CCC’s Work with Native Americans
The Center has deep relationships with Native American communities. Over the years, CCC has played an essential role in expanding the capacity of a number of Indian organizations.
CCC’s Earlier Work
During the 1970’s the Center worked with Southwestern Indian Development on an Arizona-wide organizing strategy. CCC helped recruit and financially support an American Indian organizer; it also assisted with research related to the then-new federal General Revenue Sharing program. The Center also provided capacity building and fundraising assistance to the Affiliation of Arizona Indian Centers.
The Center’s approach to organizer recruitment, leadership training, capacity building assistance, and issue research resulted in a number of major social change accomplishments. For instance, Southwestern Indian Development’s organizing and policy research led to the creation of the DINE Cooperatives as an alternative to the trading post system on the Navajo Reservation. Another example of success was the Metropolitan Phoenix Indian Coalition, which won major victories from the City of Phoenix and the State of Arizona around issues such as how revenue sharing funds were used.
People who received organizing training through these entities eventually became leaders in Arizona tribal governments, as well as members of the Arizona State Legislature, and staff to Arizona members of Congress.
More Recent Work
CCC’s Native American Project continues to play an integral role in creating and sustaining a number of Indian organizations, including: Indian People Organizing for Change in the San Francisco Bay Area; Indian People’s Action in Montana; the National American Indian Development Corporation in Minnesota; and, the Native American Community Organizing Project in Phoenix.
Beginning in 1999, the Native American Project regularly convened urban Indian groups for three-day training sessions on community and economic development, community organizing, and organizational development. These sessions engaged groups from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington State, and Wisconsin. With support from the Native American Project, these organizations established the National American Indian Development Corporation (NAIDC) in 2003. NAIDC is an intermediary organization that promotes community development in American Indian communities, focusing on affordable housing and homeownership, entrepreneurship, workforce development, and media and communications technology. CCC’s Native American Project provides ongoing full-time staff support, organizing training, and policy assistance to NAIDC and its partner organizations. You can learn more about the National American Indian Development Corporation at www.nuidc.org
Working through the NAIDC network, the Native American Project continues its tradition of building the capacity of Native-led organizations by striving to increase direct federal funding to Indian-led community development organizations. This effort is currently focused on five metropolitan areas and the rural reservation areas surrounding them: Rapid City, Portland/Seattle, Los Angeles/Orange County, Minneapolis, and Phoenix.
In February 2004, the Native American Project and NAIDC convened American Indian media and technology organizations to establish the Native Media and Technology Network. The mission of the Network is to build information technology infrastructure in Native communities and to develop culturally-relevant content for local, national, and global distribution. The Network plans to leverage federal and private funds, increase knowledge about media and technology needs in Native communities, and build local capacity to address those needs.
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