Sacred Pipe Resource Center
Report date
April 2018
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
First and foremost, the component of the project which allowed SPRC to host regular monthly Community Engagement Team meetings was instrumental in making progress because it provided the space to increase cohesiveness among the American Indian community. The consistency of meetings was critical to establishing trust and relationship. Since there were various groups that had attempted to start an urban Indian organization and had not been successful, it was imperative to continue providing a continued presence. The consistent meetings were also helpful in developing the expectation of long-term change and a vision of engagement. The regular meetings illustrated a commitment to the voices of American Indian people and the various topics and speakers demonstrated the wide range of interests that are in the community. What we learned in the process is that some community members are in too much crisis to participate in any way but socially or in receiving benefits. Other community members are hungry for ways to channel their efforts. Through the project, it was important to provide the range but to also balance the two; to find ways that people in crisis could also contribute.
The second component that was most helpful in making progress was the ability to conduct the Bismarck-Mandan American Indian Community survey. The survey was an opportunity not only to bring the community together but to share with them the importance of using data and information. We were also able to connect with the American Indian homeless population during this time as well, which was only a minor consideration during the first survey. The American Indian homeless population is a critically unserved group and this information will be helpful in providing information for solutions. We were also able to connect with youth and conduct the youth-specific survey. The grant project allowed us to build longitudinal data regarding our community. The reason the maintenance of data is so important is that little to no data is ever collected about the American Indian population in communities, and particularly in urban communities. In addition, the data we collect contains fields that can inform a variety of programs and services. Our intent is to build this into a revenue source to help with sustainability of the organization.
The final component in making progress is the on-going inclusion of Native voices in the problem-solving process. The ability for the community to have input into the development of the CETs was critical as it provided the parameters for the work in the community. Each CET that was operational came directly from the wishes of the community. They are the American Indian Youth Issues, American Indian Health Issues, and Integrated Cultural Events. A fourth CET, Civic Engagement, was created at the January 2016 visioning session. The fact that the community elevated this CET to the fourth was a testimony to their elevated sense of engagement. The community discussed the need for training and tools in this arena. What is exciting about having their voices elevated is that the CETs represent work that goes beyond basic needs and the types of services and programs already being provided by various community organizations. The CETs are unique and authentic. They are the areas in which the community sees a need for activism and engagement and identifying them is critical, given the depth and breadth of negative socio-economic issues that impact the Native community.
Key lessons learned
A major lesson learned is to start small, nurture the group formation process more deliberately, and find key roles for members who can provide only minimal engagement. There is a delicate balance between expecting too much participation (output) from the individuals involved and too little participation, which creates disengagement. The American Indian population needs to be directly involved in the aspects of civic engagement but should be provided with small but consistent roles in making change. This is a lesson that could, in some ways, be characterized as failure since it took us the entire grant term to learn it. Each CET planned, conducted, and completed a major project – the American Indian Health Issues CET helped establish a community health center in south Bismarck, the American Indian Youth Issues CET conducted several key youth events, and the Integrated Cultural Events CET conducted a major American Indian veteran’s parade event (“Honoring All Heroes”) – but what was not able to be established was a sense of how to impact systemic change.
Another key lesson learned was to be aware of how outside forces could potentially impact the progress and work. We did not foresee the major impact that the #NoDapl movement would have on the local community. There were negative impacts, which was the backlash toward American Indian people and issues during and after the movement and the reaction of some American Indian community members to disengage and go “back into the woodwork”. There were also positive impacts, however, in that it inspired many American Indian community members to become more involved in issues. The explosiveness of the movement, however, hampered the progress of the CETs in that small accomplishments and slow growth were lost as people saw, and perhaps came to expect, national/international movements, major fundraising, and significant media coverage.
A third key lesson learned is that there is a continuum of engagement. There are some among the American Indian community that prefer not to be engaged in doing anything but merely want to be among each other in a sense of community and perhaps entertainment. They are still in a healing phase, so to speak, where they are in crisis and just need support or to be in a community of American Indian people. Secondly, there are those who would like to be informed and support efforts from afar and only want to be minimally involved. They are in an awakening phase and perhaps need more educational or discussion opportunities. They may also have peripheral roles, such as volunteers, donors, or some other mechanisms but they need a way to be drawn in. They may also need to discover their own passion. Finally, there are those who want to be actively engaged and perhaps need focus and resources. The new problem is to find a way to engage all of these groups in a seamless process.
Reflections on the community innovation process
There are two very important aspects of the diagram that held meaning for this project. One is that the community innovation process is a process itself. It helped us to focus each of our CETs on the process of identifying a community need, forming a CET, and working through a solution. Although we did not achieve nearly so streamlined a process, it was helpful for keeping us focused on developing a process rather than being driven by a topic or bending to the whims of any outside forces in formed a group. In addition, I think the building capacity thread (component) of the diagram was important. While I don’t think we were quite as successful with this aspect as we did not give it due attention, in retrospect it was one of the areas that held meaning for us. The American Indian community needed more opportunities for building capacity.
Progress toward an innovation
The innovation of the project was to engage the American Indian community in addressing their own needs in the community. Instead of passive participation in mechanisms such as focus groups, advisory roles, or feedback surveys, the American Indian community would be able to identify key needs and solutions to addressing them. Significant progress was made in the fact that new mechanisms for active participation – Community Engagement Teams – were created and was able to show progress in achieving goals. We are closer to making this mechanism a long-term solution to issues because of the progress of each CET that we have been able to show and because of the valuable lessons we have learned. In addition, we were also able to illustrate the benefit of positive partnerships with non-Native organizations and entities. There are several non-Native organizations and entities in the local area who now actively seek out Native participation and partnership. We believe the process, though tentative, has proven to be a successful mechanism and have a positive impact.
What's next?
While progress was made toward utilizing the mechanism of American Indian-based community engagement teams and their own data to solve community problems, the progress was tentative and was somewhat stymied by the protest movement. Progress was tentative in the sense that the CETs were able to address issues and complete projects but they tended to be stand-alone types of projects and were not as integrated into long-term community change as was envisioned. Progress was stymied by the protest movement in that the community lost sight of the community needs because the global implications of the protest movement inspired them to want to be involved in much larger issues. Ancillary movements such as on-going anti-pipeline/environmental issues, as well as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) have drawn attention from local issues. But while the progress was a bit hampered, it was still progress and showed great promise. The next steps are to continue utilizing the process, to provide more learning opportunities to the American Indian community about making community change, and to continue to make inroads into connecting the CETs with community supports.
If you could do it all over again...
If I could go back to the start of the grant period, I would advise myself to take the process more slowly and focus a little more on group cohesion and roles, as well as address the trauma and healing issues within the American Indian community. With 20/20 hindsight, I might also advise myself to pay more attention to the dynamics of a major protest movement and how that would impact us locally. Because the CET process was in infancy stages for the project, it was a challenge to keep efforts focused and attainable, as well as relevant to the local community, while chaos was happening around us. I would have advised myself to pay more attention to the combination of nurturing a new process while in the midst of a major, controversial movement.