News and Opinion

ANCSA at 50: America’s Forgotten Indigenous Rights Movement

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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 land and roughly $1 billion dollars. These assets were to be overseen by 12 regional corporations and more than 200 village corporations. Only Alaska Natives could become the shareholders of these corporations, which were instructed to simultaneously make a profit, oversee traditional lands, and provide social services to their shareholders.

There are no other corporations like the Alaska Native corporations, and there is no other place in Indian Country with this legal setup. Today, the complex act impacts almost every aspect of Alaska Native life, and yet there has been little reporting on its long-term impacts. Indian Country Today’s ANCSA at 50 series aims to change that.

This is the first article in this series by Indian Country Today , "ANCSA at 50".

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Citation

Sullivan, Megan. “America’s Forgotten Indigenous Rights Movement.” Indian Country Today, 4 Jan. 2022. Retrieved from: https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/americas-forgotten-indigenous-right…

 

 

Strengthening Financial Avenues in Native American Communities

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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, outside their reservations and communities, which may be critical in building wealth.

Many studies and reports point to poor choices, failure to conform to government policies and lack of knowledge on managing funds as reasons Native communities remain in poverty, which may not be the case. Several factors may contribute to money challenges Natives face in their communities. Learning more about how some Native communities build wealth and the financial challenges they face can help create a more equitable financial foundation for communities across the country...

Native Nations
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Citation

Bolton, D. J. (2021, May 27). Strengthening Financial Avenues in Native American Communities. Money Geek. Retrieved from: https://www.moneygeek.com/financial-planning/financial...

Why culture and institutions matter to developing a tribal workforce

Year

In its multi-year project examining tribal workforce development approaches across the country, NCAI’s Partnership for Tribal Governance (PTG) worked to identify and document key foundational strategies that are empowering tribal innovation and, in turn, workforce development success. Distilling lessons learned from that endeavor, PTG identified 15 strategic considerations that tribal leaders, workforce development practitioners, and other decision-makers must tackle as they craft workforce development approaches capable of achieving their definition of what “success” looks like for tribal citizens and the nation as a whole.

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NCAI’s Partnership for Tribal Governance. 2018. "Why culture and institutions matter to developing a tribal workforce." Indian Country Today. August 13, 2018. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/opinion/why-culture-and-institu… 

Cherokee Nation '99 Constitution Incorporated Older Ideas

Producer
Tahlequah Daily Press
Year

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 Constitution, the tribe was required to ask its citizens in 20 years whether the law should be amended, edited, or reworked through a constitutional convention. After it was overwhelmingly endorsed by CN citizens, the tribe created the Constitution Convention Commission in 1998 to discern what changes should be made.

Native Nations
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Citation

Crawford, Grant D. "CN '99 Constitution Incorporated Older Ideas". Sept. 8, 2019. Tahlequah Daily Press. Retrieved from https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/cn-99...

Sharing the Wealth

Author
Producer
Native Science Report
Year

In recent years, there has been increased discussion of Universal Basic Income (UBI) programs for the US. In fact, one of the Democratic candidates for president has championed the UBI program as an important component of his platform. UBI in its simplest form is a cash-transfer program that provides a guaranteed amount of income to recipients without any minimum income conditions, verification of unemployment status, or the presence of household children. Cash-transfer programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), unemployment insurance (UI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) may require verification of several of those conditions described above. UBI, in contrast, sends government funds to all households regardless of their financial needs, employment conditions, or family composition. The rationale is that a basic level of income will provide households with resources that will allow them to make decisions unconstrained by government bureaucracy. A household may spend the money in areas where it needs it most – childcare, rent, health care, or anything else...

People
Native Nations
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Citation

Akee, R. (2019, November 5). Sharing the wealth. Native Science Report. https://nativesciencereport.org/2019/11/sharing-the-wealth/

Constitution proposed for Cherokee

Author
Producer
Smoky Mountain News
Year

Cherokee voters will have the chance to give their nation a long-awaited constitution if Tribal Council approves a referendum question proposed for the September ballot. 

“Right now we don’t have a constitution. We have a charter, and a charter is for an organization, a corporation or something of that nature,” said Lloyd Arneach, leader of a working group that has spent the past two years developing a proposed constitution. “A constitution is for a government, and for the tribe to continue to operate in the future, we need to be on even footing as a government-to-government relationship with state government, with county government, with federal government.”

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Kays, Holly. "Constitution proposed for Cherokee." Smoky Mountain News. February 20, 2019. https://smokymountainnews.com/news/item/26415-constitution-proposed-for…  

Why citizen engagement and assessment matter to developing a tribal workforce

Year

Distilling lessons learned from that endeavor, PTG identified 15 strategic considerations that tribal leaders, workforce development staff, and other decision-makers must tackle as they craft workforce development approaches capable of achieving their definition of what “success” looks like for tribal citizens and the nation as a whole. These mission critical aspects of workforce development have a direct bearing on the ability of tribal workforce development approaches to make a transformative, sustainable difference. The following explores two of those considerations: citizen engagement and assessment.

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NCAI PTG. 2018."Why citizen engagement and assessment matter to developing a tribal workforce." Indian Country Today. August 28, 2018. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/opinion/why-citizen-engagement-…

Closing the loop and advancement are key to developing tribal workforces

Year

Distilling lessons learned from that endeavor, PTG identified 15 strategic considerations that tribal leaders, workforce development staff, and other decision-makers must tackle as they craft workforce development approaches capable of achieving their definition of what “success” looks like for tribal citizens and the nation as a whole. These mission critical aspects of workforce development have a direct bearing on the ability of tribal workforce development approaches to make a transformative, sustainable difference. The following explores two of those considerations: closing the loop and advancement.

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Citation

NCAI PTG. 2018."Closing the loop and advancement are key to developing tribal workforces." Indian Country Today. September 11, 2018. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/opinion/closing-the-loop-and-ad… 

Tribal Workforce Development: A Decision-Framing Toolkit

Year

This toolkit shares the main findings of NCAI’s multi-year research project examining the innovative approaches to workforce development that tribal nations along with Native organizations and tribal colleges and universities are forging, how they are achieving success (as they define it), and why. The project seeks to answer the following questions:

  • How are tribal nations working to create reliable, sustainable career – not just job – opportunities for tribal citizens that directly advance the long-term goals of the nations to which those citizens belong?
  • How are they investing in and preparing tribal citizens to succeed in particular careers that their nations need, and how are they creating pathways for those citizens to provide their nations meaningful returns on that investment?

To date, the project has produced a policy brief outlining 28 key ways that the federal government can support and empower tribal innovation in workforce development, as well as four in-depth case studies of leading tribal workforce development approaches. The following explores two of those considerations: removing obstacles and targeted solutions.

Native Nations
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NCAI Partnership for Tribal Governance. Tribal Workforce Development: A Decision-Framing Toolkit. Washington, D.C.: National Congress of American Indians. 2018.

Partnerships and sustainability are key to developing tribal workforces

Year

Distilling lessons learned from that endeavor, PTG identified 15 strategic considerations that tribal leaders, workforce development staff, and other decision-makers must tackle as they craft workforce development approaches capable of achieving their definition of what “success” looks like for tribal citizens and the nation as a whole. These mission critical aspects of workforce development have a direct bearing on the ability of tribal workforce development approaches to make a transformative, sustainable difference. The following shares the final two considerations explored in the toolkit: partnerships and sustainability.

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NCAI PTG. 2018. "Partnerships and sustainability are key to developing tribal workforces." Indian Country Today. September 17, 2018. https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/news/partnerships-and-sustainab…