Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Advocating for Native American People (Part 3 of 4)
Rachel Byington (l) and her husband Tim Fish interface between Wisconsin’s tribes and main stream institutions.
by Jonathan Gramling
While they probably wouldn’t refer to themselves this way, Rachel Byington and Tim Fish are a power couple in the Native American community, always advocating for Native people through their research and work. Byington, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, was born and raised in Madison and went to Madison public schools. Fish is a transplant from the Muscogee Nation, also located in Oklahoma.
They are a couple with a lot in common. They both worked for MMSD’s Title VII program at one point, earned their master’s degrees and Ph.D.s from UW-Madison and are now tribal liaisons, both working in their own way towards improving conditions for Native Americans in Wisconsin.
After working as a social worker for Journey Mental Health, he was approached by the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology to be an instructor in their program. Fish accepted and began teaching. And then the chair of the school approached Fish with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“They offered me a teaching position and also entrance into their Ph.D. program,” Fish recalled. “They said that I could continue teaching and start working on my Ph.D. I accepted that offer. I couldn’t pass that up. But I would need another master’s degree because the master’s degree that I had was a professional, terminal degree. And so I needed an academic master’s degree to continue on with my Ph.D. So along the way, I have a second master’s degree. I earned that in 2022.”
Working with Native students when he was the MMSD Title VII coordinator proved to be an excellent academic resource for Fish.
“I did my dissertation on looking at how media use promoted civic identity development for American Indian youth,” Fish said. “From that, I did a class in creative analysis between reservation-based youth and urban-based youth. It was all of those youth whom I worked with when I was working in the school district. And when I was getting my Ph.D., I worked with some Ojibwe youth in Northern Wisconsin in a media program. I interviewed them as well. I was able to create a theoretical framework. And I called it ‘Positive Tribal
Youth Development.’ And it’s putting civic identity formation into an Ojibwe epistemology or world view. And I used an Ojibwe philosophy called Mino Bimaadiziwin, which means The Good Life. And it really translates on community engagement and the idea of identity formation for Ojibwe youth. And that became my theoretical foundation for this Positive Tribal Youth Development theoretical framework that I used for my dissertation.”
In May 2024, Fish graduated and received his Ph.D. For the commencement ceremony at Camp Randall Stadium, Fish was chosen to be the school’s flag bearer, leading the SOHE students onto the field.
Fish ventured out into the private sector and became a tribal liaison for a healthcare company. And it involved a lot of the skills he had learned along the way, listening before you speak.
“I’ve learned along the way that advocating for tribal people, at the center, it’s a lot of listening and you really have to be willing to learn and be willing to put yourself out there when you need to, but also know when to step back,” Fish said. “Those are all important lessons I learned along the way and things have come full circle for me. And I believe I’m right where I need to be today. And who knows what the future is going to hold.”
Fish has also come full circle in a way. From a youth with multiple unmet needs growing up on a reservation in Oklahoma, he was now a man who had earned his doctorate working to help youth and adults on reservations in Wisconsin access the healthcare system.
“When I was young, I remember the only healthcare system we had was Indian Health Service,” Fish recalled. “That was up on the top of the hill when I grew up. At that time, they didn’t really have preventative care. So a lot of the young people, if they had dental issues, they didn’t give you tooth fillings. They pulled your teeth. And so a lot of people my age, when I go back home, my friends don’t have teeth. It’s due to the quality of care. But things are changing. I bring that up because it’s kind of like the attitudes of Indian people towards Indian healthcare, they really don’t take advantage of other healthcare benefits like Medicare and Medicaid.”
And Fish is very honored also to be able to advocate for and work with tribal elders.
“I advocate for tribal elders and try to educate them on taking advantage of Medicaid and Medicare benefits and what that means for them,” Fish said. “These are entitlement programs and if they are eligible for them, they should be taking advantage of them to increase the overall quality of care they can receive. It expands their network of healthcare providers. It gives them more options for their own healthcare. And so I get to step into that space and help them navigate the world. And I know along the way, I am helping them and I get to advocate for their needs. And I find that very rewarding. Tribal elders are valued in our tribal communities. And so I find it very worthwhile to be able to advocate for tribal elders and helping our tribal communities.”
Dr. Tim Fish has come full circle driven by his insatiable appetite for knowledge, growing from a child whose education was discouraged by the system to someone with a doctorate serving Native people, helping the system work for their advantage.
And Fish hasn’t stopped learning. He’s currently working on his third master’s degree, this time in healthcare education. Who knows where Fish’s educational pursuits will take him in improving the lives of Native people in Wisconsin and beyond.
Next Issue: The Road to a Ph.D. and Beyond
