Brigitte LaPointe, CEO of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community

David Haynes sits down with Brigitte LaPointe, CEO of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. Previously, LaPointe served as Director of Strategic Initiatives for Upper Peninsula Health Plan in Marquette.

In this episode, Brigitte talks about her experiences growing up in the UP on the KBIC reservation and how it influenced her values and her career, and the biggest issues currently facing the KBIC–including education, employment and job training, healthcare, and more.

Transcript

David Haynes:

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Rural Insights podcast and we would like to welcome today, Brigitte LaPointe, who is the CEO of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in the upper peninsula. She grew up in the UP and has a really interesting background. So before we get to what’s going on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, I want to ask Brigitte to tell us about her and growing up in the UP and how it influenced her values and her job.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yes. Thanks for having me here today. I am Brigitte LaPointe from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. I’m excited to be here today with you, David, and just kind of give you some insights into KBIC and how I got here and yeah, I’m ready to get started.

David Haynes:

Well, great. Great. So where did you grow up?

Brigitte LaPointe:

I grew up here in Baraga right in. I grew up on the reservation with my mom. She was a single mom of five. I have a twin sister, so we were side by side our entire lives. But yeah, I grew up here in Baraga, graduated from Baraga High School in 2003 and then went onto college. I played college basketball at Finlandia University for four years and also received my associates from there. From then on, do you want me to go on about my life a little bit?

David Haynes:

Sure, a little bit. I’d love it. I’d love it.

Brigitte LaPointe:

All right. And then from Finlandia, I went on to went on to Northern to complete my bachelor’s degree. And as I was doing that, I was also hired as the assistant women’s basketball coach for the women’s team. So I did that from 2007 to 2010, got my bachelor’s degree and then kind of got out of college coaching. Basketball is near and dear to my heart, but wanted to kind of spread my wings and get back out there working in the real world, I guess. That’s when I went back to KBIC and I was our tribal employment rights officer for three years.

And then again, I got the itch to go back to school. So went back to Northern, got my master’s degree in exercise science. At that point in my life, I was really passionate about exercise. I got my bachelor’s degree in sports science. It was my dream. I was going to own my own gym and run it and do my own thing. And I just always had a passion for working in the health field, I guess.

So when you’re a new grad out of grad school, I think you’re just kind of going towards anything that kind of fits with what you’re trying to do. And that’s when I landed on Upper Peninsula Health Plan and Dennis Smith. He used to be the CEO there and he was the one that hired me into UPHP there. I started working for UPHP as a marketing manager, got promoted pretty quick to director of strategic initiatives, learned so much, so much about myself. I learned so much about the professional world working there and it is a great experience for me. I felt like it was the perfect timing, and with that knowledge and everything I learned in a pretty quick timeframe, I felt like I was ready to take on a bigger role. And when this opened up with KBIC, I had to go for it. So that’s how I got here. That’s the professional side of things, but yeah, that’s how I got here.

David Haynes:

What did you do at UP Health Plan? What was your job at UP Health Plan?

Brigitte LaPointe:

At UP Health Plan?, at first, I was the first corporate marketing manager that they ever had. So they had somewhat of an identity, but they were struggling with kind of their brand and that brand recall, and the communities that they serve throughout the UP. There was a lot of confusion with UP Health Plan and UP Health systems. And I was tasked with kind of distinguishing that and making them a brand. So that was myself and our communications manager at the time. That was our first task and we tackled it. We went through an entire total rebrand with UPHP, changed up their logo, gave them some standards to follow, created an entire communication system internally and externally, and it created some staples for the organization that weren’t there before I took over.

Going into the role as director of strategic initiatives, I was still overseeing marketing communications, the business development side of things, and also did a lot of legal advocacy things. In Lansing, I would go down with our leadership and talk to legislators on different issues and topics that are concerning to the health plan. So I got my feet wet doing that. I think it was summer actually thrived and really enjoy talking to legislators and making those partnerships and connections. Yeah. Another part of my job I loved was being in the community and going to all the events and sponsoring things and making people feel good, so that was a big part of my job.

David Haynes:

So you grow up in Baraga, you go to Baraga High School, you go to Finlandia, you go to you go to Northern. What about the values of growing up? You grow up with a reservation.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yeah.

David Haynes:

What values did you learn and how has it impacted who you are today? Talk a little bit about those values that are instilled in you growing up in a community like you did.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Right. I was fortunate to grow up with instilled values in our family. One being education is always important. Education is something that nobody can ever take away from you. That was something my grandpa always to say to me and I listened to him and I really believe that. Education isn’t for everyone. I’m not saying everyone has to go to college and get a degree. I mean, there are other ways to put yourself out there in positions to be successful, but going back to how I grew up, I was surrounded by leaders. Honestly, I was surrounded by people doing good things for our community, and I watched it and I observed it and I took it in.

