Tax Initiative Economic Development | Kayenta Township, Navajo Nation

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The town of Kayenta is located in the north-central region of the Navajo Nation. As the gateway to scenic Monument Valley and other important Southwestern Native sites, the area attracts thousands of visitors each year. Yet despite its prime location, the Navajo community in Kayenta has long been unable to act upon the promise of tourism-related development: Non-Navajos own more than half of the businesses in the area, and the Native unemployment rate hovers near 50 percent. The Kayenta Township was created on the premise that local challenges require local solutions. The Township embodies the Navajo Nation’s desire for increased local governmental autonomy, and the Township is rapidly taking control of its future, from developing laws and ordinances that were once absent, to creating a revenue stream independent of Window Rock’s appropriations. As the first self-sufficient “township” located on an Indian reservation in the United States, the Kayenta Township is an important model of self-governance.