Highlights from recent projects help tell the story of how and where we work.
White Earth Nation Comprehensive Planning Initiative
Ogema, Minnesota
In an effort to promote greater collaboration between Tribal programs and their partners, the White Earth Nation (through the White Earth Housing Authority) is launching the White Earth Nation Comprehensive Planning Initiative. This Tribe-wide comprehensive planning process will begin with relationship-building and information-sharing meetings and activities aimed at enhancing coordination and collaboration between Tribal programs. Based on decisions made by the programs and stakeholders involved in the initial phase of the planning process, these efforts will likely lead to more extensive coordination and collaboration between programs and ongoing planning-related activities.
Klamath Tribal Community Needs Assessment
Chiloquin, Oregon
The Klamath Tribes launched the Klamath Tribal Community Needs Assessment to gather and analyze comprehensive data that reflects the needs and priorities of Klamath Tribal members and their families. By collecting accurate, up-to-date information about community demographics, housing conditions, educational attainment, employment statuses, income levels, transportation habits, and community priorities through a variety of methods, the Klamath Tribes aimed to strengthen their data collection capacity and create a portfolio of information that Tribal leadership, departments and programs can use to support collaborative, data-driven decision making.
Wisconsin Statewide Native Market Study
Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin
This project will be conducted as part of the Wisconsin Native Loan Fund’s broader statewide effort to strengthen Native homeownership, small business development, and traditional arts economies. The market study will combine new, community-informed data collection with a stakeholder-driven process engaging tribal members, Native entrepreneurs and artists, Native CDFIs, and partner organizations in Wisconsin. The findings will highlight shared opportunities and support more responsive, culturally grounded loan programs and financial education curriculum statewide.
Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice
This community of Practice brings together current and potential EDA tribal grantees to build capacity for project planning and implementation via training and technical assistance for indigenous communities, and to facilitate expanded access to EDA’s economic development funding opportunities for tribes.
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana Health & Housing Needs Assessment
Great Falls, Montana
This project will take place as a part of a larger statewide Tribal health and housing study that will incorporate new data collection in Tribal and Native communities and an overarching stakeholder-driven framework of meetings, discussion sessions and working groups involving Tribes, Tribal programs, Native organizations and the agencies and organizations serving and supporting Tribal and Native communities to revisit outdated approaches, foster innovation and advance more proactive policies.
Eastern Shoshone Children's Lodge Feasibility Assessment
Fort Washakie, Wyoming
The Eastern Shoshone Children's Lodge is a new tribally owned development on the Wind River Reservation that serves as a temporary home for children placed into protective custody. The focus of the Economic Feasibility Assessment will be to provide insights and recommendations to support the lodge’s programmatic operations.
Northern Cheyenne Health and Housing Needs Assessment
Lame Deer, Montana
The Northern Cheyenne Health and Housing Needs Assessment is a comprehensive study conducted to identify the most pressing needs of the residents of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
Dry Creek Community Needs and GIS Mapping
Santa Rosa, California
The Dry Creek Community Needs Assessment and GIS Mapping Project has been set in motion to assist the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians in collecting relevant, accurate, and comprehensive data about the characteristics, demographic trends, and other needs of both the community and physical environment of the Band.
Statewide Native Veterans Housing Needs and Homeownership Study
South Dakota
This project aimed to collect data from Native veterans representing all nine tribes in the state of South Dakota to better identify the barriers to housing and services faced by veterans across the state. In doing so, programs and funding avenues could be intentionally tailored to meet the specific and unique needs of each community.
Tulalip Tribes of Washington Community Needs Assessment
Tulalip, Washington
The Tulalip Tribes Community Needs Assessment was set in motion to assist the Tulalip Tribes in collecting relevant, accurate, and comprehensive data about the characteristics, demographic trends, and other needs of Tulalip Tribal member households in Snohomish County, Washington. The project presents an exciting opportunity to shape housing, health, education, cultural, and economic development strategies that meet the collective needs of Tulalip community members.
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Housing Study and Needs Assessment
Warm Springs, Oregon
This study will provide the background necessary to develop a comprehensive housing plan that meets the needs of current and future community members. The household survey seeks to gather accurate information about the residents and households of the Warm Springs Reservation while additional surveys for reservation youth, employees, and tribal members living off-reservation round-out the storytelling effort.
