Indigenous Governance Database
NNI and Harvard Project Research
Treaty Rights/National Forest Memorandum of Understanding, Tribes of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
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…
Oneida Advocacy Through Investment Holdings
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…
Project Pueblo: Economic Development Revitalization Project
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…
Newtok Relocation Effort
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…
Leech Lake Joint Tribal-State Jurisdiction
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…
Leadership Institute at the Santa Fe Indian School
Founded in 1997, the Leadership Institute at the Santa Fe Indian School aims to create a dynamic learning environment in which community members not only learn and teach, but are able to actively contribute to the success of their nations. Four themes guide the Institute’s work: leadership,…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Land Title and Records Office
With the ultimate goal of seeing a time when Native people and nations once again own and manage the land within the boundaries of every reservation as well as those lands that are culturally important to them beyond reservations, the Tribal Land Title and Records Office keeps all records and…
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…
Poeh Center: Sustaining and Constructing Legacies (Pojoaque Pueblo)
Faced with the common challenge of raising funds for construction of a cultural center and museum, the Tribal Council created the Pojoaque Pueblo Construction Services Corporation in 1993. The Corporation’s chartering mandate was to generate revenues for cultural activities and to oversee the…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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,…
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…
Rosebud Sioux Tribal Education Department and Code
Responding to disproportionately low academic attendance, achievement, and attainment levels, the Tribe created an education department (TED) in 1990 and developed a Code that regulates and coordinates various aspects of the tribal schools, public schools, and federally-funded Indian education…