Project on Indigenous Governance and Development at Harvard Kennedy School

Last week, we had our second ⭐️ 2025 Honoring Nations Award site visit with a trip to the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. Highlights for the site visit team included:

🔹 Meeting with the Governor's Office including Honorable Governor Edwin Co**ha and Honorable War Chief Robert Evan Trujillo
🔹 Tour of the Historic Village of Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Landmark
🔹 Participating in a Collective Workshop with current and former leadership, Council members, community members, and Taos Pueblo operational staff

👏🏼 Thank you to Taos Pueblo's Priority Process team for hosting us!

More info on the Taos Pueblo Priority Process:
➡️ To promote the principles of self-determination and self-governance among their citizens, Taos Pueblo established the Taos Pueblo Priority Process, a community-driven initiative that utilizes participatory workshops to define community priorities in alignment with cultural practices which are implemented in tribal programming and policies. This process has led to new laws, leadership changes, and increased engagement in tribal-wide priorities, reflecting the Pueblo's inherent right to shape its own future through participatory self-governance.

Honoring Nations team pictured: Arlene Strom (Circle of Supporters), Jael Whitney Brothers.

With the utmost gratitude and respect, on this final day as director of the Project on Indigenous Governance and Development (Harvard Project), we recognize ☀️ the distinguished career of Joseph P. Kalt.

🌱 Co-founding the Harvard Project with Stephen Cornell in 1987, Joe's contributions championing tribal self-determination over the past 38 years has been felt across Indian Country and Indigenous communities worldwide. Through his research, congressional testimonies, pro bono advisory services, board membership, teaching, and in 2023 announcing the endowment of the Harvard Project at the , Joe's advocacy has been selfless and instrumental in the nation building movement.

Thank you, Joe, for your vision, for an unwavering commitment to Indigenous governance, and for being a good relative. Happy retirement 🥳!

Staff pictured left to right: Jael Whitney Brothers (Choctaw), Joe Kalt, Miriam Jorgensen, Melissa Yazzie (Navajo), Megan Minoka Hill (Oneida), Eric Henson (Chickasaw), and Julia McNicholas.

Last week, we kicked off our six ⭐️ 2025 Honoring Nations Award site visits with a trip to Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Iron Horse Industrial Park in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Highlights for the site visit team included:

🔹 Meeting with Chairman John "Rocky" Barrett and Vice-Chairman Linda Capps
🔹 Speaking with industrial park staff, clients, and partners including M3 Technologies, University of Oklahoma, Grand Dam River Authority, and AOK Railroad
🔹 Tours of Foreign-Trade Zone #106 and Sovereign Pipe Technologies

👏🏼 Thank you to the Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Economic Development team for hosting!

More info on Iron Horse Industrial Park:
➡️ Expanding its capacity for economic development and sustainable resource management, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation established Iron Horse, a 700-acre eco-industrial park on their trust land in east-central Oklahoma. This tribally owned and governed park emphasizes environmental sustainability while expanding the Nation's economic base, operating as a magnet site within Foreign-Trade Zone #106 as one of the first Foreign-Trade Zones on Native American land with active sites, reflecting their drive for economic self-determination.

We are thrilled to celebrate former Harvard Project summer intern, Ashlee Fox 🎓, upon her graduation from Yale Law School. Stretching back to 2017 when Ashlee was a rising junior at Reed College, the potential to make a difference in Indian Country was evident. Join us in wishing Ashlee well as she studies for the ⚖️ California bar and embarks on a promising legal career. Congratulations, Ashlee 🥳!

Ashlee Fox is a citizen of Cherokee Nation from Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

🚨 RESEARCH WATCH

Next month, the Tribal Codes Analysis Project based at the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), will publish an analysis of over 160 tribal child welfare codes to learn how tribes are incorporating cultural values into their laws. Leading this research is NICWA's Sr. Program Director, 👏🏼 Tara Reynon (Puyallup), and the Harvard Project's Research Director, 👏🏼 Miriam Jorgensen.

Tribes ‘Decolonizing’ Child Welfare Practices, Researchers Find Report shows tribes have redefined and tailored US laws around foster care to match the priorities of their unique communities and cultures.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025! 🎉
We’d like to acknowledge US Army Strategist (FA59), Officer Justin Lowe (Native Hawaiian) who joined 604 of his Kennedy School classmates as an . Accepted last year into the HQDA Harvard Strategist Program, Justin earned the degree of Mid-Career Master in Public Administration. A valued and valuable voice in our January course - Nation Building I - Justin has the well wishes of the Harvard Project staff. 🥳

🔔 UPCOMING LIVESTREAM

The HKS Diploma Ceremony will begin at approximately 12:45 p.m.

Harvard Kennedy School 2025 Diploma Ceremony The HKS Diploma Ceremony is held directly following the University-wide Morning Exercises. Diplomas are awarded individually to graduating students on stage ...

🎤 Interviewed in this report on the impact of federal funding cuts in Indian Country is the incoming Harvard Project Director, Randy Akee. Akee says the uncertain funding environment is complicating tribal nations' ability to make plans.

You can ＋read or ＋listen to the coverage at the link below.

How Trump administration policies are playing out in tribal economies In a new survey, tribal leaders talked about federal grants that support vital services getting frozen, layoffs at agencies they work closely with and more.

📣 In The News

Harvard Project co-founder and director, Prof. Joe Kalt presented recently at the First Nations Major Projects Coalition conference. Prof. Kalt's session: Keys To Indigenous Commercial Success.

Harvard economist reveals factors that help Indigenous Nations become commercial successes Not only is he a leading American economist but Dr. Joe Kalt also co-founded the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development in 1987. Kalt was in Toronto recently as a featured speaker at the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference. Kalt spoke at an April 28 session ti...

“You pass on good examples through the work that you’re doing, and as one gets to be grandparents you realize you have this huge responsibility of passing on the knowledge, that all knowledge that is given, what good is that if you keep your head buried and don’t share that?" notes Chief Pierre.

Senior Fellow in Indigenous Governance and Development, Chief Sophie Pierre (Ktunaxa Nation), is featured in this recent Ash Center article.

Chief Sophie Pierre On Being The First: Bridging the Past, Present, and Future of the Ktunaxa Nation – Ash Center Chief Sophie Pierre, a respected leader of the Ktunaxa Nation, has been named the Inaugural Senior Fellow in Indigenous Governance and Development at Harvard Kennedy School, starting in Spring 2025. Known for her groundbreaking work in governance, economic development, and cultural preservation, Pie...

This report from Marketplace Business News looked at how funding cuts are playing out in Indian Country. Interviewed is the incoming Harvard Project Director, Randy Akee. Akee says the uncertain funding environment is complicating tribal nations' ability to make plans.

You can read or listen to the coverage at the link below.

How Trump administration policies are playing out in tribal economies In a new survey, tribal leaders talked about federal grants that support vital services getting frozen, layoffs at agencies they work closely with and more.