Edna Paisano

Paisano was born on the Nez Perce Reservation in Sweetwater, Idaho on January 1, 1948. She was one of four children, including an older sister who died in early adulthood. Paisano attended school in Lapwai, Idaho, and spent two years at Boise College. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1971. ==Student activism==

During her time at the University of Washington, she worked as part of a successful effort to found an American Indian cultural center in Fort Lawton. Fort Lawton had not been ceded to the United States government, and when the military base was downsized, a movement of Seattle Indians sought to acquire land in accordance with treaty provisions. During their occupation of the land in 1970, dozens were arrested and briefly imprisoned, including Paisano. The building of the Daybreak Star Cultural Center was completed in 1977. ==Career==

Paisano's first job in the federal government was working on the federal Head Start program, with Indian tribes nationally. There Paisano studied why Native American communities were being dramatically under-counted in the United States census, which caused them to receive disproportionately few government resources and services. After 20 years at the Census Bureau, Paisano took a job with the Environmental Protection Agency. After a year, she began serving as principal statistician of the Indian Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services. Paisano retired from the federal government in 2011 and returned to Sweetwater. She died on September 3, 2014, in Lewiston, Idaho. ==Selected awards==

• Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1987 ==Selected works==

• We the First Americans, US Census Bureau report, 1993 • We the Americans: Pacific Islanders, US Census Bureau report, 1993 • We the American-Asians, US Census Bureau report, 1993 ==References==