Letter from Governor Madalena to other Pueblo Governors

Dear Colleagues-

Governor Joshua Madalena has drafted a letter to each of the Pueblo Governors regarding the state’s Medicaid Centennial Care. I am sending PDF versions of those letters to you. If you are receiving this email, it is because I have interacted with you, have your email address, and recognize you as someone who is able to effectively communicate with tribal leadership.

 

This letter was an idea suggested at last Friday’s strategy meeting regarding our next steps as the state pushes forward with the Centennial Care waiver proposal. This proposal will impact our tribal people, so we want to continue to push to be heard and for our changes to be incorporated into the state’s plan.

 

It took Jemez a full work week to get the letters drafted and signed by Governor. I acknowledge that the holidays are upon us and, normally, I would not do this so informally, but we are in critical need of folks to speak directly with tribal leaders prior to the transition of leadership.

 

Since January 2012, Governor Madalena has been very helpful in using his position to push tribal consultation and Gov’t to Gov’t collaboration, so we asked him again to use his position to reach out to other Governors. In this case, he is simply relaying to his colleagues the impact of Centennial Care on the Native Americans of NM.

 

In case you have an opportunity to engage any tribal leadership over the holidays, I wanted to provide you with copies of the letters that went to the Governors. You can scroll to your respective Governor and print out the letter (4 pages each) that is relevant to your individual tribe. They were mailed today. I sent you the attachment separately so that you can see the color version.

 

Obviously, I believe that tribal members and tribal employees can get the letter to the leadership quicker than snail mail.

 

If nothing else, I hope the letter provides some new information and a clear plan of action. I know I missed some important people on this email list, so please forward this them as you see fit.

 

Thanks for your attention to this matter. I wish you Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year!!

 

April Wilkinson, Programs Specialist

 

This is a sample letter to Governor Nailor of Picuris Pueblo