Honoring Nations Reports

Honoring Nations All-Stars Profile: Tohono O’odham Nursing Care Authority

Year

For many years, due to the Tohono O’odham Nation’s location in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and the sparse population, Nation members did not have ac-cess to reservation-based long-term or post-hospital care services. This was particularly true for O’odham elders. Elders admitted to the Sells Area Indian Health Service Hospital for acute care who subsequently required follow up long-term skilled nursing care or a place for post-hospital recovery were discharged to nursing home facilities in the Tucson, Arizona area. For most O’odham families, a visit to elder family members required a drive of ninety minutes or more—if trans-portation was available at all. Language and cultural barriers in these urban settings also became a major concern. The facility caregivers could not speak to these residents in the O’odham language, and O’odham residents were not offered traditional foods to eat, could not easily seek the assistance of medicine people, and were not able to spend their remaining days in the desert environment to which they were accustomed. While statistics are not readily available, it is not hard to conclude that placing an ill and frail O’odham elder in a foreign and isolating facility hastens further debilitation and death.Seeking change, the Tohono O’odham community members asked their government to find a way to provide good, culturally appropriate, and local care so that they could bring their elders home

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

Stout, Francis and Judith Dworkin. Honoring Nations All-Stars Profile: Tohono O’odham Nursing Care Authority. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2013.

Honoring Nations All-Stars Profile: The Red Lake Walleye Recovery Program

Year

In 1997, the members of the Red Lake Fisheries Association (RLFA), a cooperative established by com-mercial fishermen from the Red Lake Nation,1 voted to discontinue all commercial gillnet fishing on Red Lake for the upcoming season. An overwhelming majority of the RLFA’s members supported the decision, despite its direct impact on their livelihoods. Less than a year later, the Red Lake Tribal Council passed a resolution banning hook-and-line subsistence fishing for walleye, effectively ending all fishing on tribal waters. Hundreds of families lost income from the demise of commercial walleye fishing, and with the overall fishing ban, every tribal citizen lost access to a significant food source. But witnessing firsthand the stark decline of the walleye and recognizing that a vital cultural and economic resource was slipping away, the Red Lake Nation had taken a stand: it needed to do everything it could to save the walleye and make its iconic lake healthy again.

Resource Type
Citation

Dolan, Jamie; Ian Record; Miriam Jorgensen; and Eileen Briggs. "Honoring Nations All-Stars Profile: The Red Lake Walleye Recovery Program". Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2013.

Economic Development Corporation: Ho-Chunk, Inc. Winnebego Tribe of Nebraska

Year

Chartered under the laws of the Winnebago Tribe and wholly owned by the Tribe, Ho-Chunk, Inc. was launched in 1994 to diversify the Tribe’s business interests while maintaining a separation between business and tribal government. The general purpose company promotes economic self-sufficiency and creates jobs through its actively managed enterprises, joint ventures and passive investments, which include hotels, convenience stores, websites and an order fulfillment center.

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

"Economic Development Corporation: Ho-Chunk, Inc. Winnebego Tribe of Nebraska ." Honoring Nations: 2000 Honoree. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2000. Report.

Potawatomi Leadership Program

Year

Proud of the increasing number of citizens pursuing college degrees, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN) leaders became concerned that their talented students were not getting enough education in what it means to be Citizen Potawatomi. To nurture the nations’ future political leadership, the tribe launched the Potawatomi Leadership Program, which gives students an unforgettable “crash course” in CPN government, economy, and culture. In doing so, program graduates are armed withthe cultural and political knowledge they need to become the leaders they were born to be.

Native Nations
Resource Type
Topics
Citation

"Potawatomi Leadership Program." Honoring Nations: 2014 Honoree. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2011. Report.

