community development

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A Conversation with Deron Marquez

Native Nations Institute (NNI) Co-founder Stephen Cornell sits down with Deron Marquez, former Tribal Chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (1999-2006), to discuss hot topics in Indian Country today. Subjects covered include per capita payments, Tribal disenrollment, education,…

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This Is What Capacity Looks Like: Building Development Muscle in Rural and Native Nation Communities

It is often said that rural and tribal communities and organizations need more capacity to fully engage or solve problems in their regions. But what, exactly, equals “capacity”? What key components of capacity need to be carefully and intentionally strengthened so that locally led organizations in…

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Navigating the ARPA: A Series for Tribal Nations. Episode 3: A Conversation with Bryan Newland - How Tribes Can Maximize their American Rescue Plan Opportunities

From setting tribal priorities, to building infrastructure, to managing and sustaining projects, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) presents an unprecedented opportunity for the 574 federally recognized tribal nations to use their rights of sovereignty and self-government to strengthen their…

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Navigating the ARPA: A Series for Tribal Nations. Episode 4: Strategic Planning and Implementation: How to Pick the Winners and Help Your Tribe

From setting tribal priorities, to building infrastructure, to managing and sustaining projects, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) presents an unprecedented opportunity for the 574 federally recognized tribal nations to use their rights of sovereignty and self-government to strengthen their…

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This Community Is Striving To Rebuild One Of The Poorest Places In America

This Community Is Striving To Rebuild One Of The Poorest Places In America

PINE RIDGE, South Dakota — Alan Jealous, a 27-year-old construction worker, dreamt of building and owning a home. Homeownership is the cornerstone of the American Dream. But for this citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation living on the Pine Ridge reservation, a community that regularly tops the list…

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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…

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Tsigo bugeh Village (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo)

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…

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Ak-Chin Community Council Task Force

Ak-Chin Community Council Task Force

Over the past few years, the citizens of the Ak-Chin Indian Community, located south of Phoenix, Arizona, have witnessed the land surrounding their reservation rapidly transform from fields into housing subdivisions. Worried about the impact on the reservation, the Ak-Chin Indian Community…

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Borrowing Trouble: Predatory Lending in Native American Communities

Borrowing Trouble: Predatory Lending in Native American Communities

With the collapse of the subprime mortgage lending market, predatory lending has become a significant national concern. In Native communities, however, predatory lending has been a major concern for years, since abusive lending practices have tended to proliferate more in minority and low-income…

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Determinants of Development Success in the Native Nations of the United States (English)

Determinants of Development Success in the Native Nations of the United States (English)

The poverty of indigenous North Americans, especially those living on reservations, has concerned Indian and federal policymakers for more than a century. After the treaty making phase and the establishment of the reservation system, federal policies to address Native poverty vacillated between…

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Determinantes de sucesso no desenvolvimentodas nacões Indígenas dos Estados Unidos (Portuguese)

Determinantes de sucesso no desenvolvimentodas nacoes Indígenas dos Estados Unidos (Portuguese)

A pobreza dos indígenas norte-americanos, principalmente daqueles que vivem nas reservas, tem preocupado os responsáveis pela definição de políticas indígenas e federais por mais de um século. Depois da fase de negociação dos tratados e do estabelecimento do sistema de reservas, as medidas…

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Determinantes del Éxito del desarrollo En las Naciones nativas de los Estados Unidos (Spanish)

Determinantes del Éxito del desarrollo En las Naciones nativas de los Estados Unidos (Spanish)

La pobreza de los indígenas norteamericanos, especialmente los que viven en las reservaciones, han preocupado ambos políticos Indígenas y Federales por más de un siglo. Después de la fase de la fabricación del tratado y del establecimiento del sistema de reservación, las políticas federales para…

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Patricia Riggs: Making Change Happen at Ysleta del Sur Pueblo

Patricia Riggs, Director of Economic Development at Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (YDSP), discusses how YDSP has developed and honed a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to ciutizen engagement over the past decade in order to ensure that the decisions the YDSP government make reflect and enact the will…

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From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "The Role of Bureaucracies in Nation Building"

Native leaders discuss the critical role that bureaucracies play in Native nations' efforts to achieve their nation-building and community development priorities.

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Greg Cajete: Indigenous Paradigm: Building Sustainable Communities

Greg Cajete, Director of Native American Studies at the University of Mexico, shares his more than three decades of work and research on Indigenous epistemologies for human and ecological sustainability, and discusses the need for scholars, academic institutions, and others to fully embrace these…

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Richard Jack: Engaging the Nation's Citizens and Effecting Change: The Lac du Flambeau Story

Richard Jack, Chairman of the Constitution Committee of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, discusses some of the struggles that he and his fellow committee members have encountered as they engage the Lac du Flambeau people on the topic of constitutional reform and the need…

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Ho-Chunk, Inc. CEO Receives Award from U.S. Department of Commerce Agency

Ho-Chunk, Inc. CEO Receives Award from U.S. Department of Commerce Agency

Lance Morgan launched the Ho-Chunk, Inc. in 1994 as the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Now the president and CEO is receiving the Advocate of the Year Award by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) at the end of this…

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Glimmers of hope on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

Glimmers of hope on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has become emblematic of rural poverty, neglect and the plight of struggling American Indians. But across the reservation, there are glimmers of hope and resistance against the monumental challenges the Lakota people face. In the case of Alice Phelps and the…

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Building better homes in Indian Country

Building better homes in Indian Country

There's no other house like it on the Oglala Sioux's 2 million-acre Pine Ridge Reservation: Its walls are insulated by 18-inch strawbales rather than plastic sheeting, and its radiant-floor heating is much cheaper than the typical propane or electric. A frost-protected shallow foundation inhibits…

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Winona LaDuke: Keep USDA Out of Our Kitchens

Winona LaDuke: Keep USDA Out of Our Kitchens

Native American author, educator, activist, mother and grandmother Winona LaDuke, Anishinaabekwe, is calling on tribes to relocalize food and energy production as a means of both reducing CO2 emissions and of asserting tribes' inherent right to live in accordance with their own precepts of the…