My grandpa LaPointe, Donald LaPointe, he was an integral piece to what our tribe is today. He assisted in many different firsts for the community. He was the one who wrote the first grant to get our tribal health center here on the reservation. KBIC was actually the first tribe in Michigan to have a comprehensive health center, that means everything under one roof. So we had medical and dental, and now we’ve expanded to a pharmacy. We have behavioral health, we have WIC services, we have community health, we have tons of grants just going in and out of there, supporting program. So he was very, very integral in that aspect of the tribe. He’s also served as president of our tribal council for many years and CEO in the same position that I’m in today.

David Haynes:

Second generation. What is the key value, you think? Is it public service to your community?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Absolutely. It’s something that we’re not seeing a lot of today, and it is that public service to your community and doing what’s right for your community, and not looking to receive anything from it. You know what I mean? You just do it because that’s what you’re taught to do, and it’s not always give me, give me, give me back. It’s what, can I do for you? What can I give back to you? So that’s what really was instilled volunteerism, joining different groups to help out in the community, different boards in the communities, all important pieces that I was always taught.

And then I also have on my paternal side, my grandma Tollin, Myrtle Tollin. She was the first woman of KBIC to ever lead a KBIC tribal council. So she was the first tribal chair woman to do this. So another leader to look up to in my life. She was definitely the warrior in our family. A value that she taught was just toughness and strength and stand up for what you believe in because she was pretty feisty. I’ll tell you that. That’s all I hear from people. She was pretty feisty. So something I’m trying to learn to take away from her.

David Haynes:

Did you know her?

Brigitte LaPointe:

I got to spend some time with her. Yeah. She always took my sister and I in whenever she could and be around her other family and she was big on Christmases. So we always had a family Christmas with her and she would lead that and just take everyone one by one and just say how much she loves us and they’re great. It’s great memories. Yeah.

David Haynes:

That’s great. That’s that Rural voices thing that we’re so interested in and yours is fascinating. Tell us about the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community now. What’s the really strategically important two, three, four five issues? What is it that you’re really focused on?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yeah, I think right now, one, just navigating through this pandemic. Well, hopefully the end is in sight. That’s what we hope, but that’s what we’re trying to do is navigate through that pandemic right now, navigate through all the relief funding that we got and how to strategically manage that in a smart way to benefit our community as a whole. That’s just looking at different projects. What can we do to benefit our health programs, our education programs, our housing, our youth, and our elders, our environment?

So I think the top three priorities on my end of things, definitely the health of our community. What kind of services can we offer? What more can we do for our community? Education and offering vocational services and the other programs outside of schooling because we need to address our unemployment rate and getting people to come back here and work on the reservation because it’s tough to do. I mean, when there’s just low paying jobs out there and you don’t really have any skills, you don’t have really anything to look forward to and it can be frustrating for someone. So if we can offer different programs outside of just saying, hey, you have to go to college and get a four year degree, I think that’d be beneficial to a lot of people in our community.

And then our youth that our elders are going to put together in one. We have to do something for our youth and I’m not sure if it’s the juniors we have to get on right now in high school or if it’s the eighth graders, but we need them to look forward to something after high school when they get to that point, when they’re going to be on their own. So I’m trying to really ramp up our youth programs and our services and what we offer there. And then our elders too, through this pandemic and the isolation that it cause and for the youth too, and the mental health issues, those are things that all have to be addressed. And I’m working diligently with our directors. I know nothing’s going to change in one day or one year, but I think we all have a vision of where we want our departments and what services we want to offer, and if we can just keep that focus, I think we’ll be okay.

David Haynes:

How many members are there in the KBIC?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Just 3,500 members.

David Haynes:

Okay. And how many on the reservation?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Oh, I’m going to say about 1200 live on the reservation. Yeah.

David Haynes:

So if somebody wanted to come back to get a job on the reservation, they could today?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Absolutely. Yes.

David Haynes:

Yes. So there are jobs. We asked this of all lead, corporate CEOs like yourself and elected people, what’s your vaccination rate, do you think, COVID vaccination rate? Is it where you want it to be, especially on the reservation?

Brigitte LaPointe:

I am not sure of the exact numbers on the reservation. I do know our government numbers. We are at 65% as a government and that’s been rising. We do have a vaccine incentive program and that’s for all employees, all members of KBIC. So it doesn’t matter if you live on the reservation or not, we are offering incentive of $1,000 to get you a vaccine. So if you can provide that proof of vaccination, you’ll get some nice cash in the mail.

