Big Water Consulting

I would like to celebrate the achievement of Lorraine Shepherd-Davis, Scott Davis, Native American Development Center and Agency MABU in hosting the inaugural Tribal Econ Summit (https://lnkd.in/gr75Xw6f) last week in frosty Bismarck, North Dakota. It was an amazingly accessible and welcoming new event that featured inspiring and informative presentations from leaders of the five tribes of North Dakota (including Jamie Azure of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), Sean Sherman, Gary "Litefoot" Davis, Governor Kelly Armstrong, Heather Sobrepena, Chance Lee Rush, and many others. Thank you for letting me be part of your event and preach the gospel of tribal data sovereignty, so to speak. It was an honor. I look forward to watching this event grow in the coming years and continue to serve the Native people of North Dakota and the Northern Plains.

Our Managing Director, Kevin Klingbeil, will be delivering a presentation entitled "Strengthening Tribal Data Sovereignty to Produce Better Economic Data and Outcomes" on January 23rd at the 2025 Tribal Econ Summit in Bismarck, ND (https://lnkd.in/gBff7w-d), which is being hosted by the Native American Development Center. In this presentation, Kevin will address how strengthening tribal data sovereignty and planning capacity ensures that economic opportunity in tribal communities is accurately represented; entrepreneurs and enterprises in these communities are provided equitable access to technical resources and capital; and that communities maximize their opportunities and access to resources. If you are planning to attend the Tribal Econ Summit, please grab Kevin in the hallway, introduce yourself, share your thoughts, and make a new friend.

Happy New Year to all our community partners who made 2024 a year of meaningful impact and collaboration. Your trust and partnership enables us to:  ✦ Hear from 2,386 community members through surveys  ✦ Facilitate 43 listening sessions and stakeholder interviews  ✦ Create 29 new jobs and training opportunities  ✦ 10 comprehensive needs assessments conducted ✦ 2 national Native initiatives through EDA   These numbers represent more than just metrics—they represent relationships built, voices heard, and communities strengthened. Through these partnerships, and our collaborative approach, we expanded our reach with two national Native initiatives: the CDFI Fund's New Markets Tax Credit Native Initiative (completed in February 2024) and the EDA-funded Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice (ongoing until September 2025), as well as moderating an informative panel on tribal censuses during the Center for Indian Country Development's Data Summit. We're grateful for the opportunity to work alongside you in creating positive change. Here's to continued collaboration and community-driven solutions in 2025!   #CommunityPartnerships #TribalNations #CommunityEngagement #BigWaterConsulting

Big Water hosted a workshop at the 2024 NAIHC Legal Symposium in Las Vegas on integrating housing with community economic development activities and entrepreneurship as part of the Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice (www.indigenouscop.org). During the workshop, participants discussed their experiences working in housing and the ties they see to workforce and economic development, discussed visions for their communities, and brainstormed strategies to build entrepreneurial ecosystems. When Indigenous communities invest in housing, they are not only meeting a basic human need; they are investing in economic development. Stable and effective housing stimulates local economies directly by generating jobs in construction and related industries and indirectly by providing homes for other members of the local workforce. In turn, a stable workforce creates opportunities for local businesses to thrive, from building materials suppliers to service providers. As a result, housing that is affordable is often the cornerstone of long-term economic stability—when families have access to secure homes, they are more likely to stay, raise families, and retain employment. We want to thank all 75 tribal housing and economic development practitioners who participated in this 3-hour workshop. We also want to thank our partners on the IED CoP project from the Urban Institute and National American Indian Housing Council, as well as the U.S. Economic Development Administration who is funding the project. Listen to recordings from this workshop in the CoP's Events Archive: https://lnkd.in/gverNsPz

Learn more about the 105(l) Lease Program, a creative and underutilized funding mechanism for Native Nations! The 105(l) lease program came about through public law 93-638 of the Indian Self Determination Education Systems Act. The leases are not traditional leases and instead closely resemble a facility cost agreement. The program grew from three leases in 2019 worth around $2 million in total to over 800 leases in 2024 totaling close to $200 million a year. The program is projected to expand to over a billion dollars within the next 5 years according to Cody Seaton, the Chief of the BIA’s Office of Tribal Leases.  Find Paula Poncho’s 15-minute training at https://lnkd.in/gMJSdyBJ and Cody Seaton’s overview of the program at https://lnkd.in/geUpwibM Lastly, view resources such as the program guidebook, documentation checklist for proposals, and other resources at https://lnkd.in/gNtgyekH

