Kevin alongside Erica Heller (Community Builders), Ciara Ristig (NADO) and Brittany Sickler (EDA).
In April, Big Water Managing Director, Kevin Klingbeil traveled to Denver to present at the Collaborating, Innovating, Transforming: 2023 Economic Development Conference for the EDA Denver Region, an event hosted by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). He introduced the EDA-funded Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice and started outreach to bring together current and potential tribal/Native EDA grantees and economic development practitioners working in and with tribal communities to learn from each other and build capacity for project planning and securing and implementing project funds.
In addition to presenting alongside the coordinators of other EDA-funded communities of practice, including CoPs focused on Coal Communities and Economic Development Districts, Kevin delivered a separate presentation addressing the issue of tribal data sovereignty as well as the Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice as part of a comprehensive session involving distinguished speakers from the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition (Jael Kampfe and Gerald Sherman of Indigenous Impact), Sicangu Co./Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Michael Lapointe), the Center for Indian Country Development (Andrew Huff), Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (Bernadette Cuthair) and Lower Brule Sioux Tribe (Tim Azure).
