The Northern Cheyenne Health and Housing Needs Assessment
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe hosted an Initial Consultation for their Health and Housing Needs Assessment on April 2nd and 3rd, 2024, in Lame Deer, Montana. This planning session is a crucial step towards understanding and addressing the most pressing needs of the residents of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
Warm Springs Housing Study and Needs Assessment Field Staff Training
March 18th to 20th, 2024 marked the Field Staff Training for Warm Springs Housing Study and Needs Assessment. Nestled in Central Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are dedicated to uplifting their communities and preserving their heritage.
[ Big Water Talk ] NAIHC-Sponsored National Housing Needs Assessment and Effective Community Engagement Webinar
Last month, in partnership with Katie Symons and Suenary Philavanh of Beaux Simone Consulting, Kevin Klingbeil of Big Water Consulting conducted a webinar on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Native American Programs and the Native American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) on Housing Needs Assessment and Effective Community Engagement. The audience included staff members from a variety of different tribes, regions, and programs interested in learning best practices and strategies for engaging community members as well as the primary components of conducting housing and community needs assessments.
[ Big Water Talk ] 2021 NAIHC Legal Symposium Presentations
Big Water Consulting had the honor of giving three presentations during the 2021 NAIHC Legal Symposium, held in person in Las Vegas.
[ Big Water Talk ] WA Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee Work Session
Big Water Consulting had the opportunity to present initial findings from the Assessment of the Housing Needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in Washington State to the WA Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee work session.
[ Big Water Talk ] Native Homeownership Cohort Needs Assessment Webinar
On behalf of Big Water Consulting, Kevin Klingbeil presented a webinar to the Enterprise Native Homeownership Learning Communities Cohort about what their Designated Housing Entities, Tribal Housing Authorities, and Native Community Development Finance Institutions can do to prepare for a housing needs assessment during the current pandemic, and what they can do with collected housing needs assessment data.
Click here to download a PDF of the slides presented by Big Water Consulting.
[ Inquiry ] Red Cliff Housing Needs Assessment
Big Water staff members Harry Maher and Kevin Klingbeil visited the snowy Red Cliff Indian Reservation to launch the Red Cliff Housing Needs Assessment in cooperation with the Red Cliff Housing Authority and representatives from the Tribe’s planning, health, education, public works, communications and other departments. Big Water met with division heads and department directors and the Housing Authority Board to discuss tribal history, current initiatives and future plans, and desired survey content. Betty Kerr from the Housing Authority gave Kevin and Harry a guided tour of the reservation, including a visit to Frog Bay Tribal National Park, Little Sand Bay, land recently purchased from Bayfield County by the tribe, and visits to low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and supportive housing projects around the reservation.
[ Inquiry ] Pa’upena CDC Community Needs Assessment
During the course of its 2-day consultation session with representatives from Pa’upena CDC and other homestead organizations, staff members Harry Maher and Kevin Klingbeil visited the majestic and remote Kahikinui homestead as well as the more urban Pakupalo and Lahaina homestead areas. Session participants discussed Pa’upena CDC’s recent receipt of its Right of Entry (ROE) for 127 acres of Hawaiian homelands and its authorization to engage in community design that could lead to a subsequent ROE for an additional 5,000 acres as well as an array of historical, legal, regulatory and other issues that have limited the number of native Hawaiians who have received leases to occupy Hawaiian homelands.
[ Inquiry ] Launch of Assessment of Housing Needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in Washington State at NWIHA and ATNI Meetings
In cooperation with its partner on the project, Akana Big Water presented to the members of the Northwest Indian Housing Association (NWIHA) at the Skagit Casino Resort in Bow, Washington and the Housing Committee of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) in Portland, Oregon to launch the Assessment of the Housing Needs of Native Americans in Washington State funded by the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Services and Housing Division. The final report for this project will in part address state, federal, local and industry investments in rental and homeowner housing for Native Americans and provide policy recommendations to support the development of sufficient and safe housing for Native Americans on and outside of tribal areas and address other systemic barriers that prevent or impede access to safe and sufficient housing by Native Americans.
[ Inquiry ] White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment Launched
Two weeks ago, we helped train the survey manager and field staff for the White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment project which is being conducted within the boundaries of the Fort Apache Reservation extending north from the Salt River Canyon in the mountains of eastern Arizona. In addition to the training sessions, we held community meetings in the reservation's more remote Cibecue and McNary communities to learn more about their respective living conditions and needs. We also conducted a focus group with reservation residents who are experiencing homelessness or are doubled-up (staying with others with no permanent residence of their own) to identify the nature and sources of their particular issues as well as ways in which the Tribe or its programs could support their efforts to overcome their current challenges and create more stability in their lives. Despite a winter snowstorm that knocked out power to much of the reservation (and allowed us to conduct training without lights for the first time), trainees and community members braved the elements in order to keep the project on schedule.
[ Report ] LCO Community Assessment Complete
Big Water would like to congratulate the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians on completing its LCO Community Assessment project. We had an opportunity to share the results of the household survey with project stakeholders and community members at LCO Ojibwe Community College in Hayward, Wisconsin on November 5. Our follow-up meetings with the Grants/Planning Department and the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Immersion School on November 6 will help ensure that this data is fully utilized by the Tribe and tribal programs and that future tribal data collection efforts will benefit from lessons learned in this project. This project serves as yet another example of tribes in northern Wisconsin taking a data-driven approach to planning, program management and the grant application process. We would also like to thank Enterprise Community Partners for providing critical matching funds in support of this capacity-building project.
[ Report ] Presentation of SISC King County AIAN Housing Needs Study to ATNI Housing Committee
Kevin Klingbeil presented the results and key findings of the SISC King County American Indian and Alaska Native Housing Needs Study to the Housing Committee of ATNI. Discussion addressed the specific needs of Native students in Seattle, efforts to develop new housing for Native families and other subpopulations of the Native community in King County, and disparities between the income levels of Native households and the median household income for King County as well as the wide gap between the rising cost of housing in this area and what Native families can actually afford.
[ Inquiry ] "Tohono O’odham Census Challenge Prevents Loss of Millions in Housing Funding"
Big Water is proud to have been part of this historic project in which local tribal field staff mapped and assessed the condition of all housing units within the Nation's lands, gathered vital demographic and needs-based data from a sample of the Nation's households, and ultimately prevented the loss of millions of dollars of critical housing funding over the next five years.
[ Inquiry ] Lac Courte Oreilles Band Community Assessment
The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians launched the LCO Community Assessment this week with an initial housing unit mapping operation that will be followed by a household survey.