citizen education

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Wayne Ducheneaux: Working with Indigenous Governance

Wayne Ducheneaux II (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) sits down with Native Nations Institute to discuss his array of experiences working for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and in the work toward helping other Native Nations efforts with indigenous governance. A former Tribal Administrative…

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National Indian Education Study 2015

National Indian Education Study 2015

The National Indian Education Study (NIES) is administered as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to allow more in-depth reporting on the achievement and experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in grades 4 and 8. This report focuses primarily on two…

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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…

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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.…

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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…

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Navajo Methamphetamine Task Force

Navajo Methamphetamine Task Force

Taking a proactive stance on policy issues, options, and recommendations in the areas of prevention, treatment, and/or enforcement, the Methamphetamine Task Forces actively combat a tidal wave of destruction within their communities. Drawing upon education, community involvement, cultural…

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Menominee Community Center of Chicago

Menominee Community Center of Chicago

A unique partnership between an urban Indian center and a tribal government, the tribally funded Community Center serves nearly 500 Menominee tribal citizens living in the greater Chicago area. The Center and the tribal government work together to ensure that all of its citizens are actively…

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Per Capita Distributions of American Indian Tribal Revenues: A Preliminary Discussion of Policy Considerations

Per Capita Distributions of American Indian Tribal Revenues: A Preliminary Discussion of Policy Considerations

This paper examines policy considerations relevant to per capita distributions of tribal revenues. It offers Native nation leaders and citizens food for thought as they consider whether or not to issue per capita payments and, if they choose to do so, how to structure the distribution of funds and…

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Brenda Child: The Red Lake Nation: Laying a Solid Foundation for Constitutional Reform

In this informative interview with NNI's Ian Record, Brenda Child, a member of the Red Lake Constitution Reform Initiative Committee, discusses how the Committee has worked methodically to set in place a solid foundation upon which to engage Red Lake citizens about the Red Lake constitution and…

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Terry Janis: Citizen Engagement and Constitutional Change at the White Earth Nation (Q&A)

Terry Janis, former Project Manager for the White Earth Constitution Reform Project, fields questions from the audience about his specific role in White Earth's constitutional reform process. He stresses the need for those engaging in constitutional reform to be cognizant of the fact that a process…

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Terry Janis: Citizen Engagement and Constitutional Change at the White Earth Nation

Terry Janis (Oglala Lakota), former Project Manager of the White Earth Nation Constitution Reform Project, provides participants with a detailed overview of the multi-faceted approach to citizen engagement that the White Earth Nation followed as it worked to educate the White Earth people about the…

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Jim Gray and Patricia Riggs: Citizen Engagement: The Key to Establishing and Sustaining Good Governance (Q&A)

Presenters Jim Gray and Patricia Riggs field questions from audience members about the approaches their nations took and are taking to engage their citizens and seed community-based, lasting change. In addition, session moderator Ian Record offers a quick overview of some effective citizen…

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Ian Record: Citizen Engagement: The Key to Establishing and Sustaining Good Governance

For Native nations, establishing and sustaining the good governance necessary to determine and then achieve their strategic priorities hinges on citizen engagement: the ability of a nation and its government to consult and educate its citizens about the major decisions it makes and implements in…

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Jim Gray: The Role of Citizen Engagement in Nation Building: The Osage Story

Jim Gray, former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, provides an overview of how the Osage Nation completely overhauled its constitution and system of governance, sharing the strategies that Osage used to educate and engage its citizens in order to ensure that their new government reflected the…

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LeRoy Staples Fairbanks III: What I Wish I Knew Before I Took Office

Leroy Staples Fairbanks III, who serves on the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Council, discusses some of the hard stances he had to take in order to do his job well and also shares an overview of some of the major steps thatthe leech Lake Band has taken in order to govern more effectively and use its…

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James R. Gray: Rebuilding Osage Governance from the Ground Up

In this informative intervew with NNI's Ian Record, James R. Gray, former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation, details his nation's effort to design a new constitution and government from the ground up, and provides an overview of the thorough education and consultation process the nation developed…

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NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow: John Petoskey (Part 1)

In the first of two interviews conducted in conjunction with his tenure as NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow, John Petoskey, citizen and long-time General Counsel of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB), discusses how GTB has worked and continues to work to build and maintain…

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Honoring Nations: Mary Jo Bane: Preventive Health in Brazil

Harvard professor Mary Jo Bane frames the session "Building Great Programs in a Political Setting" with an intriguing case study of a preventive health care initiative in Brazil, illustrating that effective program management can be achieved even in a highly political governance environment.

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Honoring Nations: Myron Brown: Akimel O'odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council

Former President Myron Brown discusses how the Akimel O'odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council is an example of building a great program in a political setting, and shares how Gila River youth are having their political voice heard through this innovative leadership development mechanism.

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Constitutions and Constitutional Reform - Day 2 (Q&A)

Presenters from the second day of NNI's "Tribal Constitutions" seminar gather to field questions from seminar participants on a variety of topics ranging from citizen education and engagement to the role off-reservation citizens can and should play in a Native nation's present and future.