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The Oklahoma House voted Monday to override Gov. Kevin Stitt (Cherokee/R-OK)’s veto of a bill that extends tribal-state compacts involving tobacco revenue sharing.

The Associated Press reports the vote took place during a special session and met two-thirds vote needed to override.

In a statement, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the vote was for cooperation and collaboration over conflict.

Chief Hoskin says tribal compacts inject millions of dollars into Oklahoma’s economy and local businesses.

After the Senate’s vote last week to override the governor’s veto, Gov. Stitt called the move illegitimate.

In a statement, Gov. Stitt said he was trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation and was working to ensure the compacts are best for all Oklahomans.

Gov. Stitt has announced he’s filing a lawsuit, while tribal leaders are praising the legislature and say they’re ready to move forward and continue working with the state.

Courtesy ANCSA Regional Association

In hopes of having a stronger voice in Washington D.C., a group of 12 regional Alaska Native corporations have created a new position. Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports.

They’ve hired TJ Presley as their first government affairs director.

He says this new job reflects a growing need to educate federal policy makers about Native corporations, which were created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971.

Presley works for the ANCSA Regional Association, formed to give Native corporations more political clout, as well as promote their efforts to develop natural resources and win contracts from the federal government.

“You’re getting five minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes. There’s a very brief window to make our case, and anything I can do to help make our case quicker and stronger is pretty much the mandate for the job.”

Presley says Native corporations are among Alaska’s biggest companies and have an array of business interests in Washington D.C. that affect more than just their shareholders.

“Alaska Native companies employ not just Alaska Native people, but they employ lots and lots of non-Native Alaskans too. So, they also underpin the very fabric of Alaska’s economy too.”

Alaska has 12 regional corporations and more than 200 village corporations that were created to settle Native land claims in Alaska.

Indigenous advocates are among the first cohort of 100 “changemakers” for the Obama Foundation’s Leaders USA Program.

The inaugural cohort was announced Tuesday.

Tasha Fridia and State Rep. Christina Haswood (Navajo/D-KS) are some of the Indigenous leaders from South Dakota and Kansas.

Fridia is the national director of tribal programs for the mentorship organization – Friends of the Children. She’s an enrolled member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, and is Kiowa, Caddo, and Lakota.

Rep. Haswood is the ranking minority member on the state tribal relations committee and is known for her advocacy on Native issues.

In a statement, President Barack Obama said he’s inspired by the group of young leaders working on the most pressing issues facing our world.

According to the foundation, the cohort was chosen from applicants of leaders who are driving change across geographies, sectors, and issues, and who are ready to expand their impact.

The leaders were picked from across the country including five tribal nations.

Courtesy Flanagan Slough / Round River Conservation Studies

The Taku River Tlingit First Nation announced Tuesday it’s reclaimed the names of 13 places in its traditional territory in British Columbia.

The names are in the Tlingit language and are elements in stories.

The First Nation says reclaiming place names helps the communities establish a harmonious connection with the land, allows for a deeper understanding, and encourages the practice of referring to them by their original name.

The places include mountains, creeks, islands, rivers, and a hot spring.

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National Native organizations are celebrating the passage of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act Reauthorization (NAHASDA).

It was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023, which was passed by the U.S. Senate last week by a vote of 86–11.

NAHASDA helps provide affordable housing to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities.

It has not been reauthorized since 2013.

In a statement, National American Indian Housing Council Executive Director Chelsea Fish said NAHASDA has been a successful and supportive program since its inception, and allows tribes to create their own housing plan.

National Congress of American Indians Executive Director Larry Wright, Jr. in a statement called it a victory for Indian Country and said now the focus is on the House for its full implementation to help improve living conditions across Indian Country.

The amendment would reauthorize NAHASDA for seven years.

Among provisions, it would provide greater local control over NAHASDA programs, streamline environmental reviews for tribal housing projects, and incentivize private partnerships.

U.S. Reps. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik/D-AK) and Pete Stauber (R-MN) have introduced legislation they say will end 50 years of unfulfilled promises – the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act.

The legislation would allow the communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, also known as ANCSA.

It would amend ANCSA to provide the five communities with the right to form corporations and receive more than 23,000 acres, or one township of federal land, which was granted to other Southeast Native communities more than 50 years ago.

A version is in the Senate.

In a statement, the Representatives called it an unjust error and said it’s long overdue to correct it.

