WHEREAS, Arlan D. Melendez, a Northern Paiute, born in Schurz, Nevada, is a husband, a brother, a cousin, a father, a grandfather, a friend, and the son of two parents who were the products of the Stewart Indian Boarding School; and

WHEREAS, along with about 42,000 American Indians, Arlan Melendez volunteered for the United States Military and honorably served during the Vietnam Conflict with the U.S. Marines; and

WHEREAS, during his 32 years of uninterrupted service as the highest elected official of his federally recognized Tribal Nation, Chairman Arlan Melendez has guided the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony to economic stability and continued growth through retail business, through land leasing, and other creative economic development projects; and

WHEREAS, in 2008 the construction of a 65,000-square-foot facility with Native inspired architecture and about 150 employees, over half who are Tribal members or Native Americans from other federally recognized Tribes, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony began operating the most comprehensive Tribal Health Center at which today over 5,000 Reno-Sparks Indian Colony members and Urban Indians in Northern Nevada receive culturally competent and patient-centered care; and

WHEREAS, for 16 sessions of the Nevada State Legislature, Arlan Melendez worked in tandem with our state’s senators, assemblymembers, and governors, plus he testified in support of dozens of bills which improve the social, cultural, and economic welfare of the Paiute, the Shoshone, the Washoe, and the Mojave people on topics from the handling of disturbed sacred ancestral remains, to implementing fair taxation, to providing college tuition waivers for Native learners, to creating cannabis regulations, to eliminating sports mascots, to aiding law enforcement officials, to securing disaster relief, to installing voting stations on reservations, to creating the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center & Museum; and

WHEREAS, under Arlan Melendez’s guidance the original 28-acre land base for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony has grown to nearly 15,500 acres, with prime real estate moved into trust land for Tribal business enterprises, and through the 2015 Nevada Native Nations Lands Act, an act of Congress, and U.S. President Barack Obama’s signature, the Hungry Valley community expanded to 13,434 acres; and

WHEREAS, his humility, authenticity, approachability, empathy, excellent communication, and pleasant disposition, garnered Arlan Melendez appointments to many prestigious policy making positions including: the Board of the National Indian Business Association; the Secretary of the Interior’s Advisory Council; Nevada’s Gaming Policy Committee, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; the U.S. Health and Human Services’ National Tribal Advisory Committee; and

WHEREAS, Arlan Melendez, was named the Nevada Indian Commission’s 2013 American Indian Community Leader of the Year, plus in 2016 he was honored with two life-time achievement awards, one from NAFOA and one from the National Indian Health Service, and just last year, the Chairman was the 2022 Truckee Meadows Community College Medal of Honor;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOE LOMBARDO, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, do hereby proclaim October 21, 2023, as a day in honor of

CHAIRMAN ARLAN MELENDEZ