Honoring Nations All-Stars Profile: Constitutional Reform Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Year
Forced relocations, loss of lands, and the economic necessity of moving away from home and community are common histories in Indian Country. Yet, despite these tragic circumstances, tribes continue to assert their sovereignty in order to improve the lives of their people. One of these remarkable stories comes from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN). In 2007, tired of bandaging a failing constitution that did not meet the cultural needs of the Nation, CPN citizens ratified a new governing document that resulted in a significant transfer of power and realigned the constitution to Citizen Potawatomi culture. The Nation moved from a five-member business committee with representatives only from Oklahoma to a sixteen-member legislative body with regional representatives for all CPN citizens, wherever they reside. In addition, it established checks and balances and further clarified roles and responsibilities within the governing system. Perhaps most important of all, it strengthened the Nation’s self-governance by removing the clause that required the US Secretary of the Interior to approve future changes to CPN’s constitution.
Native Nations
Resource Type
Topics
Citation

Honoring Nations All-Stars Profile: Constitutional Reform Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2013.

Oneida Advocacy Through Investment Holdings

Year

Thirty years ago, most Native nations in the U.S. had few financial resources available for investment. With the passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Public Law 93-638) in 1975, many tribes began to reclaim the governance of their nations – and with such assertions of self-determination came successful business enterprise development and thriving economies. Today, Native nations exercise their sovereignty and business savvy across a multitude of arenas, including health care, education, justice, and financial investment.

Resource Type
Citation

"Oneida Advocacy Through Investment Holdings." Honoring Nations: 2010 Honoree. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2011. Report.

Newtok Relocation Effort

Year

Scientists and politicians spend hours debating the facts of climate change, but in many places damaging changes to the local environment are already a reality. In the past decade, more and more human settlements have been threatened by catastrophic flooding, wildfires, or drought caused by variations in usual climate patterns. Climate change is already having devastating effects on Alaska; a 2003 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that flooding and erosion affect 86% of Alaska Native villages. Faced with deteriorating environmental conditions, residents of the traditional Yup’ik village of Newtok, Alaska decided to relocate and move the village to the site of the community’s summer camp, nine miles away from Newtok’s current location. Rather than wait for the United States or the state of Alaska to develop strategies to assist communities affected by climate change, Newtok took its future into its own hands. In doing so, they have become a model for others.

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

"Newtok Relocation Effort." Honoring Nations: 2010 Honoree. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2011. Report.

Leech Lake Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction

Year

Across Indian Country tribes are strengthening and better defining their governments in order to meet the unique needs of their communities. As Native nations work to expand their sovereign powers, tribal justice departments can play a critical role in achieving those goals. In the early 2000s, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe faced a rising crime rate. Because Minnesota is subject to Public Law 280, county and state agencies controlled the primary resources for law enforcement and judicial processing. But recidivism statistics for its tribal citizens showed that the state system was not addressing the problem. Despite its limited judicial infrastructure, the nation had a strong desire to intercede, and a strong commitment to holistic care rooted in traditional values. It was with this determination that Leech Lake set aside a history of interracial tension to work with neighboring counties to create a Wellness Court that helps people overcome their drug and alcohol addictions.

 

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

"Leech Lake Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction." Honoring Nations: 2010 Honoree. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2011. Report.

Project Pueblo: Economic Development Revitalization Project

Year

A strong economy is one of the foundations of a healthy community. Native nations use business profits and tax revenues to invest in areas such as health, education, culture, and public safety programs to meet the needs of tribal citizens. At the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, a sudden economic decline in the early 2000s forced the nation to re-examine the way in which business was being conducted on the reservation. The tribal government responded by launching Project Pueblo, a full-scale planning initiative that took a hard look at all aspects of their economy and government to find a new path forward.

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

"Project Pueblo: Economic Development Revitalization Project." Honoring Nations: 2010 Honoree. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2011. Report.

Treaty Rights/National Forest Memorandum of Understanding, Tribes of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission

Year

The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, a tribally chartered intertribal organization, negotiated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Forest Service that recognizes and implements treaty guaranteed hunting, fishing and gathering rights under tribal regulations and establishes a consultation process for management decisions that affect treaty rights in four National Forests located within areas ceded by the Chippewa in the Treaties of 1836, 1837 and 1842. 

Resource Type
Citation

"Treaty Rights/National Forest Memorandum of Understanding". Honoring Nations: 2000 Honoree. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2001. Report. 

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This Honoring Nations report is featured on the Indigenous Governance Database with the permission of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.