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NNI PARTNERS WITH BUSH FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT TRIBAL SELF-DETERMINATION

The Bush Foundation is an independent, private foundation that was founded by Archibald Bush, a 3M executive, and his wife Edythe in 1953. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Bush Foundation concentrates its work in three states: Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Two years ago, the Bush Foundation decided that one of its focal areas of work over the next decade would be supporting "the self-determination of the 23 sovereign Native nations that share the same geography as Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota." Searching for a partner to assist them in their work, they selected the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at the University of Arizona, cofounded by the University and the Udall Foundation in 2001.

Over the last year, with a grant from the Bush Foundation, NNI has taken a leading role in the Bush initiative, providing these 23 nations with information and development services on governance and nation rebuilding. The kickoff event was a tribal leaders' summit last October, held at the conference center of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Minnesota, where representatives from the 23 nations, along with NNI and Bush staff, discussed the decade-long program that the Bush Foundation has outlined, reviewed the current state of self-determination and nation building in Indian Country, and discussed some of the issues facing tribal governments.

Since then, NNI and Bush have organized a series of activities for the 23 nations in the region, including executive education with tribal leaders, facilitation of governance analyses and reorganization, and other projects designed to increase nation-building capacities among the Native nations of the region. Among other things, NNI and Bush developed an innovative training program for selected nation "rebuilders" designed to strengthen leadership skills, expand knowledge of tribal governance issues, and facilitate interactions with each other in the search for viable solutions to governance challenges in Indian Country.

As part of the program, NNI also developed a self-assessment tool, a "Governance Analysis for Native Nations," that it has been using with some of the nations in the region. A future issue of this newsletter will provide more information about the tool and its use.