Full Profile · From the Interview Record
Laurelle Sheppard
B · From the record Summaries are drawn from Cal Nez’s interview. Quotations are not published until checked against the recording. How we verify →
Candidate Snapshot
Background & Why They’re Running
Sheppard began in law enforcement — the Maricopa County jail at 18, then a BIA federal officer at Hopi Agency, working from the Grand Canyon to D.C. as VAWA was signed — and now directs a victim-advocacy nonprofit that oversees the Nation's offices.
Where Laurelle Sheppard Stands
Each topic below is drawn from the interview — the question Cal asked, and a short summary of the answer, generated by AI from the interview recording.
Victim Services & Programs That Last
Cal asked: What have you built in victim services?
Sheppard built a crime-victim advocacy program from federal funding into roughly five on-Nation offices providing thousands of services a year, hiring from the community and Navajo speakers — and she criticizes grant-cycle programs that vanish before people can use them, pushing instead for sustainability.
MMDR & Public Safety
Cal asked: What's your public-safety record and plan?
For nearly eight years she's assisted council subcommittees — now the Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives Task Force, earlier the sexual-assault-prevention subcommittee — working on Title 17 and law-enforcement enhancements that are victim-centered and trauma-informed.
Culturally Relevant Healing
Cal asked: How do you make services fit the community?
Sheppard created “Healing Through Weaving,” a culturally grounded support group that uses the loom and weaving teachings as a path to healing, and she wants services shaped to each community rather than imposed from outside.
Veterans
Cal asked: Who's responsible for veterans, and what would you do?
Sheppard says veterans are initially a federal responsibility — disability, healthcare, hard-to-access benefits — but the Nation must also care for its own. Her top veteran need is housing assistance (water, electricity, a home), then access to healthcare; she'd also advocate for cultural and ceremonial healing the government can't see, and prepare for an influx of elder veterans.
638 & Law Enforcement
Cal asked: What does 638 mean for policing?
From her law-enforcement background, Sheppard explains that 638 policing means funding goes to the tribe to manage and police on its own rather than through the federal government — and she's candid about where her expertise on exact requirements ends.
Topics in the Interview
- Background: A Law-Enforcement & Advocacy Career
- Victim Services & Programs That Last
- MMDR & Public Safety
- Culturally Relevant Healing
- Veterans
- 638 & Law Enforcement