Perhaps the most challenging issue facing many Native nations is employment--or rather, the lack of employment opportunity--on or near the reservation. How to best foster economic development for Native American communities has long been discussed at the local, state, and federal levels. Agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have…

Literacy is a powerful instrument to boost the economy in the form of providing positive attitudes and perceptions that can contribute to an improved daily life. Further, it plays an important role in determining the ecological condition, use and uptake of health-care facilities, awareness of different aspects of socio-religious and taboo…

Native American Nations have perpetually had the highest rates of poverty and unemployment and the lowest per capita income of any ethnic population in the United States. Additionally, American Indian students have the highest high school dropout rates and lowest academic performance rates as well as the lowest college admission and retention…

William Hallett, Red Lake Chippewa and the new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, discusses such topics as (1) his new job, (2) ideas for change in the BIA (staff mobilization, clarification of bureau objectives, reorganization), (3) economic development for tribes, (4) education, and (5) Indian preference. (DS)

Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, reviews his first-year accomplishments and his relationship with Congress and the tribes, and discusses executive orders on tribal consultation and Indian education; agency budget priorities for law enforcement, education, and management of Indian trust assets;…