Indigenous Governance Database
Leadership
Leroy LaPlante, Jr.: Effective Bureaucracies and Independent Justice Systems: Key to Nation Building
In this informative interview with NNI's Ian Record, Leroy LaPlante, Jr., former chief administrative officer with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and a former tribal judge, offers his thoughts on what Native nation bureaucracies and justice systems need to have and need to do in order to support…
Paulette Jordan: Engaging the Nation's Citizens and Effecting Change: The Coeur d'Alene Story
Paulette Jordan, citizen and council member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in Idaho, discusses the importance of Native nation leaders being grounded in their culture and consulting the keepers of the culture (their elders) so that they approach the leadership challenges they face with the proper…
John "Rocky" Barrett: Constitutional Reform and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Path to Self-Determination
In this wide-ranging interview with NNI's Ian Record, longtime chairman John "Rocky" Barrett of the Citizen Potwatomi Nation provides a rich history of CPN's long, difficult governance odyssey, and the tremendous strides that the nation has made socially, economically, politically, and culturally…
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…
Luann Leonard, Stephen Roe Lewis and Walter Phelps: Bridging the Gap: How Native Culture Forges Native Leaders
Luann Leonard (Hopi), Stephen Roe Lewis (Gila River Indian Community), and Walter Phelps (Navajo) discuss how their personal approaches to leadership have been and continue to be informed by their Native nations' distinct cultures and core values and those keepers of the culture in their…
Peterson Zah: Native Nation Building: The Place of Education
Dr. Peterson Zah, former Chairman and President of the Navajo Nation, discusses the importance of higher education in empowering Native nations' efforts to achieve their nation-building goals. He also discusses the Navajo Nation Permanent Trust Fund as an example of the strategic orientation that…
Suzan Shown Harjo: Five Decades of Fighting for Tribal Sovereignty and Self-Determination
In this wide-ranging interview, longtime Native American rights advocate Suzan Harjo discusses her involvement in the development and ratification of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the legislation creating the National…
Arlene Templer: Engaging the Nation's Citizens and Effecting Change: The Salish and Kootenai Story
Arlene Templer, Department of Human Resource Development Director for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), discusses what prompted CSKT to develop the Department of Human Resource Development and how the department works to cultivate self-sufficiency in CSKT citizens and…
Robert Yazzie: Traditional Principles of Leadership
Former Chief Justice Robert Yazzie of the Navajo Nation Supreme Court provides an overview of the traditional Diné governance system and specifically the leadership principles that Diné leaders relied upon to make sound, informed, strategic decisions in consultation with and on behalf of…
Adam Geisler: What I Wish I Knew Before I Took Office
Adam Geisler, Secretary of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, discusses the diverse set of challenges he faces as an elected leader of his nation and discusses some of the innovative ways that he, his leadership colleagues, and his nation have worked to overcome those challenges. He…
LeRoy Staples Fairbanks III and Adam Geisler: What I Wish I Knew Before I Took Office (Q&A)
Leroy Staples Fairbanks III and Adam Geisler field questions from the audience about the role of education in nation building. The discussion focuses on the importance of Native people being grounded in their culture and language, and where and how that education can and should take place.
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…
Chris Hall: Cultivating Constitutional Change at Crow Creek
Native Nations Institute's Ian Record conducted an informative interview with Chris Hall, a citizen of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and a member of Cohort 4 of the Bush Foundation's Native Nation Rebuilders program. Hall discusses Crow Creek's current effort to reform its constitution and the…
The Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development course series
This short video provides a comprehensive overview of NNI's "Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development distance-learning course series. The curriculum examines the critical governance and development challenges facing Native nations and surveys the breadth and…
Ruben Santiesteban and Joni Theobald: Choosing Our Leaders and Maintain Quality Leadership: The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Ruben Santiesteban and Joni Theobald of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians provide an overview of how Lac du Flambeau developed a new approach to cultivating and then selecting quality leaders to lead the Band to a brighter future.
Honoring Nations: Oren Lyons: Governing Our Way to a Brighter Future
Onondaga Chief and Faithkeeper Oren Lyons shares his perspective on why governance matters to the sovereignty and long-term prosperity of Indigenous peoples, and stresses the importance of adhering to the long-taught instructions that have ensured the survival of those peoples to this day.
Honoring Nations: Jeanette Clark Cassa: San Carlos Apache Elders Cultural Advisory Council
Jeanette Cassa (1929-2004), Coordinator of the San Carlos Apache Elders Cultural Advisory Council (ECAC), discusses ECAC's work and the traditional Apache core values that its member elders work to instill in the younger generations of Apache people. She also stresses the importance of tribal…
Honoring Nations: Gregory Mendoza: Akimel O'odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council
Gila River Indian Community Governor Gregory Mendoza, formerly the director of the Akimel O'odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council, provides a history of this trend-setting example of innovative governance and discusses the many different ways that it strengthens the Gila River Indian Community.
Honoring Nations: Julie Wilson: Child Welfare in Indian Country
Scholar Julie Wilson opens the session "Family Strengthening in Indian Country" with a discussion of recent research conducted by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development that explores the role families play in improving child and community welfare in Indian Country, highlighting…
NNI Indigenous Leadership Fellow: Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell (Part 1)
Grand Chief Michael Mitchell of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne provides an overview of the nation-building work his nation has engaged in over the past four decades, from its decision to move away from the Indian Act to its systematic development of capable governing institutions designed to…