2008

For decades Tohono O’odham elders in need of skilled nursing had to move far away from family and friends to receive care, or stay home and forgo long term care services. However, with the opening of the Archie Hendricks, Sr. Skilled Nursing Facility, O’odham elders can now remain in the community. Combining today’s latest technologies and world-class clinical care with traditional values, the nursing home has become one of the finest elder care facilities anywhere in the United States.

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Books about Native nations and their people are usually written by outsiders. By contrast, the Chickasaw Nation created the Chickasaw Press to spread home-grown knowledge about their Nation’s history and culture. The Press publishes books written by Chickasaw citizens, using the highest standards of professional editing and production. In doing so, it gives new life to an ancient storytelling tradition.

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Over the past few years, the citizens of the Ak-Chin Indian Community, located south of Phoenix, Arizona, have witnessed the land surrounding their reservation rapidly transform from fields into housing subdivisions. Worried about the impact on the reservation, the Ak-Chin Indian Community established its Community Council Task Force. The Task Force reviews all development plans for the lands surrounding the reservation to determine their resulting influence on the Community’s quality of life, and works with developers and neighboring governments to lessen any potential harm.

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A generation of racial conflict makes it difficult for students from the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians to succeed at the district high school. Since 1998, the Intercultural Leadership Initiative has provided academic and social opportunities, promoted understanding and friendship, and helped youth overcome their prejudices.

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Although the state of Oklahoma has one of the largest prison systems in the US, it provides released prisoners with little post-incarceration support. Many struggle to find their way on the “outside” and are eventually re-incarcerated. In the early 2000s, the Muscogee Nation set out to tackle this problem. The Nation’s Reintegration Program works with tribal citizens before and after they leave prison, paying attention to everything from jobs and housing to counseling and spiritual needs. 

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At the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. government abolished the 1881 Osage Nation Constitution and imposed rules for land ownership and citizenship. Many Osage citizens were disenfranchised and the Tribal Council was granted only limited powers, leading to years of weak government, corruption, and turmoil. Over 100 years later, the Osage Government Reform Initiative began the task of designing a new government that would better represent and serve all Osages. As a result of the Initiative, the Osage Nation adopted a new constitution in June 2006. Written by the Osage people, it has brought back into the tribal community the thousands of citizens who had once been excluded.

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In the Ramah Chapter of the Navajo Nation — as in many parts of Indian Country — late detection of breast cancer leads to disproportionally high rates of breast cancer mortality. Ramah Navajo’s Pine Hill Health Center devised a creative response: it launched a series of “Mammo Days,” educational and social outings designed to encourage Navajo women to get regular breast cancer exams. Highly popular, Mammo Days meet a critical need in a culturally sensitive and medically effective way. 

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“It is not cool to hit or be hit” is the straightforward motto of Project Falvmmichi, a school-based program of the Choctaw Nation designed to tackle the problem of domestic violence. The program teaches elementary school students positive ways to deal with anger and resolve conflicts. Today, more than 300 teen mentors work with second graders in over thirty public schools. Violent behavior harms the Choctaw Nation’s citizens, families, and future — but through Project Falvmmichi, the Nation is building intolerance for violent behavior from the ground up.

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Restoring communal living through Pueblo-style housing, the Tsigo bugeh Village offers “traditional living with a modern touch” for Ohkay Owingeh citizens. Designed to honor a sense of community and place, Tsigo bugeh addresses Ohkay Owingeh’s urgent housing demands with 40 units for single and multigenerational families, all in a modern design that echoes millennia of traditional Pueblo living.

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The Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways is the caretaker of cultural heritage for the Saginaw Chippewa. The Center educates the Tribe’s citizens and the general public through its permanent and rotating exhibits, research center, repatriation efforts, art market, workshops, and language programs. By sharing its story in many ways, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is reclaiming its past and celebrating its vibrant present as Anishinabe people.

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