By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
The EBCI Cooperative Extension Center has two new employees including Rick DeLoughery who takes the helm as director and Lavita Lambert, an EBCI tribal member, who will man the front desk as the administrative secretary.
The EBCI Cooperative Extension Center has two new employees including Rick DeLoughery, director, and Lavita Lambert, administrative secretary. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
“It’s great to be here,” said DeLoughery who has been an agronomist for 25 years. “I really appreciate the people and all the hard work everybody is doing to provide services and education programs to the community.”
DeLoughery has worked at several tribal colleges as an extension education coordinator for the past nine years. His most recent stint was at Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota.
“I am happy to fill a needed role to provide some leadership to the organization here,” he said. “I am really impressed with the work that the people here at the Extension Center are doing. There’s a lot of good people working here.”
Lambert previously worked at the EBCI Finance Office from 2001-11. “I am excited to be here, and I am looking forward to working with everyone at the Center.”
DeLoughery said one of his goals is to find out what needs there are in the community that are not being met by other programs. “We will try to find grant funds so we can be able to meet those needs. We will be doing a Community Needs Assessment in the next four to five months, and hopefully we can come up with a better plan and vision of what we need to work on in the future.”
One project being worked on now involves improvements to the classroom addition at the Center. DeLoughery said a Monday night quilters group is already taking advantage of the improvements to the classroom. “A lot of events will be able to be held there.”
