COVID-19 pandemic magnifies inequities faced by Tribal communities

The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted communities large and small around the world. But the pandemic has hit Tribal communities especially hard. According to the Daily Yonder, on the Navajo Reservation as of May 27, 2020, 4,944 people out of a population of 173,000 had tested positive for Covid-19, and 159 had died.

Technology collaboration results in addresses for Navajo Reservations

For the first time, the Navajo Nation will have access to a unified address system, the lack of which has traditionally been a serious problem for the Native community.

Joy Harjo becomes first Native American Poet Laureate

This year Joy Harjo became the 23rd Poet Laureate and the first ever of Tribal membership. Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, is an international renowned writer and performer who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Gatherers in Mendocino County risk fines and jail time to keep Tribal traditions alive

In Mendocino, California, a group of Indigenous people from the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Tribes are defying a bevy of state and local laws. Intended to crack down on poachers who over-harvest local sea resources, the laws also criminalize Native traditions of sustainable harvesting, which stretch back hundreds of years.

RCAC funds Major Market in New Mexico

Construction began this month on Major Market in New Mexico. Using a $1 million Kellogg Foundation grant and PRI (program related investment) RCAC helped to fund the organic market and deli in New Mexico. The market is owned and operated by Darrell Tsabetsaye and his family, all Zuni Tribe members.