Indigenous Governance Database
NNI and Harvard Project Research
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Professional Empowerment Program
Across Indian Country, programs and businesses depend on skilled, committed, and responsible workers. However, some Indian citizens on reservations have limited experience in the workplace; little education; and face problems finding day care, adequate transportation, and other necessities.…
Swinomish Cooperative Land Use Program
Based on a memorandum of agreement between the Tribe and Skagit County, the Swinomish Cooperative Land Use Program provides a framework for conducting permitting activities within the boundaries of the "checkerboarded" reservation and offers a forum for resolving potential conflicts. The process,…
Chickaloon Village: Ya Ne Dah Ah School
Dedicated to giving community youth the skills necessary for functioning in a modern world while retaining and facilitating traditional knowledge and practices, the Ya Ne Dah Ah is Alaska’s only tribally owned and operated full-time primary school and day care facility. Located in a one-room…
Rosebud Sioux Tribal Education Department and Code
Responding to disproportionately low academic attendance, achievement, and attainment levels, the Tribe created an education department (TED) in 1990 and developed a Code that regulates and coordinates various aspects of the tribal schools, public schools, and federally-funded Indian education…
Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission's Treaty Rights/National Forest MOU
The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), a tribally chartered intertribal agency, negotiated a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the US Forest Service that both recognizes and implements treaty-guaranteed hunting, fishing, and gathering rights under tribal regulations and…
The Ojibwe Language Program: Teaching Mille Lacs Band Youth the Ojibwe Language to Foster a Stronger Sense of Cultural Identity and Sovereignty
As part of its effort to assimilate American Indians into mainstream society, the federal government launched an assault on Native languages. For example, in the 1890s the government built twenty-five off-reservation boarding schools to which many Indian children were forcibly…
Umatilla Basin Salmon Recovery Project
The Umatilla Basin Salmon Recovery Project has successfully restored salmon to the Umatilla River, where they had been absent for nearly 70 years, while also protecting the local irrigated agriculture economy. Partnering with local irrigators and community leaders, the tribe undertook a…
Fond du Lac's Pharmacy On-Line Billing Initiative
In 1995, faced with rising pharmaceutical costs, limited Indian Health Service (IHS) funds, and an inability to bill and collect from third party insurers, the Human Services Division contracted with a private sector firm to design and implement a computerized pharmacy billing system. The first of…
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Constitutional Reform
Tribal governments across the United States work tirelessly to provide their citizens with effective systems of governance. After years of failed assimilation attempts, the federal government imposed blanket political systems upon almost all tribes regardless of those systems’ effectiveness or…
Red Lake Walleye Recovery Project
Clearly demonstrating that tribal nations not only have the ability to make large scale achievements in resource conservation, but that they can do so with unprecedented success, the Red Lake Walleye Fishery Recovery Project has brought the walleye fish population back from virtual extinction to an…
Winnebago's Whirling Thunder Wellness Program
To prevent and control the devastating effects of diabetes and substance abuse, in 1995, the Winnebago Tribe created the Whirling Thunder Wellness Program, which raises community awareness about diabetes and substance abuse, administers primary and secondary prevention services, and encourages…
The Ya Ne Dah Ah School (Chickaloon): Melding Traditional Teachings with Modern Curricula
For many generations, education in American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) communities has been controlled by sources external to the communities and the people themselves. Large bureaucratic agencies, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or public school systems overseen…
Coquille: Southwest Oregon Research Project (SWORP)
Driven by the belief that possessing historical documents and archival collections is essential for cultural self-determination, the Coquille Indian Tribe partnered with the University of Oregon and the Smithsonian Institution to launch the Southwest Oregon Research Project (SWORP) in 1995. Through…
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Charged with the overall management of its member tribes’ fisheries resources and advocating for the protection of treaty rights, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission’s (CRITFC) programs include fisheries enforcement, policy development and litigation support, fish marketing, and…
Choctaw Tribal Court System
Self-determination is the guiding principle behind all of the government initiatives undertaken by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. This nation has created a vibrant economy while investing resources into the preservation of Choctaw language and culture. At the heart of its success is its…
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…
San Carlos Apache Elders Cultural Advisory Council
The Elders Cultural Advisory Council was formed by a resolution of the San Carlos Tribal Council in 1993 to advise on culturally related matters, to consult with off-reservation entities, and to administer and oversee cultural preservation activities. As a source of traditional wisdom, the Elders…
The Chippewa Flowage Joint Agency Management Plan
The Joint Agency Management Plan brings together three governments — the Lac Courte Oreilles Band, the State of Wisconsin, and the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service — to co-manage the Chippewa Flowage, a 15,300-acre reservoir created in 1923 that inundated a tribal village. Taking into…
Miccosukee Tribe Section 404 Permitting Program
The reservation lands of the Miccosukee Tribe lie largely within the Everglades National Park. Development on these lands is subject to elaborate regulations by a host of federal agencies that hindered development and other uses of their lands by the Miccosukee people, including the building of…
Enhancing Government-to-Government Relationships (Grand Ronde)
The Intergovernmental Affairs Department has achieved positive intergovernmental relationships with federal, state, and local governments by pursuing a five-pronged strategy of communication, education, cooperation, contributions, and presence. Since the Department’s creation, the Tribe has raised…