ANCSA divided 44 million acres of land among more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations to resolve land claims in Alaska, but did not include the five Southeast communities.

Little Priest Tribal College, located in Winnebago, Neb. (Photo: Ammodramus via Wiki CC)

A community college in Winnebago, Neb., Little Priest Tribal College, celebrates its 25th anniversary this September.

Deborah Van Fleet has more about the school.

Little Priest President Manoj Patil says a common misconception is that only Native Americans can enroll, but the student body has been roughly 78% Native American and 22% non-Native students in recent years.

He says they’re looking forward to the groundbreaking for a major new science building in the next several weeks.

“We got a $1.2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant two years back, and that’s how we started the chemistry and the biology program, and that is now leading to the construction of a $6 million, 12,000-square-foot, brand new state-of-the-art building.”

Little Priest offers an associate of arts degree in three areas, an associate of applied science in two including diversified ag and cannabis studies, and an associate of science in five.

It also offers a certificate program in certified nursing assistant.

Tuition has been free since the summer of 2020.

The college is part of the Nebraska Transfer Initiative, and also has transfer agreements with private Nebraska colleges and universities.

Patil says HoChunk language and cultural preservation is a major focus at Little Priest.

Camden Cleveland graduated from Little Priest Tribal College with honors and as valedictorian in 2021.

He has since earned a bachelor’s degree at Wayne State College, where his coursework was free because of the agreement between the colleges.

Cleveland says the diversity at Little Priest helped prepare him for what he found at Wayne State.

“You’ve got kids from all over the country at Wayne State, and with help from the staff at Little Priest Tribal College, that kind of just made me understand where they’re coming from, too.”

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The Biden Administration has carved out $120 million for tribal communities across the nation to adapt to climate change.

It’s part of $440 million set aside for tribes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and other federal spending.

The administration says it’s the largest amount of climate change funding for tribes in the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

But as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, that money won’t go very far.

As director of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s Climate Change Initiative, Jackie Schaeffer (Iñupiaq) travels to places like Kivalina, which are being swallowed-up by the ocean.

As the U.S. Mint continues its American Women Quarters Program, one of the new faces to enter circulation has Indigenous roots.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

Zitkala-Ša, a Yankton Sioux political activist, writer, and musician, is one of five historic women to be immortalized in coinage.

Previously, women like Maya Angelou and Eleanor Roosevelt have been part of this program.

The likeness of Zitkala-Ša, who wrote the first American Indian opera in 1913, will be minted on 600 million quarters for ten weeks in 2024 before being discontinued.

Joining her in this year’s set – designed to highlight women who may not be in history books – are Pauli Murray, Patsy Mink, Mary Edwards Walker, and Celia Cruz.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announced Thursday it will reintroduce bison on its tribal lands in Shakopee, Minn.

Dakota people consider bison a relative and the tribe has been planning to bring them back to tribal lands.

This fall, the tribe plans to welcome a small herd of up to 15 bison from Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate in South Dakota.

Chairman Keith Anderson says the tribe has restored and revitalized its relationship with plants over the decades, and now has the opportunity to revitalize the relationship with bison, which will allow the tribe to bring back traditional ceremonies, food, and medicine to his people.

The tribe’s land and natural resources department is overseeing the process and learning from other tribe and organizations, which have successfully reintroduced bison.

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From homework to job applications, the value of high-speed internet access has only become more prevalent in the 21st century.

Now, the Biden-Harris Administration is looking to plug some of the nation’s biggest coverage gaps.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene reports.

With rural and remote Americans often behind the technological curve, and the geographic reality of Native American reservations, high-speed internet has been slow to reach every corner of the country.

PaaWee Rivera (Pueblo of Pojoaque) is the director of tribal affairs for the Biden Administration.

He explains the Presidents’ rationale in pushing for the near billion-dollar investment.

“Access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity to fully participate in today’s society. This second round of funding from the tribal broadband connectivity program will make approximately $980 million available for Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities for deployment of internet infrastructure on tribal lands.”

Assistant Secretary of Commerce Alan Davidson says tribal entities have until January to apply for funding.

“These funds will support high-speed infrastructure deployment as well as use in adoption activities. Those activities will include affordable broadband programs, distance learning, telehealth, digital inclusion programs, and broadband adoption.”

Asst. Sec. Davidson was asked about the financial weight of bringing fiber to some of the least-connected areas of the nation.

He says while bearing costs in mind, their goal is to connect everyone in America with high-speed internet.

