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ANCSA: A complete or incomplete story of sovereignty

Shortly after the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed into law in 1971, headlines started appearing in local newspapers that hinted at a growing confusion among Alaska Native communities: “Indian Country hard to define,” stated one Tundra Times edition. “ANCSA and tribalism?” asked another.…

Indigenous Governance Speaker Series: How to Build a Nation with Susan Masten (Yurok)

Susan Masten (Yurok), former Chairwoman and valuable leader of the Yurok Tribe, joins the Native Nations Institute's Executive Director, Joan Timeche (Hopi), for an engaging discussion on Native nation building, specifically, how she actually helped build the nation. She was critical to the…

Cherokee Nation '99 Constitution Incorporated Older Ideas

Before the Cherokee Nation 1999 Constitution was ratified by voters in 2003 and recognized by the federal government in 2006, the tribe was governed under different laws that required extensive input and oversight by Cherokees when they decided to rewrite the document in 1995. Under the 1975…

Balancing openness with Indigenous data sovereignty: An opportunity to leave no one behind in the journey to sequence all of life

The field of genomics has benefited greatly from its “openness” approach to data sharing. However, with the increasing volume of sequence information being created and stored and the growing number of international genomics efforts, the equity of openness is under question. The United Nations…

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…

Native Nation Building: It Helps Rural America Thrive

This second paper in the Aspen Institute's Thrive Rural Field Perspectives series shows that when tribes center sovereignty, Indigenous institutions and culture in their development processes they increase the probability of reaching their development goals and can build community wealth that is…

ANCSA at 50: America’s Forgotten Indigenous Rights Movement

Fifty years ago, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed into law. In one historic piece of legislation, Indigenous Alaskans’ claims to the land were extinguished and a new Indigenous legal landscape was formed. In exchange, Alaska Native communities received title to 44 million acres of…

The SEEDS of Indigenous population health data linkage

Globally, the ways that Indigenous data are collected, used, stored, shared, and analyzed are advancing through Indigenous data governance movements. However, these discussions do not always include the increasingly sensitive nature of linking Indigenous population health (IPH) data. During the…

The Impact of COVID-19 on Food Access for Alaska Natives in 2020

This chapter in the NOAA Arctic Report Card 2021 highlights: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges for Alaska Natives in accessing traditional and store-bought foods. The strength of Indigenous cultural and economic practices such as food sharing networks helped mitigate these…

Ch. 7: Tribal Nations as Key Players in Regional Rural Economies

Investing in Rural Prosperity Chapter 7: Native America x Rural America: Tribal Nations as Key Players in Regional Rural Economies

The seventh chapter in Investing in Rural Prosperity, "Native America x Rural America: Tribal Nations as Key Players in Regional Rural Economies", outlines the diversity of Native nations, including with respect to governmental structure and economic opportunity. It also explores the history and…

Policy Brief: Assessing the U.S. Treasury Department’s Allocations of Funding for Tribal Governments under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“the Act” or “ARPA”) has resulted in the single largest infusion of federal funding for Native America in U.S. history. The core of this funding is $20 billion for the more than 570 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal…

Return of the Red Lake Walleye (Ogaag bii azhe giiwewag)

The Native Nations Institute's film "Return of the Red Lake Walleye" is a 30-minute documentary that tells a compelling story of tribal sovereignty in practice. It chronicles the extraordinary effort of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians -- working together with the State of Minnesota and the…

Strengthening Financial Avenues in Native American Communities

Historically, Native communities defined currencies by their food, relationships, nature and tools to sustain a living. Over time, Native and Indigenous populations gave way to the use of paper money. These new social standards pushed them to adopt different ways to sustain their living, often,…

Vanessa Roanhorse Keynote Address: Native American Youth Entrepreneurship Program 2021

Vanessa Roanhorse (Navajo) is the CEO of Roanhorse Consulting, an Indigenous women-led think tank that co-designs wealth and power-building efforts that invest in Indigenous entrepreneurs. She is also the co-founder of Native Women Lead, a national organization dedicated to growing Native women…

Navigating the ARPA: A Series for Tribal Nations. Episode 1: How Tribal Governments Can and Can't use ARPA

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provides the largest single infusion of federal funding into Indian Country in the history of the United States. More than $32 billion is directed toward assisting American Indian nations and communities as they work to end and recover from the devastating COVID-…

Navigating the ARPA: A Series for Tribal Nations. Episode 2: How Tribes Can Avoid Leaving $12 Billion on the Table

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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