Over the past year, I’ve interviewed dozens of community development practitioners about how structural racism shows up in the field and what anti-racist practices look like. As I reflected on how often practitioners spoke of inadequate funding in communities of color and of the impactful work being done in these same communities, I began thinking about how there seems to be an expectation for these communities to do more with less. The Indigenous Association is no exception.
In July 2023, I had the privilege and pleasure of spending time with the Indigenous Association and their partners in Fargo, and during my time I was reminded that…
Places like this know their community best. The Indigenous Association is composed of individuals spanning dozens of tribal nations with expertise in many industries, including social work, criminal justice, public health and medicine, policy, arts and culture, organizing, and entrepreneurship. Rather than provide direct services that are beyond the expertise of the staff or duplicate the work of partners, they maximize the expertise of their network to connect the community with the resources they need to have the chance to live a healthy life and build strong communities. There is also a cultural and regional expertise allowing the organization to serve as a resource for those in the urban area of Fargo, as well as those on rural and tribal lands, often commuting between the two. They are making space and opportunity for Native American-led and -serving individuals and organizations to share information and resources with the community, reigniting the power the community already holds and enabling them to decide what programs are needed, for them to host their own programs, for them to have a place to restore and engage in cultural activities.
Places like this are often underestimated. The Community Opportunity Alliance defines community development as “a process through which community stakeholders come together to vision, plan, and implement a more prosperous future”; I’d say the Indigenous Association fits that bill. So much about anti-racist community development work is about creating a space for holistic, culturally relevant community-led efforts, even more than outputs like number of units built. Programming and events are directly informed by stakeholders and directly reflect community needs, including the Indigenous Business Association meetings, a Community Connection Circle, and a Nutrition and Breastfeeding Support Workshop for parents. The work done locally over the past 20 years is coming to fruition, and seeds planted are now blossoming into new opportunities and hope. In the Anti-Racist Community Development research, it was noted that housing development is overrepresented in the sector, which results in less attention and resources given to community-serving organizations who are not real estate developers. Not being directly engaged in real estate, small business development, or a provider of direct services may cause some not to view the Indigenous Association as a community development organization at all. I would strongly disagree with this assessment and believe it’s precisely organizations like this that should be resourced because their processes are most responsive to community needs and are central to advancing equitable, community-led practices.
Places like this are collaborative. The Indigenous Association has close ties with the Native American Commission (NAC). It was a privilege to be able to attend the final NAC meeting of Sharon White Bear. After having co-founded the NAC 20 years ago, the first of its kind in the United States, she stepped down, making room for new generations to fill that space. The commission has brought culturally relevant practices into their formal City processes, while providing a space for Native American-specific issues to be discussed and addressed monthly. This group is made up primarily of women from a range of tribal nations and professions, with a strong representation in medicine and healthcare. I was able to meet with NAC member Dr. Emily Sargeant PhD, LP (White Earth Nation) who shared about her impactful work as a Clinical Psychologist to provide culturally relevant care and engage in research that is moving her field in a more equitable direction. Though she is doing more with less – less support, less internal collaboration given the lack of colleagues with similar lived experience, and less resources available to devise ways to help her community, seeing the positive impact on patients and her field make the challenges worth it.
The Indigenous Association also has a close relationship with Nicole Crutchfield and Tia Braseth (among others within the City Planning department) and with the Downtown Engagement Center (DEC). DEC serves the unhoused population and offers much more than homeless supportive services. Their model involves a comprehensive approach to the needs of the population, as well as culturally relevant offerings, given that over 40% of the unhoused population that utilizes the DEC services is Native American. It was clear that exposure to and the ability to participate in one’s own culture has a positive impact on participant health, engagement, and outcomes. There are medical services onsite, a space for Native American cultural services and activities, laundry, access to clean clothes, and much more.
Places like this need to be resourced. Community-based organizations of color often have more impact in their communities and put forth more effort than their white counterparts yet receive less funding. This is especially true of Native American communities who receive less than 0.4% of funding from major philanthropic institutions. Communities of color deal similarly with the fallout of harmful narratives like the Bootstrap and Public Dysfunction Narrative and Trickle-Down Narrative. This is especially true among Black and Native American communities. We’re told to get over genocide (physical and cultural), forced relocation, enslavement, and the Jim Crow era because they have no bearing on the state of communities today. Structural inequities are explained away as of our own making from our unwillingness to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and further assimilate into American (i.e. white dominant) culture. However, after talking with many community development practitioners of color (not to mention my own experiences in the field), it is clear that we’re pulling but finding that the strap is too short, non-existent, or that we don’t even have a boot to begin with.