“In part because of the challenges that are faced by remoteness, rugged terrain, low population densities, that’s very much part of what drives the cost of these programs, and we believe that’s why Congress made sure to make these special allocations. The fact is we know when we push out fiber into some of these communities for example, it provides the infrastructure that will be used for other programs in the future.”

Projections say this investment could bring new connections to nearly 150,000 households on tribal lands.

Officials don’t yet have a breakdown of state-by-state data.

Sean Sherman works a temporary reincarnation of his food truck at the Owamni Falling Water Festival outside his brick and mortar restaurant. (Photo: August Schwerdfeger / Wiki CC)

Indigenous chefs are racking up prestigious awards for their cooking.

But this wasn’t always the case – and there’s still room to grow.

Now, these chefs are working to share their cuisine while highlighting their history.

KUNC’s Emma VandenEinde reports.

Chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) says the absence of Native restaurants resulted from many wrongdoings by the federal government.

Bison were killed at alarming rates.

Federal boarding schools stripped Indigenous peoples of their culture and forcing them onto resource-poor reservations put them in a systemic trap. 

He says they haven’t had time to heal yet, let alone evolve.

“The more you dig into it, the more inequality you see in the more racist structures that you can see that are still built into the system.”

Chef Andrea Murdoch (Indigenous Andean) wants to shed light on this through her cooking.

She’s made food for several fundraising dinners that focus on issues like missing and murdered Indigenous relatives and Indian boarding school trauma.

“Yes, I’m a chef, but I’m using that platform to bring awareness to cultural issues.”

This summer, she helped with Denver EATSS, hosted by the American Indian College Fund.

It raises tens of millions of dollars each year for Indigenous students to attend tribal colleges.

Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sicangu Lakota), the college fund’s CEO, loves hosting the event.

“Events like this for me are that opportunity for us to showcase the kinds of things that we as Native people contribute to society.”

The dinner portion featured Indigenous chefs preparing dishes with pre-colonial ingredients, like a hen of the woods mushroom soup or a three sisters hors d’oeuvre. 

Ben Jacobs (Osage), the co-founder and chef of Tocabe American Indian Eatery in Denver, also cooked for the event.

With each dish, he tries to tell a story and make food for people, not for a profit.

“The point is being able to provide people food that’s meaningful and not worry about, ‘At the end of the day, I’m only here to make money,’ because we’re not. We’re here to make impact.”

Murdoch wants to do the same. By cooking at events like this, she hopes to uplift the cuisine and causes of her community while inviting others into the discovery.

“Food is a common necessity, one of the few common necessities that everybody needs, no matter what. Like, we need it for survival. So why not have a conversation about where your food came from?”

Listen to part one of Emma’s report

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Hundreds of Guatemalans took to the streets over the weekend to protest alleged actions by the country’s attorney general, some judges, and prosecutors to interfere in the upcoming presidential election.

Indigenous protesters are calling for road blockades and a national strike.

Maria Martin reports.

In Guatemala City, protesters carried flowers and played traditional instruments calling for a new Guatemalan democratic spring and end to corruption – what they call an electoral coup.

The grandmothers of the Pocoman Maya Nation, surrounded by dozens of police, burned incense, and held purification ceremonies at the federal court building, praying for Justice Department officials to stop interfering in the electoral process.

Indigenous groups joined labor, student, and other civic organizations to decry the corruption they say is not only trying to eliminate democracy, but has led to increased poverty, marginalization, child malnutrition, and the forced migration of thousands of Indigenous Guatemalans from their homeland.

Several civic and Maya organizations are calling on social media for more protests and work stoppages this week, as Guatemalans continue to fight for their fragile democracy.

Courtesy Red Cloud Indian School/Facebook

After well over a century of use, the historic Red Cloud Indian School will be getting a new name.

However, the name isn’t exactly “new.”

South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.

The parochial school located on the Pine Ridge Reservation will now be named Maȟpíya Lúta – a Lakota language translation of Chief Red Cloud’s name.

Jennifer Irving is the vice president of communications and marketing at the school.

She says the idea for changing the name didn’t come from an administrator’s office.

“Really, we were inspired by our athletes – who years ago started requesting ‘instead of Red Cloud can we put Maȟpíya Lúta on our jerseys?’ It inspired the rest of us to catch up with our young leadership here. That’s really where that change happened.”

Irving says a lot goes into a name.

