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Ms. Wilber serves as a senior project coordinator for Master Key Consulting. In this capacity, she coordinates company projects with Indian Tribal Governments, Tribal Colleges and Federal Departments who serve Indian Tribes. She is a member and elder of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and a recognized National expert in Native American Affairs.
In 1999, Ms. Wilber was elected by majority vote of the 8000 plus membership of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, to serve a three year term on the nine (9) member governing body of the sovereign Indian Nation. Ms. Wilber had extensive involvement with all facets of government including working with representatives of Federal, State and other tribal agencies. She served as Chairman of the Law and Order Committee, Environmental Committee, Health Board, Personnel and Management Committee and others. Ms. Wilber was active in the areas of economic development with the Tribe’s Gaming, Lumber and other business enterprises.
Ms. Wilber also served as an Assistant to the President and Director of Outreach and Extension for the College of Menominee Nation, one of 34 Tribally Controlled Colleges in the United States. She worked collaboratively with the Vice President of Academic Affairs, the Faculty Council, other college administrators and staff to obtain NCA accreditation. She established the College’s Outreach, Education and Training Department, designed the College’s tribal training component, and implemented training sessions which have been so positively received by the community that the program is being expanded.
Ms. Wilber served for seven years as the Director of the Menominee Indian Tribe’s Substance Abuse Treatment Center. Under Ms. Wilber’s directorship, the Center received National Accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Residential Facilities (CARF) and State certification of its Residential, Outpatient, Day Treatment, Prevention and Case Management Services. Menominee was the first Indian Tribe to hold the Case Management certification in Wisconsin, a status previously reserved for County Government programs. Additional contract agreements were obtained with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Indian Health Service, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Veterans’ Administration, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).
Ms. Wilber’s leadership brought the CSAT’s vision of one stop shopping for treatment services to the Menominee Reservation. She instituted complete range of treatment services coupled with transitional living and emergency shelters. Ms. Wilber developed the first homeless shelter for the Menominee Tribe and the Treatment Center eventually operated 3 centers on the reservations serving over 200 homeless individuals annually. These shelters assisted clients with the full array of necessary services including AODA counseling and Mental Health Treatment. Ms. Wilber added Adolescent Prevention programs to the treatment center’s services through a state grant and an Indian Health Service national grant. This initiative provided the opportunity for the Tribe to establish a firm footing in the community through development of youth groups, services to the School District’s latchkey program, and development of a High Risk Youth Intervention Program. The Center then sponsored community events, which led to increased family involvement and exposure to the Center’s services, and decreased the stigma of treatment.
Ms. Wilber has written and managed more than $50 Million dollars in grants during her career. She has served as a Grant Reviewer for a number of Federal and State Agencies including the Center For Substance Abuse Treatment, Headstart and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
Ms. Wilber’s experience includes work as a Tribal Field Representative with the Minneapolis, Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a social worker with the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin and Adult Social Worker Supervisor with Menominee County Human Services in Wisconsin.
Sylvia has a Master’s Degree in Community Human Services and Bachelor’s Degree in Education, both from the University of Wisconsin. She resides both on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin and in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. | 