Honoring Nations: Successes in Self-Governance

Since 1998, the Honoring Nations awards program has recognized 142 outstanding programs. This program serves as a platform and database to share success stories in American Indian self-government.

Recipients of the Honoring Nations awards collectively address a wide range of issues, from employment and housing to resource management and health. These stories offer inspiring lessons for all communities. They are excellent models of thoughtful decision-making and strong leadership. They show how to make communities places where citizens thrive. View eight past awardees from each of the governmental subject areas...

Contemporary place names throughout the United States reflect the history of colonization. The explorers and settlers who named mountains, rivers, and other natural features after themselves or their heroes were unaware or indifferent to the fact that waterways, features of the land, and places already had ancient names. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have undertaken an ambitious project to organize, give preeminence to, and systematically disseminate their knowledge of the land.

Indoor plumbing is a basic amenity that most Americans take for granted. In parts of rural Alaska, however, providing water and sewer service is not an easy task. The harsh climate requires special adaptations, costs are high, and many small communities lack the expertise needed to manage complex systems. To address these challenges, the Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative facilitates cooperation among Alaska Native villages to assist them with the operations of their own water and sewer systems as effectively and inexpensively as possible.

In 1994, only 10 percent of the citizens of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe were fluent in the Band’s native language, and the youngest native speaker was 37. Declining language use was a disturbing indicator of the loss of tribal traditions. Today, the tribally funded Ojibwe Language Program serves hundreds of students, from toddlers to teenagers. The very youngest students—those in Head Start and day care programs across the reservation—spend four to eight hours a day with a fluent Ojibwe instructor. K-12 grade students at the Nay Ah Shing School attend daily Ojibwe language classes.

Recognized by state game and fish agencies as being one of the best of its kind, the Jicarilla Apache Tribe's Program includes a game and fish code and a wildlife management fund for habitat enhancement projects. The Program restored the reservation’s mule deer population and trophy trout, and established a commercial elk hunting ranch that produces critical resources for the Tribe annually. The Jicarilla Tribe's Wildlife and Fisheries Management Program is regarded by both Indians and non-Indians as a model program. In 1987, the Southwest Section of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society honored the Jicarilla Game and Fish Department with its "Outstanding Program of the Decade" award.

Establishing the criteria for citizenship is an inherent right of national governments around the world. This right determines who can be a citizen and how citizenship is transferred through generations. Yet for Indian nations, history complicates efforts to fully exercise sovereignty. Project Tiwahu: Redefining Tigua Citizenship was an Ysleta del Sur

Pueblo-wide initiative to reform and self-determine enrollment as an exercise of tribal sovereignty. Reform efforts addressed the hard questions about belonging and built consensus around a new, more inclusive approach to tribal citizenship.

Working parents face a dilemma when a child falls ill. Staying home to provide care or finding a relative or friend to help can be a major challenge, especially for single parents, two-worker families, and employees whose jobs offer limited flexibility. The Chickasaw Nation Sick Child Care Program offers a safe and nurturing place for mildly ill children to spend the day and gives working parents the assurance that their children are receiving proper care.

The Coast Salish Gathering provides an environmental policy platform for tribal and First Nations governments, state and provincial governments, and the US and Canadian federal governments—all of which have interests in the Salish Sea region—to discuss and determine effective environmental strategies and practices. Most importantly for the Coast Salish people, however, is that it amplifies their voice on the environmental issues that matter most to them: access to toxin-free traditional foods, adequate water quality and quantity, and collective climate change policies.

Drug dealers and gang members threaten the well-being of communities throughout the United States. In Indian Country, jurisdictional issues and a lack of trust in law enforcement complicate the apprehension of drug- and gang-involved offenders. Tribal Police Departments in Wisconsin formed the Native American Drug and Gang

Initiative Task Force to strengthen their ability to deal with these illegal activities with support from the tribal governments. The Task Force facilitates inter-agency cooperation and helps tribes take the lead in addressing public safety threats to their communities.