“One of the things we were trying to be mindful of was how do we select a name that highlights not just our four schools, but six churches, the heritage center, and some of these broader community programs that we have. So, food sovereignty, truth and healing, we have a lot of work in Lakota language.”

While the school has a deep history, Irving says the decision is about much more than rebranding.

“In a way maybe it was about reclaiming some space, but I think it was really about honoring Chief Red Cloud and really committing further to Lakota language revitalization. How are we moving forward together?”

The rebranding process is already underway and will continue over the coming school year.

Oklahoma tribes are reacting to the state Senate’s vote Monday to override Gov. Kevin Stitt (Cherokee/R-OK)’s vetoes of tribal-state compact extensions involving revenue sharing on tobacco and car tags.

In a statement, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said it’s a great step forward in preserving the compacts.

He says the compacts have served Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation well for decades.

The Choctaw Nation said the Senate did the right thing, while the governor called the move illegitimate.

In a statement, Gov. Stitt said he’s trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation and working to ensure the compacts are best for all Oklahomans.

Tribal leaders are encouraging the House to swiftly complete the veto overrides.

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A Wind River-made documentary highlighting missing and murdered Indigenous people won big recently in a film festival.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann reports.

Who She Is recently won Best Animated Film at the Oregon Documentary Film Festival.

The documentary brings faces and voices to four Indigenous women caught in the MMIP epidemic – Sheila, Lela, Jocelyn, and Abbi.

It aims to humanize the people behind the statistics.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Native American women are murdered at a rate ten times higher than the national average.

Co-producer Jordan Dresser (Northern Arapaho) said the film’s team intentionally chose to make an animated documentary to help bring each woman alive.

“It’s important to know the people who are victims of it and what’s happening to them, like the actual people who get murdered, you know, and actual people who survive it. I think it’s very important that we always allow them to have a space to tell their stories in good ways.”

The film was co-produced by Dresser and Sophie Barksdale, with animation by Ojibwe artist Jonathan Thunder and Casper-based artist Tony Elmore.

Craig George, photographed in April, 2019, out on the sea ice, working on the whale census. (Photo: Ravenna Koenig/Alaska’s Energy Desk/KTOO-Juneau)

Communities across Alaska’s North Slope are mourning the loss of Craig George, who recently died in a rafting accident.

At the age of 70, George was more than just a scientist to the Inupiaq of Utqiagvik – called Barrow when he arrived in 1977.

He would become one of the world’s experts on bowhead whales, and as KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, so respected among the Inupiaq, he was made an honorary whaling captain.

Among the many tributes to Craig George on Facebook, you’ll find different recordings of him singing this song, which he wrote to celebrate whaling.

In those videos, you’ll see people singing along in the chorus, to the lines, “Keep, keep on whaling. Keep on Whaling, and paddle that Umiak through. Keep, keep on whaling. Let that big old whale come to you.”

For George, bowhead whales were more than about research.

“It’s hard to measure the complete impact that Craig had on our lives.”

Richard Glenn, an Inupiaq whaler and longtime friend, says he admired George’s holistic approach to science, that he learned about seals, birds, everything connected to the world of the whale – and that included people.

“I think the world has yet to realize after a career of 50 years almost, what we feel.”

George was part of a group of scientists who challenged the status quo – and went on to prove that Native whalers had a better understanding of how to accurately track the whale population than Western science.

“When the world might have been focused against them. These gentlemen spent their careers corroborating traditional knowledge about the movement of animals and the population — and they backed their work up with real science and world class science.”

George would often say that he received more from the Inupiat than he could ever possibly give back.

“And yet we know he’s given back so much, taken our traditional knowledge and science to the world stage and defended it many times successfully. For that reason alone, we owe him a lot of gratitude.”

Richard Glenn says Craig George left a body of knowledge that will help North Slope whalers, now and into the future, do just what his song says, “Keep on Whaling.”

Indian Industrial School, located in the eastern part of Genoa, Neb., now operated as a museum. (Photo: Ammodramus via Wiki CC)

No remains were found at a former Indian boarding school in Genoa, Neb., after a two-week archeological dig, the Associated Press reports.

The team, lead by the state’s archeologist, will now examine data and consider next steps.

They also plan to hold a virtual meeting this week with tribal representatives from across the U.S.

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Tribal leaders and conservationists working to block construction of a lithium mine along the Nevada-Oregon line lost the fight in court this week, when a three-judge panel at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their arguments to overturn federal approval of the project.

