Honoring Nations Reports

Thumbnail or cover image
Gila River Indian Community Air Quality Program

Gila River Indian Community Air Quality Program

In recent years, tribal governments in the United States have passed sophisticated laws and regulations to manage social and economic development in their communities. Although air quality is an important aspect of both economic growth and human health, very few Native nations have successfully…

Thumbnail or cover image
Fond du Lac Off-Reservation Indian Foster Care

Fond du Lac Off-Reservation Indian Foster Care

By creatively reacting to state laws regarding foster home licensing, the Band established a foster care agency that dramatically reduced the number of Indian children in non-Indian foster care while simultaneously increasing the number of Indian children in Indian foster care. The agency has…

Thumbnail or cover image
Red Lake Walleye Recovery Project

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…

Thumbnail or cover image
Fond du Lac's Pharmacy On-Line Billing Initiative

Fond du Lac's Pharmacy On-Line Billing Initiative

In 1995, faced with rising pharmaceutical costs, limited Indian Health Service (IHS) funds, and an inability to bill and collect from third party insurers, the Human Services Division contracted with a private sector firm to design and implement a computerized pharmacy billing system. The first of…

Thumbnail or cover image
Mille Lacs' Small Business Development Program

Mille Lacs' Small Business Development Program

The Small Business Development Program assists Band members in developing the private sector economy by providing low-interest loans up to $75,000 to businesses that are at least 60 percent owned and operated by Band members located on or near the Reservation. The Program offers both "micro" loans…

Thumbnail or cover image
Water Quality Standards (Sandia)

Water Quality Standards (Sandia)

Responding to the severe contamination of the Rio Grande River that threatens human health and ceremonial uses of the water, the Pueblo was awarded "treatment as state" status in 1990. Subsequently, the Pueblo developed and implemented US EPA approved water quality standards that give it control…

Thumbnail or cover image
Tulalip Alternative Sentencing Program

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,…

Thumbnail or cover image
Winnebago Community Development Fund

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…

Thumbnail or cover image
Yakama Nation Land Enterprise

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’…

Thumbnail or cover image
Mille Lacs Ojibwe Language Program

Mille Lacs Ojibwe Language Program

Created in 1995, this tribally funded program serves 350 students (from toddlers to teenagers) and uses elder-youth interaction, song books, and comic books to teach the Ojibwe language. In addition, the Program broadcasts language classes to local public schools in an effort to teach the Ojibwe…

Thumbnail or cover image
Pte Hca Ka, Inc. (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe)

Pte Hca Ka, Inc. (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe)

This tribally chartered corporation developed a culturally compatible management system for reestablishing buffalo as a focal point for socio-economic development, community cohesion, and self-determination. Pte Hca Ka, Inc. operates a mobile meat processing facility, and is currently seeking…

Thumbnail or cover image
Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways

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…

Thumbnail or cover image
Chickaloon Village: Ya Ne Dah Ah School

Chickaloon Village: Ya Ne Dah Ah School

Dedicated to giving community youth the skills necessary for functioning in a modern world while retaining and facilitating traditional knowledge and practices, the Ya Ne Dah Ah is Alaska’s only tribally owned and operated full-time primary school and day care facility. Located in a one-room…

Thumbnail or cover image
Trust Resource Management (Salish and Kootenai)

Trust Resource Management (Salish and Kootenai)

For more than three decades, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) have been building capable governing institutions and taking over management of resources and programs previously managed by outsiders. Recognizing that self-management both allows the tribal government to determine its…

Thumbnail or cover image
Project Falvmmichi (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

Project Falvmmichi (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

"It is not cool to hit or be hit" is the straightforward motto of Project Falvmmichi, a school-based program of the Choctaw Nation designed to tackle the problem of domestic violence. The program teaches elementary school students positive ways to deal with anger and resolve conflicts. Today, more…

Thumbnail or cover image
Lummi: Safe, Clean Waters

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…

Thumbnail or cover image
Oneida Nation Farms

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…

Thumbnail or cover image
White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program

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…

Thumbnail or cover image
Navajo's Pine Hill Health Center

Navajo's Pine Hill Health Center

In the Ramah Chapter of the Navajo Nation–as in many parts of Indian Country–late detection of breast cancer leads to disproportionally high rates of breast cancer mortality. Ramah Navajo’s Pine Hill Health Center devised a creative response: it launched a series of "Mammo Days," educational and…

Thumbnail or cover image
Zuni Eagle Sanctuary

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.…