Indigenous Governance Database
Honoring Nations Reports
Tsigo bugeh Village (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo)
Restoring communal living through Pueblo-style housing, the Tsigo bugeh Village offers "traditional living with a modern touch" for Ohkay Owingeh citizens. Designed to honor a sense of community and place, Tsigo bugeh addresses Ohkay Owingeh’s urgent housing demands with 40 units for single and…
Oneida Nation Farms
In the 1820s, a portion of the Oneida people of New York moved to Wisconsin, where they took up their accustomed practices as farmers. Over the next hundred years, the Oneida Nation lost nearly all its lands and much of its own agrarian tradition. In 1978, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin established…
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Professional Empowerment Program
Across Indian Country, programs and businesses depend on skilled, committed, and responsible workers. However, some Indian citizens on reservations have limited experience in the workplace; little education; and face problems finding day care, adequate transportation, and other necessities.…
Yakama Nation Land Enterprise
In an effort to consolidate, regulate, and control Indian land holdings, the financially self-sustaining Yakama Nation Land Enterprise has successfully acquired more than 90% of all the fee lands within the Nation’s closed area — lands which were previously highly "checker-boarded." The Enterprise’…
Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Monitors Program
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is located on 2.3 million acres of land in the central regions of North and South Dakota. Land issues rose to the forefront of tribal concerns after events such as allotment, lands flooding after the Army Corps of Engineers built a series of dams adjacent to the Tribe…
Umatilla Public Transit
In most rural areas of America, if you do not have a car it is difficult to get around. Without transportation, people must depend on friends or family for rides. It can be tough to plan medical appointments, maintain work schedules, shop for necessities, or sign up for classes. The Confederated…
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Constitutional Reform
Tribal governments across the United States work tirelessly to provide their citizens with effective systems of governance. After years of failed assimilation attempts, the federal government imposed blanket political systems upon almost all tribes regardless of those systems’ effectiveness or…
Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways
The Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways is the caretaker of cultural heritage for the Saginaw Chippewa. The Center educates the Tribe’s citizens and the general public through its permanent and rotating exhibits, research center, repatriation efforts, art market, workshops, and…
NCAI Task Force on Violence Against Women
Recognizing and acting upon the belief that safety for Native women rests at the heart of sovereignty, leadership from Native nations joined with grassroots coalitions and organizations to create an ongoing national movement educating Congress on the need for enhancing the safety of Native women.…
Winnebago Community Development Fund
Establishing a framework for community development based on the goals of the government and its citizens, the Winnebago CDC Fund builds toward long-term development by matching funds for grants, building community projects, supplementing community infrastructure, increasing educational…
White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program
The White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program fulfills the dual role of performing all wildlife conservation and management and serving as a self-sustaining business enterprise based on the Tribe’s recreation/tourism industry. The program’s effective wildlife management techniques have…
Blackfeet Nation's Siyeh Corporation
For years the Blackfeet Nation struggled to create sustainable tribal enterprises that could produce revenue for the nation and meet the needs of its citizens for jobs and services. Many of these efforts did not succeed because of conflicts within the tribal government. In 1999, the Nation tried a…
Zuni Eagle Sanctuary
Responding to ceremonial needs for eagle feathers, in 1999, the Pueblo opened the first-ever Native American owned and operated eagle sanctuary. The award-winning facility provides a source of molted eagle feathers for Zuni while at the same time reviving the ancient practice of eagle husbandry.…
Jicarilla Apache's Wildlife and Fisheries Management Program
Recognized by state game and fish agencies as being one of the best of its kind, JGFD’s program includes a game and fish code and a wildlife management fund for habitat enhancement projects. The program restored the reservation’s mule deer population and trophy trout, and established a commercial…
Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council
The Yukon River runs for 2,300 miles across the northwestern corner of North America. Many generations of Native people have drawn on its waters for food, drink, and other necessities. Recent development and changes in land use have affected the quality of Yukon River water. In 1997, chiefs and…
Osage Nation Governmental Reform Initiative
At the turn of the 20th century, the US government abolished the 1881 Osage Nation Constitution and imposed rules for land ownership and citizenship. Many Osage citizens were disenfranchised and the Tribal Council was granted only limited powers, which lead to years of weak government, corruption,…
Swinomish Cooperative Land Use Program
Based on a memorandum of agreement between the Tribe and Skagit County, the Swinomish Cooperative Land Use Program provides a framework for conducting permitting activities within the boundaries of the "checkerboarded" reservation and offers a forum for resolving potential conflicts. The process,…
Lummi: Safe, Clean Waters
Governed by a five-member, independently elected board that includes two seats that are open to non-tribal fee land owners, the Lummi Tribal Sewer and Water District provides water, sanitary and sewer infrastructure, and service to 5,000 Indian and non-Indian residents living within the external…
Red Lake Walleye Recovery Project
Clearly demonstrating that tribal nations not only have the ability to make large scale achievements in resource conservation, but that they can do so with unprecedented success, the Red Lake Walleye Fishery Recovery Project has brought the walleye fish population back from virtual extinction to an…
Tulalip Alternative Sentencing Program
Born out of a need to create a judicial system that Tulalip citizens can trust and that also helps offenders to recover rather than just "throwing them away," the Tulalip Tribal Court Alternative Sentencing Program supports efforts to establish a crime free community. Focusing on the mental,…