Cow Creek Housing Needs Assessment
The Cow Creek Housing Needs Assessment seeks to answer this key question: what are the housing needs of Cow Creek members both inside and outside of the Tribe’s seven-county service area?
The project involved not only a household survey distributed to all Cow Creek member households (within and without the Tribe’s service area), but also an employer survey that sought input from major Roseburg employers to learn more about housing shortage in the broader community, and interviews with knowledgeable parties from Tribal and municipal leadership.
Native Action Network Native Women’s Leadership Survey
Seattle, Washington
Native Action Network is conducting the Native Women’s Leadership survey to collect qualitative and quantitative information from Native women throughout Washington state interested in all forms of leadership. These include all levels of government, business, nonprofits, activism, and community leadership. Native Action Network will use this information to strengthen and develop its programs supporting Native women’s leadership, to identify opportunities and barriers, to facilitate mentorship and partnership opportunities, and to build a sisterhood of Native woman leaders in the state of Washington.
CDFI Fund’s New Markets Tax Credit Native Initiative
The NMTC Program Native Initiative is an effort to increase New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investment in NMTC Native Areas. The Market Research Report identifies and reviews existing research and data on the unique history, challenges, industries, actors, and available funding and capital sources that shape how tribes and Native actors successfully participate in community economic development.
Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe Enrollment Projections
Port Gamble, Washington
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s Enrollment Eligibility Committee wanted to consider changes to the current member enrollment eligibility criteria and provide recommendations to the Tribal Council. Through the generation and analysis of Tribal population projections under various eligibility requirements, the Committee helped the demographers conduct a survey and collect relevant information including member blood quantum, birth location, current location, fertility, and life expectancy data.
Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Census & Community Needs Assessment
Ashland, Wisconsin
In an assertion of Tribal Sovereignty, the Bad River Band initiated the Bad River Tribal Census and Community Needs Assessment during the autumn of 2022 and concluded data collection in the early spring of 2023. The Bad River Tribal Census and Community Needs Assessment Survey utilized mixed methods, including in person and online surveys, key informant interviews, and focus groups.
Nch'i Wana Community Needs Assessment
Nch’i Wana Housing is working with Big Water Consulting to conduct a Community Needs Assessment of people living along the Columbia River at treaty and in-lieu fishing sites and adjacent communities. The Community Needs Assessment will collect actionable data that Nch’i Wana Housing and its partners providing services to tribal members and residents of these sites can use to plan for future housing and community development projects and to strengthen their programs and services.
Nisqually Indian Tribal Needs Assessment
The Nisqually Indian Tribe is working with Big Water Consulting to conduct a Tribal Needs Assessment of households living on the reservation. The Nisqually Tribal Needs Assessment Survey aims to provide a better understanding of how Nisqually tribal members prioritize treaty rights issues and develop a better understanding of the Tribe's current circumstances. The survey will determine current housing conditions, which tribal services are known to the community, which programs are used by households, and how connected they are to community services and activities such as fishing, hunting, and gathering. The Needs Assessment will also provide an opportunity to better understand how the Nisqually tribe can communicate with the community and how tribal members feel about long-term vs. short-term investment in tribal resources.
Big Valley Rancheria Community Needs Assessment
Lake County, California
Big Valley Rancheria is home to the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, descendents of the Xa-Ben-Na-Po Band of Pomo Indians that have inhabited the Clear Lake area of present-day California for thousands of years. The Big Vallery Rancheria Community Needs Assessment seeks to gather data on the housing and other programming needs of Big Valley residents and Tribal members. The needs assessment will also inform renovations to rental housing being conducted by Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab at MASS Design, a Native-owned architecture firm.
African Health Advocacy Project
Mission Africa’s African Health Advocacy Project (AHAP) aims to increase prevention and detection of COVID-19 by addressing misinformation and promoting services among K-12 children and caregivers of African communities in the Puget Sound region.
Visit our Gallery to see samples of specific deliverables. Use the search bar below to find projects in specific regions, covering certain topics, or with a particular tribe.
