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December 20, 2010
e-newsletter
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  highlights of activities, publications, and achievements


 
NATIVE NATIONS INSTITUTE
for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI)


The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI), founded in 2001 by the Udall Foundation and The University of Arizona, is an administrative unit of the UA's Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.

NNI serves as a self-determination, governance, and development resource for Indigenous nations in the United States and elsewhere.






 
Award for public service from NCAI


The Native Nations Institute earned the 2010 Public Sector Leadership Award from the National Congress of American Indians.


The NCAI, the largest and oldest organization of Indigenous nations in the United States, awarded NNI and its partner, the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, for "groundbreaking research" and support of tribal nations regarding political and social issues.
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Research articles and book chapters


American Indian Self-Determination: The Political Economy of a Successful Policy
Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt. 2010 (November). JOPNA Working Paper 1. Tucson, Ariz., and Cambridge, Mass.: Native Nations Institute and Harvard Project. [pdf]

Can Australia follow Obama's lead?
Stephen Cornell. 2010 (May). Reconciliation News (Reconciliation Australia). [link]

Native nations and Arizona's economy
Stephen Cornell and Miriam Jorgensen. 2010. In Building Arizona's Future: Jobs, Innovation and Competitiveness, ed. Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi and Jen McCormack, 119-23. Tucson: Arizona Town Hall. [pdf]

Tribal experience with children's accounts
Miriam Jorgensen and Peter Morris. 2010. Children and Youth Services Review 32(11): 1528-37. [link]   See related report. [pdf]

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Documentary film on Red Lake fisheries


Return of the Red Lake Walleye
Produced by Ian Record. 2010 (December). DVD. 30 min.

The film chronicles the extraordinary effort of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, working with the State of Minnesota and federal agencies, to bring back the culturally and economically vital walleye from the brink of extinction in Red Lake. The film will be broadcast on public television stations in Arizona and Minnesota and is available for purchase via the film's website.
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photo banner of RNN
 
Nation building distance-learning curriculum


Rebuilding Native Nations
Produced by Ian Record. 2010 (November). DVD-ROM or online.

The first module of the course, "Native Nation Building," presents the five critical keys to successful nation building and explores why they are important to sustainable economic and community development. The course materials are available on DVD or online and include a study guide.
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The course and study guide build on the ground-breaking work presented in Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development, edited by NNI research director Miriam Jorgensen and with contributions by several NNI researchers.
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Partnership with Bush Foundation to assist with Native Nations Rebuilders Program
 
This past year, the Native Nations Institute established a significant partnership -- including grant awards totaling nearly $1 million -- with the Archibald Bush Foundation to assist the foundation with its Native Nations Rebuilders Program in support of the self-determination efforts of the 23 Native nations within the Bush Foundation's service area of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

As part of this endeavor, NNI staff developed an assessment and analytical tool, Governance Analysis for Native Nations, designed to identify areas where Native nations should focus to build stronger governments.
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Native American youth leadership program


NNI hosted two youth programs during the summer of 2010:

-- 3rd Native American Youth Governance Camp with 16 participants representing six Native nations


-- 13th Native American Youth Entrepreneur Camp with 15 students from five U.S. Native nations and one First Nation in Canada
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Other NNI activities

Executive Education Workshops. During 2010, NNI staff and colleagues at the Harvard Project, delivered 12 executive education workshops for nearly 400 Indigenous leaders from Native nations across the United States and Canada.
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Indigenous Leadership Fellow. NNI hosted the fourth fellow in the Indigenous Leadership Fellows Program, Frank Ettawageshik, executive director of the United Tribes of Michigan and former chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan.
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Native Nation Building Fellow. Josh Proper, 2009 Udall Foundation Scholar, citizen of the Alaska Native Village of Chitina, and a recent graduate of Dartmouth College, joined NNI in July as its first Native Nation Building Fellow.
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Staff highlights

JOAN TIMECHE, executive director, was named "Woman of the Year" by the Phoenix Indian Center, a nonprofit organization that provides training and assistance for urban American Indians. [link]

IAN RECORD, educational resources manager, received a Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association for his book, Big Sycarmore Stands Alone: The Western Apaches, Aravaipa, and the Struggle for Place [link]

STEPHANIE CARROLL RAINIE, senior researcher, presented the talk, "Tribal Community Management of Health Care: What Are the Lessons?" on behalf of co-authors at the National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations (Diversity Rx) in Baltimore (October) and the American Public Health Association in Denver (November). [pdf]

MANLEY BEGAY, faculty chair, delivered the 2010 Narrm Oration, "Indigenous Nation Re-Building Renaissance: Lessons about Leadership, Governance and Resiliency of Native North America," at the Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute for Indigenous Development at the University of Melbourne (November). [link]

STEPHEN CORNELL, Udall Center director, presented several talks this past year, including "Indigenous Governance and Development" at the Maori Law Society conference in Wellington, New Zealand (September) and "Reconstituting Native Nations: Boundaries, Identities, and Governance in Canada, Australia, and the United States" at the International Roundtable on Indigenous Land Use Planning and Territorial Management, University of Saskatchewan (June).

MIRIAM JORGENSEN, research director, organized a panel, "Governance Challenges: Research in Support of Tribal Policy-Making," at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association in Tucson (May), and presented several talks, including "Research on Child Savings Accounts," at the Region VIII Leadership Summit on Family Financial Security sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Durango, Colo. (September).

RACHEL ROSE STARKS, research analyst and coordinator, presented the talk, "Tribes Living in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: Issues and Implications," at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference in Tucson (May).

JEN McCORMACK, research analyst, presented the talk, "'Flipping the Script," or Changing the Legal-Spatial Discourse in Indigenous Court Cases" at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference in Tucson (May).

RYAN SEELAU, research analyst, presented a talk (in Spanish) with Laura Seelau, "The Right to Indigenous Self-Determination: What the Future May Hold," at the Centro de Derechos Humanos, Universidad Diego Portales in Chile.

RENEE GOLDTOOTH, leadership and management programs manager, presented at a roundtable discussion (with Joan Timeche and Ian Record), "Closing the Loop: Returning Research to Indian Country," at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference in Tucson (May).






Seasons Greetings
from the staff of the Native Nations Institute and Udall Center




UDALL CENTER PUBLICATIONS
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Robert Merideth
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Renee La Roi
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Ariel Mack
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UDALL CENTER

Established in 1987, the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy sponsors policy-relevant, interdisciplinary research and forums that link scholarship and education with decision-making. The Center specializes in issues concerning: (1) environmental policy, primarily in the Southwest and U.S.-Mexico border region; (2) immigration policy of the United States; and (3) Indigenous nations policy.


NATIVE NATIONS INSTITUTE

The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI), founded in 2001 by the Morris K. Udall Foundation (now Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation) and The University of Arizona and housed at the Udall Center, serves as a self-determination, governance, and development resource for Indigenous nations in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.

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