[ Big Water Launch ] The Northern Cheyenne Health and Housing Needs Assessment

04/02/2024

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. Participants in the session took part in various activities to review the history of the tribe and its programs and to develop content for the household survey portion of the project.

The project aims to collect crucial information about housing, healthcare, education, employment, and infrastructure. In gathering these stories, the tribe will be able to accurately quantify and record the experiences and challenges community members experience, equipping tribal departments and programs with data to develop effective plans and attract funding for resources to uplift the community.

Thank you to all stakeholders who participated in the Planning Session and its activities.

[ Big Water Launch ] ​Warm Springs Housing Study and Needs Assessment Field Staff Training​

​ 03/18/2024

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. The Warm Springs data collection team, including one Survey Manager and 3 local Field Staff, met alongside Big Water for three days to gear up for the crucial household survey data collection phase of the Needs Assessment. The field team spent time learning about the project's significance and got hands-on training with the data collection software. 

The Warm Springs Housing Study and Needs Assessment, funded by the Health and Human Services Department and carried out by the Warm Springs Housing Authority, aims to gather crucial data about the households and residents on the Reservation. This information will empower the Tribes and their communities to secure funding, plan strategically, and enhance access to vital services. Official data collection kicked off on March 20th and will run until the end of May. 

Congratulations to the dedicated field staff! 

[ Report ] Native Action Network's inspiring International Women's Day Luncheon

[ Report ] Native Action Network's inspiring International Women's Day Luncheon

03/08/2024

Big Water is honored to have been a part of Native Action Network (NAN)'s inspiring International Women's Day Luncheon on March 8th, 2024. The event, a celebration of Native women's accomplishments and leadership, was the perfect opportunity to unveil the Native Women's Leadership Report, the culmination of two years of work to understand and share the leadership goals, programming needs, and challenges faced by Native women aspiring to leadership positions throughout the state of Washington.  

Created by and for Native women, the project will inform Native Action Network's future programming to ensure it is best serving these up-and-coming Native leaders, and will hopefully serve as a jumping-off point for future work in this area.

NAN founder Iris Friday introduced the report, and Big Water's Chloe Adler shared an overview of the findings of the report with event attendees, many of whom contributed to the project. Chloe's presentation provided insights on the goals, most pressing needs, challenges, and accomplishments of project respondents, highlighting Native women's leadership interests and invaluable contributions across diverse sectors.  

This presentation was followed by the centerpiece of the event: panel discussions between Debora Juarez (Blackfeet), former Seattle City Council President and Anna Bean (Puyallup), Puyallup Tribal Council Member; and between Boo Balkan Foster (Apache), Educator, Seattle Public Schools Native Education Department; Sarah Stafford (Seneca Nation), Senior Tribal Specialist, Dept. of HHS; and Falisha McCloud (Puyallup), Business Owner of Arch Brow; moderated by Native Action Network President Melanie Montgomery.

These inspiring women from the worlds of city government, tribal leadership, education, state policy, and business shared their insights and advice for Native women pursuing leadership roles across these fields, and their stories of their own journeys to where they are today. 

Their encouragement to Native women to take up space, make themselves visible, find the people who support them, and make their voices heard in spite of institutional barriers and pushback was a powerful reminder that attendees can carry well beyond International Women's Month.  

Thank you to Native Action Network, the panelists, and everyone who made the event and report a success.  

[ Big Water Talk ] EDA Community of Practice

02/07/2024

CoP participants' locations and their EDA grant experience

The Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice is a dedicated space for tribal and Native economic development practitioners to share knowledge, build capacity, and identify best practices. 

Over 90 people attended the session from across the country, including from Alaska and Hawaii. Participants came from tribal enterprises, tribal planning departments, Native CDFIs, state and federal agencies, academia, regional tribal associations, and more. Attendees reported a range of experience with EDA grants.

During the session, we showcased two economic development projects in the form of spotlight presentations from tribal and Native communities. 

Rob Czypinski presented the Red Cliff Fish Company, a tribal enterprise of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. A project rooted in deep ancestral and cultural heritage, strong tribal administrative buy-in and skilled staff have allowed this iteration of the company to succeed. The success of the project has fostered new partnerships with tribal elder food programs and commercial wholesalers while fostering a bridge to new generations. 

Tyler Goddard presented the FourPoints Health Facility of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah. With more than 900 members spread across 6 counties and 200 miles of space, the Tribe pooled funding from 3 grants to expand the formerly 4,000 sq/ft facility into a new health center totaling 23,000 sq/ft that generates more than $6 million in revenue per year. Tyler pointed out that it is an ongoing challenge to integrate existing health records technology into new systems. 

To view the presentation slides and results from the interactive activities, see the slides.

For more information and the upcoming session, please check out our CoP website.  

[ Conference ] National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Annual Training Conference 2023

Strengthening Partnerships Between Economic Development Districts and Native Communities

Cleveland, OH 11/08/2023

In the heart of Cleveland, Ohio, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Annual Training Conference 2023 served as the ideal platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and fostering connections. Among the standout presentations, Big Water Consulting, represented by Kevin, took the stage on Wednesday (Nov. 8, 2023) to conduct a presentation.

The core focus of Big Water Consulting's presentation was to focus on existing and potential partnerships between Economic Development Districts (or Regional Development Organizations) and Indian tribes and Native communities.

Big Water Consulting we not only thrilled but also deeply committed to sharing invaluable insights on how to properly initiate and nurture these vital relationships.

[ Conference ] 2023 Economic Development Conference for the EDA Denver Region

Kevin alongside Erica Heller (Community Builders), Ciara Ristig (NADO) and Brittany Sickler (EDA).

In April, Big Water Managing Director, Kevin Klingbeil traveled to Denver to present at the Collaborating, Innovating, Transforming: 2023 Economic Development Conference for the EDA Denver Region, an event hosted by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). He introduced the EDA-funded Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice and started outreach to bring together current and potential tribal/Native EDA grantees and economic development practitioners working in and with tribal communities to learn from each other and build capacity for project planning and securing and implementing project funds.

In addition to presenting alongside the coordinators of other EDA-funded communities of practice, including CoPs focused on Coal Communities and Economic Development Districts, Kevin delivered a separate presentation addressing the issue of tribal data sovereignty as well as the Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice as part of a comprehensive session involving distinguished speakers from the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition (Jael Kampfe and Gerald Sherman of Indigenous Impact), Sicangu Co./Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Michael Lapointe), the Center for Indian Country Development (Andrew Huff), Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (Bernadette Cuthair) and Lower Brule Sioux Tribe (Tim Azure).   

[ Big Water Talk ] Addressing Homelessness in Tribal Communities: Barriers and Opportunities

David presented an overview of the HUD Continuum of Care Program at the NAIHC Annual Convention

David Dixon of Big Water Consulting presented strategies for Tribes and TDHEs to engage with the HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) program at the NAIHC Annual Conference in May alongside Katie Symons of Beaux Simone Consulting. The session covered the recent legislative changes that enable Tribes to apply for funding through the CoC program, laid out several pathways for engaging with the program, and discussed the challenges to full participation that still need to be addressed.

The presentation included several examples of Tribes and TDHEs taking unique approaches to addressing homelessness in their communities which may serve as models for those considering participation in the CoC program. The presentation slides and several key resources are linked below:

• NAIHC CoC Presentation Slides

• Review HUD’s CoC Program Resources to consider whether joining an existing CoC or starting your own will best serve your community.

• Find out which existing Continuum of Care is operating in your area.

• Contact the current grantees for existing CoCs.