Highlights from recent projects help tell the story of how and where we work.
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.
All Projects
White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment
Whiteriver, Arizona
The White Mountain Apache Housing Authority (WMAHA) initiated the White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment on behalf of the White Mountain Apache Tribe (WMAT) in order to develop forward-looking planning and program management and to identify and measure the needs of communities throughout the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The Tribe selected Big Water Consulting to coordinate the effort and provide training and technical assistance throughout the project. This housing needs assessment included a household survey that collected data from 654 homes on the reservation and had an overall response rate of 97.2%.
South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition Appraisal Market Study
The Appraisal Market Study was commissioned by the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition (SDNHC) to describe the market for home appraisals on the nine Indian reservations in South Dakota and enable appraisers to evaluate the potential business opportunities available to them on reservation lands. Big Water Consulting used existing, available data from federal, state, and Tribal sources and interviewed and surveyed appraisers, lenders, and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHES) to help determine the composition, size, value, and growth for valuation services on reservations within South Dakota.
Use-Related Methamphetamine Contamination in Managed Housing
In cooperation with Seven Sisters Community Development Group (Seven Sisters) and the Salish & Kootenai Housing Authority (SKHA), Big Water Consulting conducted research to evaluate the spectrum of current standards for safe or acceptable levels of use-related methamphetamine contamination in managed housing to facilitate SKHA’s development and adoption of new meth standards and policies. Big Water Consulting reviewed available scientific literature and legal standards to provide a comprehensive summary of the standards for safe use-related methamphetamine contamination levels in occupied housing units that have been adopted by local, state, and federal agencies in the United States and other countries, as well as a comprehensive review of how each standard was evaluated and finalized.
2020 Census Outreach and Education (King County and Washington State)
Washington State
Big Water Consulting created a coalition with United Way of King County, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, King County and Pyramid Communications which was funded by the Washington State Office of Financial Management to conduct 2020 Census outreach and education in King County, Washington. The scope of the effort was later expanded to cover the entire State of Washington.
Red Cliff Housing Needs Assessment
Bayfield, Wisconsin
The Red Cliff Reservation is located on the shores of Lake Superior in north Wisconsin near the town of Bayfied, Wisconsin. This area experiences an extreme winter climate and a highly seasonal economy focused primarily on tourism. After completing a successful Tribal Census and Community Needs Assessment in 2018 (97% household survey response rate), the Red Cliff Chippewa Housing Authority launched the Red Cliff Housing Needs Assessment in February 2020 in order to gather data to support and guide planned housing development and which could be used to challenge and replace the Census Bureau data used to determine the Tribe’s housing funding allocation.
Maui Homelands Needs Assessment Project
Kula, Maui
The vision of Pā‘upena Community Development Corporation (CDC) is to fulfill Prince Kūhiō’s century-old dream for native Hawaiians to reconnect with Waiohuli ahupua‘a in thriving agricultural and pastoral communities, and to share this paradigm throughout the pae ‘āina (archipelago). Pā‘upena CDC launched the Maui Homelands Needs Assessment project in February 2020 in collaboration with a number of native Hawaiian homestead organizations and participating staff from the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL). The project will include a representative household survey involving native Hawaiian households in each of the homestead areas on Maui, a random sample of native Hawaiians on the DHHL waiting list for land leases for Maui, focus groups with community members, community meetings and interviews with knowledgeable local and state-level sources.