Christina Aanestad has more.

The judges rejected claims that permitting the Thacker Pass mine violates environmental laws and would destroy sacred lands to the Pauite, Shoshone, and Washo people, who’s ancestors were massacred there more than 150 years ago in 1865.

Max Wilbert, co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass, says they will continue fighting.

“Under American law, mining is the highest and best use of public lands. It’s more important than sacred sites, it’s more important than wildlife, it’s more important than water. I think we’re gonna have to step this up in all kinds of different ways.”

They could appeal the decision.

A second separate lawsuit is also challenging the lithium mine.

The conflict has pitted environmentalists and Native Americans against President Joe Biden’s plans to combat climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, since the lithium mine would produce a key mineral used in green technology like electric cars.

“We all wish the transition away from fossil fuels could bring us to some utopian future right away, but we have to recognize that whether you’re producing an electric car, or a fossil fuel powered car, there are raw materials, there’s extraction involved with that, there’s pollution and unless we can reduce driving, reduce the consumption of cars, reduce how much energy we need and so on, then we’re really just going to be tinkering around the edges.”

On Thursday, we brought you the voices of Crow Nation teachers in south central Montana collaborating on Crow language lesson materials.

Today, we have more on the resources those educators are helping to create.

Among existing Crow language materials are children’s books, a dictionary, and a digital database of words – with more planned.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches reports.

“If you click on it… so if you say ‘young’ …”

This app Crow language instructor Vance Crooked Arm pulls up on his phone features more than 10,000 words and audio recordings.

“So if you say “young” it says the word for you.”

This is one of the products created by the Crow Language Consortium, a network of schools, colleges, and educators committed to preserving Crow, or Apsáalooke.

Crow tribal member Janine Pease sits on the consortium board.

She says, more than a decade ago, the Crow Nation found fewer than 15% of preschoolers spoke fluent Apsáalooke.

“And it was extremely alarming.”

They’ve been working to reverse that trend.

For the past eight years, Pease says young Crow Nation students have been taking language immersion classes as part of a still-evolving program to increase Apsáalooke fluency.

“The schools will progress through our materials and we’re very anxious to have all the building blocks that children can use. To acquire vocabulary and to construct conversations.”

She says ongoing written projects geared toward students in kindergarten through 4th grade include reading materials on Crow Nation leaders and major moments in Crow history.

A dictionary for children is also due for publication in the fall.

Courtesy NABI / Facebook

The Native American Basketball Invitational (NABI) is celebrating 20 years at this year’s tournament, which kicked off this week in Phoenix, Ariz.

144 teams are taking part in the tournament.

Boys and girls ages 14-19, representing more than 120 tribal communities from across North America, are competing.

NABI also features an educational summit, and a college and career fair.

Championship games will take place on Sunday.

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This week, federal officials hosted a public meeting in Flagstaff, Ariz. over a proposed national monument near the Grand Canyon.

As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, for years supporters, including tribal leaders, have advocated for added protections on more than a million acres of public land.

Tribal members, conservationists, elected leaders, and others voiced their support of the proposed Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument.

The tribally driven effort would make a moratorium on new uranium mining claims in the area permanent and protect sacred sites and water resources.

Leaders from nearly a dozen local tribes spoke in favor of the plan.

Timothy Nuvangyaoma is the chairman of the Hopi Tribe.

“It’s a coalition that sees the real need to protect this area from a holistic, spiritual standpoint. This is coming from our elders and those that came before them.”

Supporters want President Joe Biden to make the monument declaration through the Antiquities Act. But several northern Arizona ranchers worry more federal protection of the area could disrupt the livelihoods of those who’ve worked the land for generations.

Representatives from the uranium industry also oppose the monument proposal along with some Mohave County elected officials.

Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning and other federal agency leaders listened to the nearly four hours of comments.

On Tuesday, legislation was also introduced in the US House and Senate by members of Arizona’s congressional delegation to designate the proposed national monument near the Grand Canyon.

In May, Interior Sec.Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) visited the Grand Canyon area to meet with tribal leaders and others about the monument proposal.

Kayla Desroches / Yellowstone Public Radio

Crow Nation teachers in Montana are working to preserve the Crow language for generations to come, starting inside their classrooms.

Yellowstone Public Radio’s Kayla Desroches talked with several educators at a recent language summit in Crow Agency where they shared ideas, debated vocabulary words, and helped shape a Crow language e-learning program.

