he majored in Native Environmental Science and currently serves as Indigenous Stewardship Fellow for First Alaskans Institute

Shawaan’s Tlingit name is Ch’aak’ti (Watchman of Hamilton Bay). He is Tsaagweidi (Tlingit) and Tiits Giit a Naay (Haida). He grew up in Kake, Alaska where he is a lifetime member of Keex Kwaan Dancers and learned the value and importance of our culture, land and traditional foods.

“I am proud to have been a part of this training along with the many other Indigenous voices who were represented at the week-long FEMA training,” said Tlingit & Haida Emergency Operations Coordinator Sabrina Boone. “The knowledge gained is invaluable and will help keep our Emergency Operations Center as a credited and leading source of support and operations in Southeast Alaska.”

Also in attendance was Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Tribal Affairs Advocate, Kelbie Kennedy. Kelbie is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the first tribal affairs political appointee in the history of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. As the first FEMA National Tribal Affairs Advocate, Kelbie directly advises the administrator and the agency on all tribal affairs and work to ensure that FEMA lives up to its treaty responsibilities to all tribal nations. Kelbie also works across the agency to implement the first FEMA National Tribal Strategy.

“The trainings provided a multitude of unique situations directly related to emergency response and we are excited to bring this knowledge back to Tlingit & Haida, as well as our Village Public Safety Officers (VPSO) to utilize in our daily operations,” said Emergency Operations Administrator Corey Padrón.

With the newly gained FEMA certifications and training, the Emergency Operations team can continue to provide the highest level of first response and support to our Southeast Alaska communities.