Highlights from recent projects help tell the story of how and where we work.
Visit our Gallery to see samples of specific deliverables. Use the search bar below to find projects in specific regions, covering certain topics, or with a particular tribe.
All Projects
Klamath Tribal Community Needs Assessment
The Klamath Tribes launched the Klamath Tribal Community Needs Assessment to gather and analyze comprehensive data that reflects the needs and priorities of Klamath Tribal members and their families. By collecting accurate, up-to-date information about community demographics, housing conditions, educational attainment, employment statuses, income levels, transportation habits, and community priorities through a variety of methods, the Klamath Tribes aimed to strengthen their data collection capacity and create a portfolio of information that Tribal leadership, departments and programs can use to support collaborative, data-driven decision making.
Wisconsin Statewide Native Market Study
This project will be conducted as part of the Wisconsin Native Loan Fund’s broader statewide effort to strengthen Native homeownership, small business development, and traditional arts economies. The market study will combine new, community-informed data collection with a stakeholder-driven process engaging tribal members, Native entrepreneurs and artists, Native CDFIs, and partner organizations in Wisconsin. The findings will highlight shared opportunities and support more responsive, culturally grounded loan programs and financial education curriculum statewide.
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana Health & Housing Needs Assessment
This project will take place as a part of a larger statewide Tribal health and housing study that will incorporate new data collection in Tribal and Native communities and an overarching stakeholder-driven framework of meetings, discussion sessions and working groups involving Tribes, Tribal programs, Native organizations and the agencies and organizations serving and supporting Tribal and Native communities to revisit outdated approaches, foster innovation and advance more proactive policies.
Statewide Native Veterans Housing Needs and Homeownership Study
This project aimed to collect data from Native veterans representing all nine tribes in the state of South Dakota to better identify the barriers to housing and services faced by veterans across the state. In doing so, programs and funding avenues could be intentionally tailored to meet the specific and unique needs of each community.
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Housing Study and Needs Assessment
This study will provide the background necessary to develop a comprehensive housing plan that meets the needs of current and future community members. The household survey seeks to gather accurate information about the residents and households of the Warm Springs Reservation while additional surveys for reservation youth, employees, and tribal members living off-reservation round-out the storytelling effort.
Cow Creek Housing Needs Assessment
The Cow Creek Housing Needs Assessment seeks to answer this key question: what are the housing needs of Cow Creek members both inside and outside of the Tribe’s seven-county service area?
The project involved not only a household survey distributed to all Cow Creek member households (within and without the Tribe’s service area), but also an employer survey that sought input from major Roseburg employers to learn more about housing shortage in the broader community, and interviews with knowledgeable parties from Tribal and municipal leadership.
Nch'i Wana Community Needs Assessment
Nch’i Wana Housing is working with Big Water Consulting to conduct a Community Needs Assessment of people living along the Columbia River at treaty and in-lieu fishing sites and adjacent communities. The Community Needs Assessment will collect actionable data that Nch’i Wana Housing and its partners providing services to tribal members and residents of these sites can use to plan for future housing and community development projects and to strengthen their programs and services.
Big Valley Rancheria Community Needs Assessment
Lake County, California
Big Valley Rancheria is home to the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, descendents of the Xa-Ben-Na-Po Band of Pomo Indians that have inhabited the Clear Lake area of present-day California for thousands of years. The Big Vallery Rancheria Community Needs Assessment seeks to gather data on the housing and other programming needs of Big Valley residents and Tribal members. The needs assessment will also inform renovations to rental housing being conducted by Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab at MASS Design, a Native-owned architecture firm.
African Health Advocacy Project
Mission Africa’s African Health Advocacy Project (AHAP) aims to increase prevention and detection of COVID-19 by addressing misinformation and promoting services among K-12 children and caregivers of African communities in the Puget Sound region.
Sicangu Wicoti Awayankapi (SWA) Homeowner Assistance Fund
Rosebud, South Dakota
SWA Corporation received an allocation of nearly $5 million through the US Department of Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund Program. This pandemic-relief program supports homeowners in avoiding foreclosure and improving housing stability following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fond du Lac Housing & Community Needs Assessment
The Fond du Lac Housing and Community Needs Assessment is being directed by the Fond du Lac Planning Division to collect actionable data that the Band can use to plan for future housing and community development projects.
Ending Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE) Surveys
UNAHA received the Ending Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE) grant from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) to assist member Tribes and TDHEs in designing and implementing Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs.
Dry Creek Housing and Homelessness Needs Survey
The Dry Creek Housing and Homelessness Needs Survey will identify the range of housing needs and support services for the members of the Dry Creek Rancheria.
White Earth Housing Needs Assessment
The White Earth Housing Needs Assessment is being conducted to support the White Earth Nation in its efforts to implement a Housing Needs Study. For this project, the White Earth Housing Authority will conduct a survey of residents throughout the study area as well as focus groups, interviews and community meetings to help determine the availability of and need for housing on the White Earth Reservation.
Flathead Indian Reservation Housing Needs Assessment
The Salish & Kootenai Housing Authority is working with Big Water Consulting to convene a regional coalition of governments and non-profit organizations to address the housing crisis facing the Flathead Indian Reservation. The Housing Needs Assessment will collect actionable data that communities can use to plan for future housing and community development projects.
Muckleshoot Community Needs Assessment
Auburn, Washington
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is composed of descendants of the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup peoples of Central Puget Sound. The Muckleshoot Community Needs Assessment seeks to gather data on the housing and other programming needs of Muckleshoot Reservation residents and Tribal members. The needs assessment will also inform a permanent supportive housing development in partnership with BeauxSimone Consulting and RTHawk Housing Alliance.
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Community Needs Assessment and Housing Fabrication Facility Feasibility Study
Fort Hall, Idaho
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are federally-recognized tribes residing on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, located in the eastern Snake River Plain of southeastern Idaho near the town of Pocatello, Idaho. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall comprise the eastern and western bands of the Northern Shoshone and the Bannock, or Northern Paiute, bands. After the success of the 2016 Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Community Needs Assessment, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have launched the 2021 Shoshone-Bannock Community Needs Assessment and Housing Fabrication Facility Feasibility Study.
White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment
Whiteriver, Arizona
The White Mountain Apache Housing Authority (WMAHA) initiated the White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment on behalf of the White Mountain Apache Tribe (WMAT) in order to develop forward-looking planning and program management and to identify and measure the needs of communities throughout the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The Tribe selected Big Water Consulting to coordinate the effort and provide training and technical assistance throughout the project. This housing needs assessment included a household survey that collected data from 654 homes on the reservation and had an overall response rate of 97.2%.
South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition Appraisal Market Study
The Appraisal Market Study was commissioned by the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition (SDNHC) to describe the market for home appraisals on the nine Indian reservations in South Dakota and enable appraisers to evaluate the potential business opportunities available to them on reservation lands. Big Water Consulting used existing, available data from federal, state, and Tribal sources and interviewed and surveyed appraisers, lenders, and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHES) to help determine the composition, size, value, and growth for valuation services on reservations within South Dakota.