Guest opinion. At a conference last year, I experienced one of those moments when a thoughtful comment draws your mind far beyond where you currently are. In a panel discussion on data utility in Indian Country, a fellow panelist observed that it is about financial data gaps in Indian country addresses two opposing truths: sharing data is both important and scary.

Several months removed now, I have had ample opportunity to reflect on this comment. I think that, like my colleague on the panel, many of us feel the tension between data hesitancy and necessity—especially in a world that relies on data for decision-making. As native individuals and decision makers, we understand the risks involved share closely held data because of history master data is used without community consent or in ways where others control the stories of our communities. But as economic development professionals, we also recognize that quality master data are essential to make evidence-based decisions and articulate economic realities to politicians.

I think the wisdom lies in formulating the question as one both/and rather than one either/or. In other words, while the reluctance to share information to create an accurate understanding of our communities is real, we still need to continue to develop our collective data capabilities across Indian Country. So how can we alleviate our natural reluctance to share enough data to explore a way forward?

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Over the past year, the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD), a research and policy institute headquartered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, has ventured down the path toward answering this critical question. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, our pilot Survey of Native Nations introducing the possibility of a new era in master data partnerships.

Public finance data can help shape opportunities in Indian countries

CICD has been working to address the issue both/and public finance information in Indian country: both the modern need and the risks of misuse of master data. Rooted in both Indian country and Federal Reserve System—an independent institution, separate from the federal government, with extensive data security protocols and decades of experience managing critical data—CICD provides its combined both/and strengths to carry solutions.

The Survey of Native Nations responds to needs we’ve heard from tribal leaders who want to make evidence-based decisions about economic development in their communities. In recent years, CICD has made existing public data more accessible to policymakers across Indian country through a set of new data resources.

The story continues

However, a clear gap remains: The type of reference data on public finances that has long been available to state and local governments is simply not available to tribal communities. Like their local and state peers, tribal governments need public finance data to assess how their coffers compare to others in their region and across the country. Such data can highlight revenue opportunities and provide concrete evidence of tribal communities’ economic contributions and needs.

Until now, there has not been a comprehensive source for understanding the income and expenditures of tribal governments. Frankly, without a secure way to collect and manage closely held financial information while honoring master data sovereignty, there shouldn’t be such a source.

We aimed to change that.

Master data sovereignty is critical to closing gaps

Last summer and fall, CICD partnered with five tribal governments in Montana to pilot the Survey of Native Nations, which is designed to equip tribal governments with comparable public finance information. The survey shows CICD’s relationships across Indian Country, ours research principles in honor of master data sovereignty and the Federal Reserve System’s secure data collection and management infrastructure. Data conversations hosted by CICD in recent years has made it clear that transparent protocols for maintaining master data sovereignty are critical to addressing the uncertainty side of the data gap equation.

The survey pilot allowed CICD to proceed cautiously and fine-tune the survey instrument and procedures. Participants expressed that the value of the data analysis they received will be critical to making informed decisions about managing their treasuries, and they provided valuable feedback to refine the survey. For this we are very grateful.

Moving forward through relationships

Following the success of the first pilot, CICD partnered with United Southern and Eastern Tribes (USET) and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) to make the survey more widely available. As CICD and other partners In Indian country, these organizations work through the tension of addressing data gaps to fulfill their members’ information needs. This summer, these Native organizational partners are offering the Survey of Native Nations to their nearly 100 member tribes in the Southern and Eastern and Pacific regions. Such partnerships offer another tool to address the hesitancy of data sharing – that it is done in trusted collaboration.

That’s where the wise conference panel comment from last year drew me that day—back to the history of my people’s data relationships.

When I think about my ancestors’ data sharing practices, I am reminded that we have always been intentional about sharing information. My people – the Salish – have one tradition to cross the mountains of Montana to meet with other tribes to transmit information, such as climate indicators and q̓ʷeyq̓ʷay (buffalo) migration patterns, and share knowledge of native languages. Since time immemorial, we have understood that sharing information with peers can be mutually beneficial.

The same need to learn from each other exists today. Individual tribal governments managing their treasuries can benefit from a clear understanding of what peer governments do. If we can develop trusted partnerships for data collaboration, we can work through the attendant tension.

Vigilant and concrete progress

As we expand the survey of Native Nations, the public finance benchmark data available to tribal governments will become more comprehensive and valuable. We take it step by step and work with partners to carefully grow and refine efforts.

The five Montana tribal governments that participated in the first pilot did something brave: They trusted CICD to protect their well-kept financial data. Using this early experience, participants in the current survey expansion are doing the same. They have developed confidence that important public finance information is protected by data security and collaboration.

To me, this means that we are finding an important balance in paving this critical path forward. Together.

If you are interested in learning more about the Survey of Native Nations and how your tribe can participate, contact the CICD Engagement Director Heather Sobrepena (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Crow Tribe).

Casey Lozar is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Chief of Center for Indian Country Developmenta research and policy center for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Prior to joining the Minneapolis Fed in 2018, Casey served in economic development and higher education roles for the state of Montana, as well as executive leadership roles in national Native American nonprofits, including the American Indian College Fund and the Notah Begay III Foundation. He is based in Helena, Montana.

About the Author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded the Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category of Native American Journalists Association He is on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association He can be reached at [email protected].

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