“Say these guys are kids okay. Hey you guys act like kids…”

Little Big Horn College instructor Vance Crooked Arm jokes around with a classroom of teachers. 

“Children children!”

It’s the 11th year of the Crow Summer Institute and teachers here are pooling their knowledge to help create lesson materials. 

“Crow was my first language,” said Reva Little Owl.

63-year-old Reva Little Owl has been a teacher for more than 30 years.

“Speaking Crow is part of my identity. And I believe that children need that identity to be successful.”

46-year-old college instructor Vance Crooked Arm says he first noticed at the beginning of his career that children he taught did not speak Crow.

“And I was sad, I was kind of scared we were going to lose our language, and I said, man I better do something ‘cause if nobody does anything we’re gonna lose it.”

Crooked Arm along with other educators, linguists and organizations in Montana and elsewhere are rushing to document and share the language with younger generations.

“Some words are so old that we can’t translate them. So, it’s really important. Like, do or die.”

Paiute Tribes say they’re devastated over the recent news that at least six children are likely buried on the grounds of the former Panguitch Indian Boarding School in southeast Utah, reports the Mountain West News Bureau.

The findings are from a Utah State University survey.

Ground penetrating radar was used to discover the graves.

The school operated between 1904 and 1909.

The tribes say boarding schools were intended to strip Native children of their language and culture – and students were taken at very young ages.

Students were also forced into manual labor to maintain the facilities.

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The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) in northwest Montana are planning to build a local meat processing plant to expand services for local hunters and ranchers.

Montana Public Radio’s Aaron Bolton has more.

The tribes are applying for a $7.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help build a processing plant on the Flathead Reservation.

CSKT Planning Director Janet Camel says many local ranchers can’t keep cattle through the winter and are forced to sell animals out of state when local processors are too busy.

“So they sell to brokers in the fall and don’t get as much money as they believe they should be getting.”

Camel says the processing plant would also provide services for tribal substance hunters, who struggle to find meat processing services.

The tribes plan to harvest bison from the National Bison Range when managers need to thin the herd.

That meat would be distributed through tribal food programs.

Camel says the tribes are reliant on the USDA grant to launch the project.

The USDA is set to announce awards for tribal projects across the country this fall.

Ho Chunk Village (Photo: Jerry L Mennenga / Ho-Chunk, Inc.)

The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska’s Ho-Chunk Village housing development is one of nine recipients of a 2023 Honoring Nations All-Star award from the Harvard Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development.

Deborah Van Fleet has more.

The Village is a project of the tribe’s economic development corporation. Lance Morgan, founder and CEO of Ho-Chunk, Inc., says a unique type of planning has gone into Ho-Chunk Village.

“It’s designed to be a walkable community for health purposes. But making it a denser community is helpful from the affordability standpoint. We have a lot of units overlain over a very small amount of infrastructure, which is very unusual in a rural community.”

Morgan says having a master plan for the Village has allowed them to “fill in the pieces” to create a cohesive community over time, as funding has become available.

Phase two of the Village is now underway.

The Ho-Chunk corporation has built a few hundred new housing units to date.

When tribal members buy a single-family home, they’re given the lot and down payment assistance, and the house is built at cost.

Morgan explains because the tribe has bought the land for the building lots – removing it from federal trust status – homeowners have a greater opportunity to build generational wealth.

“We have a system that is pushing all levels of housing – from home ownership to low-income to elder housing, to young college professional-type – everything. We run the gamut.”

Morgan feels theirs could be a model, both for tribal and non-tribal communities.

Jonathan Taylor agrees.

He’s a research affiliate at the Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development and site visitor for Honoring Nations award candidates.

“Ho-Chunk Village stands out for pioneering a walkable, multi-use development on an Indian reservation.”

Taylor says Ho-Chunk Village is a lot more than a housing development.

“The Village provides critical infrastructure for reversing Winnebago ‘brain drain’ in ways not possible relying on federal housing programs, and permits the tribe’s growing middle class to live near where they work and contribute to community life.”

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina will vote this fall on whether or not to expand marijuana beyond medical use on tribal lands for people 21 and older.

The Associated Press reports, at a recent meeting, the tribal council agreed to put it on the ballot for voters to decide.

The tribe decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2021 and formed a business plan to grow and sell cannabis at a dispensary still under construction.

The tribe’s election is set to take place in September.

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