This month, Big Water Consulting met with staff from the SANTA CLARA PUEBLO HOUSING AUTHORITY, Rights Protection Office, and Transportation Department to launch the Santa Clara Pueblo's Community Needs Assessment.   This assessment will gather crucial data about different dimensions of tribal life, including housing conditions, healthcare access, transportation needs, educational opportunities, employment, public safety concerns, cultural preservation, and social services. Given that federal tribal datasets often include significant non-Native population data from the surrounding area, this targeted assessment will provide essential insights specifically focused on Kha'P'o experiences and needs to create actionable and data-driven solutions. The project will also be an opportunity to create an inventory of vacant and abandoned properties throughout the pueblo.   The visit included a productive planning session where participants explored both the community's successes and areas for improvement across departmental programs, focusing on community-driven solutions. Later on, a couple dozen pueblo residents attended a community meeting to share their personal experiences and identify topics they'd like to see addressed in the survey. This input will help guide the development of a survey instrument that reflects the community's vision.   We’re excited to kick this project off and for the community to start recruiting local field staff who will go door-to-door and complete surveys with members of the community. #SantaClaraPuebloHousingAuthority #CommunityNeedsAssessment #TribalNeedsAssessment #CommunityPlanning   To learn more about this project please visit: https://lnkd.in/eP4_t2Mr

Big Water is a partner with the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing Authority as the Northern Cheyenne Tribe conducts their Health and Housing Needs Assessment. This is a great example of PR/messaging for a tribal collection project that shows the responding households that their information will be collected by community members who understand their culture and issues. The project aims to collect crucial information about housing, healthcare, education, employment, and infrastructure. In gathering these stories and perspectives, the tribe will be able to understand what’s needed in their community. Meet and learn more about the field staff, what their role is in the project, why they joined the project, what they are most excited about, and what they want the community to know about the project. A big thank you to all the Northern Cheyenne Health and Housing Needs Assessment field staff!

Big Water is thrilled to have been part of NATIVE ACTION NETWORK's 20th annual Native Women's Leadership Forum and Young Native Women’s Leadership Academy this week! Research Associate Chloe Adler presented the findings of the Native Women's Leadership Report, a NAN initiative completed in March 2024 aimed at fostering Native women's leadership in the state of Washington by gathering information and insight from hundreds of Native women about their leadership goals, current barriers, and programming wants and needs. Chloe had the opportunity to discuss the report's findings with Leadership Forum attendees, and to hear from up-and-coming Native women leaders participating in the Leadership Academy, many of whom are interested in embarking on similar data collection and analysis projects themselves. It was an honor to learn from and connect with these inspiring women. Thank you to NAN's Iris Friday and Claudia Kauffman for initiating and championing the Native Women's Leadership Report project, and to Britany Kee' ya aa. Lindley for coordinating this exciting two-day event.

Big Water, alongside the Urban Institute and the National American Indian Housing Council, is an organizer of the EDA-funded Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice (CoP) www.indigenouscop.org. This community brings together tribal economic development practitioners to learn from each other and build capacity to plan for, apply and secure funding for, and implement economic development projects. Next Wednesday, October 16th from 11:00am – 12:30pm PST, the CoP, Cody Seaton and Jonathan Bittner are leading the 8th monthly informational session, Creative Mechanisms for Funding Economic Development. During this event we will discuss a variety of new, and in some cases untested, mechanisms for supporting community economic development in tribal and Native communities. Join us in fostering an amazing community and facilitating economic development learning by registering here: https://shorturl.at/bocM8

I will be moderating the session titled "Telling Your Own Story with Data: The Rewards and Challenges of Conducting a Tribal Census" from 12:00-1:00 pm CT. Please join the session to learn from and engage with our three tremendous tribal panelists. Center for Indian Country Development