David Haynes:

So what is the challenge on education? Do you have a good high school graduation rate? Is it need for vocational, I call vocational education is a better word for it these days, but what the biggest educational challenge for your members?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yep. The biggest educational challenge, because we provide great educational programs right now. I mean, for kids getting on the honor roll or having perfect attendance in high school, we have incentives for that. We have some money through the Bureau of Indian Affairs to offer them for books and computers when they’re in college. And then also we work with the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver and try to navigate that paperwork process for you as well. And then we’re rolling out some really great programs for graduates, master’s programs and other professional degrees, so there’s incentives there if you graduate. And then we just rolled out, it’s kind of like a loan payback system where say you’re going to be a lawyer and you’re going to law school, we’ll pay that for you if you sign this. We’ll develop a contract for you. You’re going to come back and work for the tribe. So we’re doing some kind of retention program like that right now, too.

David Haynes:

How long would they have to work for the tribe?

Brigitte LaPointe:

I think we have in there at least two to three years.

David Haynes:

Okay. For each year, you’re basically working a year. Yeah. Okay.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yeah. We’re working on that though.

David Haynes:

It’s a pretty good deal.

Brigitte LaPointe:

It is.

David Haynes:

To get your tuition pay.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Right. But to get back to what the issue is, I think a lot of it is kids don’t see college as a thing because they never grew up around a parent that maybe went to college, or took school as a priority, or didn’t have that structure for education. So they don’t see it as a priority. And so we’re seeing a lot of that. So we do need workforce development. We do need more vocational options and just alternatives to that option.

David Haynes:

Well, I could relate to the issue of having someone around you like you to help tell me what I had to go to college. I’m a first generation college graduate. When I got out of high school, I didn’t have anybody in my family to tell me about why go to college, how to go to college. I went in the military because I couldn’t figure out the rest and the military welcomed me during those days, then I got my college degree, but understand that kind of mentoring program that’s so crucial today. So you do that with high school and junior high students as sort of a mentoring process, so they can understand afterwards you can get a trade degree, you can get other kinds of degrees, professional degree, that kind of mentoring and how to do it and how to get to college?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yes. We have a workforce development coordinator who provides that kind of service. We also have tutors in the schools in Lawns and Baraga schools. We have high school and elementary tutors and they’re there for the students to help navigate those kind of options or point them in the right direction to someone who does know how to do that. So we have all the resources there, honestly. It’s a struggle.

David Haynes:

Yeah. It’s very hard, but you sound like you have a strategic plan to get at it.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Absolutely.

David Haynes:

But I talked, it seems you’re way ahead of where other communities are in trying to figure this out around there because it is a complex difficult problem.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Yes. We’re trying to get there.

David Haynes:

And in poverty and you added other issues. What would you say is the one challenge that you worry about? You wake up in the middle of the night, what’s the one challenge besides COVID and besides everybody’s healthy, what a challenge as CEO do you worry about?

Brigitte LaPointe:

The challenge outside of like thinking of all administrative things you have to take care of, it’s just addressing, I guess, there are so many toxic pathologies that go into our Indian reservation and I’ll be transparent. We have our intergenerational trauma that just still affects people today, kids today. In elementary school and babies, it’s going to affect us until we do something actually about it.

Poverty, like I talked about unemployment, domestic violence, sexual assault that happens, and of course, alcohol and drug addiction. I think the drug addiction is something that does keep me up at night, and it is one of my priorities to revive our drug task force and get community involvement and just really attack that head on because it affects more than just the person in their family. It affects our entire community. Go on.

David Haynes:

And the future of the community. I mean, every community around the United States. I mean, addiction and mental health are just huge no matter where your term and both in high economic families and communities. Well, I ask every CEO I talk to this question. Do you have your own little sort of personal board of advisors, mentors, a group that you turn to?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Oh, yeah.

David Haynes:

You don’t have to tell me who it is, but you have a group that when you think something through, you go, hey, I got to get some sound back here, people you trust. You’ve got that, right? Do you have something?

Brigitte LaPointe:

Oh, yeah. That’s another thing I’ve always been taught is just surround yourself, surround yourself with like-minded people, people that you know are going to bring you up. They’ll tell you off, you know what I mean? Those people that are just real with you and they want you to be successful and they’ll tell you the right things. So I do have that group of people around me, and I think it’s a small group, but you know what? That’s what you need to stay focused.

David Haynes:

But it’s one you trust? It’s one.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Oh, yeah. Lots of trust within that circle.

David Haynes:

Oh, that’s great. Well, we’ve been talking with NMU alumnist, Ms. LaPointe, who proud to say were fellow alums. She’s a CEO of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community as you’ve just heard, and you could see why that community is very fortunate to have a CEO like her and why the UP is fortunate that she is serving in this role. So thank you. Thank you very much. This has been really informative and I hope you’ll let us come back in a few months and hear what else is going on.

Brigitte LaPointe:

Oh, yeah. Sounds good. Thank you, David.

David Haynes:

Okay. Thank you. Have a great day. And everyone, thank you.

Brigitte LaPointe:

You too. Bye-bye.