Meanwhile, the trickle-down narrative continues to result in place-based organizations struggling to obtain resources and competing with other organizations of color for the same funding What if the bootstrap narrative was replaced with the narrative of resourcing the tradition of resiliency and resourcefulness? Or if the trickle-down narrative became the natural flow narrative, where resources are not just bidirectional, but cyclical with the top drawing from the bottom as the bottom also draws directly from the top? Our Anti-Racist Community Development research shows that practitioners believe that resourcing models and practices of place-based organizations, like the Indigenous Association, is critical for advancing equitable practices at the national scale. Thus, there is mutual benefit to supporting place-based work; it is not simply top-down. Also, let’s be real, there is more than enough money floating around this country for everyone, but the illusion of scarcity is profitable. Financial resources, coming in on a regular and reliable basis, are helpful, but so are reparative frameworks rooted in history, acknowledgment of past and present harm, and acknowledgement of the importance and success of culturally relevant solutions developed by and for the community. It was clear that while community members are interested in support, they are not interested in outsiders parachuting in to dictate the problem and implement a detached solution.
The Indigenous Association and their partners shared an apt analysis of issues facing the community, root causes, a desire to be preventative and not reactive, knowledge and commitment to community-led approaches and strategies, and a serious lack of access to resources. They know the problems. They also have the ability to develop, test, and implement solutions and must be allowed to try, fail, rebuild, and continue trying without being penalized for it.
Places like this are reparative, restorative, and resilient. Organizations like the Indigenous Association will always exist because community members will always do what is needed to strive to strengthen their communities, whether properly resourced or not. While spending time with staff and board members, I heard people devoted to continuing a long history of personal sacrifice to secure a better future for current and future generations. I heard the weariness of knowing that “If I don’t do this, no one else will,” so people continue through the burnout, intergenerational trauma, constant injustice, negative stereotypes, and simply trying to live. This is holistic burnout, and in order to advance an anti-racist community development paradigm, all aspects of this burnout must be acknowledged and addressed. Though there is stress in this work, there is also unmeasurable joy and a sense of accomplishment that comes with devoting oneself to such meaningful work. It was clear that everyone takes much pride in their culture, their community, and their traditions. This joy serves as a foundation for self-care and also informs programming to promote asset-based frameworks and approaches to community work. I had the privilege of attending the weekly craft and regalia-making night (twice!) and found it to be a restorative environment. Having a safe space to engage in community dialogue, delve into, revisit, or reengage cultural practices appeared to be crucial and healing for attendees. Self-care is difficult to find time to practice, so built-in events like this with food, fellowship, and fun allow for individuals to organically restore to be able to jump back into the work the next day. The Indigenous Association is a critical component of the health and wellness of the community. Their presence serves as a reparative effort to strengthen community and advance anti-racist community development practices. Places like this must always exist.
Special thanks to Brandon Baity, Nicole Crutchfield, Tanya Redroad, Tracey Wilkie, Joe Williams (featured on this site!), Carissa Brownotter, Catlyn Christie, Maegin Elshaug, Tia Braseth, Chandler Esslinger, and Jan Eliassen. I understand what it means to be invited into a community as an outsider, how easy it can be to enter a space unintentionally extractive or with assumptions. It’s my hope that this new relationship yields as much fruit for them as it has for me, ThirdSpace, and for racially equitable community development work. Onward.
Dominique Miller is Director of Consulting Strategy at ThirdSpace Action Lab. Prior to joining ThirdSpace, she was the Director of Community Education at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College. She was also the Creative Strategies Producer at Little Tokyo Service Center, and played an integral role in developing “+LAB”, an initiative integrating arts and creativity into community development work and managed +LAB projects including Takachizu and the +LAB Artist Residency program.
The author is responding to on-the-ground observations and to the findings shared in the Anti-Racist Community Development Research Project, produced with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to increase understanding of structural racism in community development and pathways to racially equitable outcomes that promote health equity. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RWJF or ThirdSpace Action Lab.
© 2023 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation