Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 8, 1 August 2010 — Meet the new ANA Commissioner [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Meet the new ANA Commissioner

Lillian Sparks is the new Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans, whose mission is "to promote the goal of self-sufficiency and cultural preservation of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other native Paeihe Islanders organizations." This year, ANA is awarding $42 million in grants. Additionally, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and ANA are funding partners on the $24 million Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund, whieh offers the Mālama Loan for business, home improvements and education. Sparks, 34, is Oglala and Rosebud Lakota and grew up outside Baltimore, Maryland, far from her tribes in South Dakota. But, she said, her parents, Leroy and Georgaline Sparks, raised her with "traditional values and cultural mores," including an expectation "to lead and guide through service and not just through words."

Q&A with Lillian Sparks

EC0N0MIC SELFSUFFICIENCY

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Lillian Sparks and her mother, Georgaline Sparks. - Photos: Courtesy of the Mional lndian Education Association