FORWARD: Issue #4: Redefining Sustainable Design in Indian Country
Designing Systems, Financing Beyond Shelter
Construction of a straw bale house. "These load-bearing straw-bale homes represent a climate-appropriate, super-insulated response to the Northern Plains’ winter conditions,” according to research from MASS Design Group. Photo by Michael Rosenberg, courtesy Nathaniel Corum.
Applying creative thinking to finance as well as architecture and planning
The best plans for culturally appropriate, safe, and secure housing will fail if people and projects lack adequate financial resources. The necessary synergy between housing and economic development won’t be there either. So when it comes to these issues, creative thinking needs to be applied to finance as well as architecture and planning.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been devastating and, at the same time, revealed inequities, many of which have been made more grave because the pandemic has cut off access to necessities. In COVID’s wake, there is an opportunity for seismic change. Design must be part of every step of this change, incorporating meaning and motive in the framework of a future where sustainable, beautiful communities are the goal. This isn’t just about houses; it’s about businesses, workforces, and spaces that are built by, with, and within Indigenous communities. And it’s about creating a situation in which obtaining and leveraging government funding serves a greater purpose than simply providing shelter.
This isn’t just about houses; it’s about businesses, workforces, and spaces that are built by, with, and within Indigenous communities.
In these two initiatives, fresh ideas address the question of how Native peoples and projects can be supported so that housing builds prosperity as well as shelter.
NAYA and Urban Needs
Leveraging Indian Housing Block Grant funding to support Native Americans in urban areas, while building financial literacy capacity
Location: Nationwide
Artist Role: Reassessing perceptions beyond structures alone
Partner Organization: NAYA
While success stories like Thunder Valley, Wa-Di, and the emerging models of sustainable responsive housing incorporate fruitful solutions like educating, employing, and uplifting the community from within, and finding beautiful and valuable replacements for temporary-turned-permanent housing, these are all rural projects—and more than half of the Native American populations of the US live in and around urban areas. They need to be considered when discussing community needs and access to funds. And here, too, we have to go beyond the federal mindset of money for erecting buildings and nothing else. After all, federal funding tends to focus upon on-reservation problems, and Washington has allocated few resources to support urban Native populations.
The Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) has taken huge steps toward meeting the needs of the 2.5 million Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians living in and around urban areas.* Leveraging Indian Housing Block Grant funding to support Native Americans in urban areas has been one of the Center’s goals for a long time.
Promoting prosperity for their community members, "NAYA Family Center offers a robust suite of programs to support economic well-being, including Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), financial wellness classes, Basics of Business, a Native Business Accelerator program, one-on-one business coaching, and opportunities with NAYA’s marketplace and retail," according to their website. Images courtesy NAYA.
Responding to the needs of a geographically dispersed community is complex, but it’s crucial to breaking down preconceived ideas and histories about Indigenous peoples in this country.
Within this large community, NAYA has been the most successful at serving makers. Food truck entrepreneurs, artists, and bakers have all had success building brands and spaces to attract further funding and other support. However, the artists often have a problem: many of them are working on a cash basis, which leads to the issue of reporting income—providing proof that they’re making money. This requires considerable time and resources. NAYA has been working to build a greater capacity to help makers with this issue and improve their financial literacy in general. These are wrap-around services focused on an interconnected set of solutions that will help people stay and thrive in place.
Responding to the needs of a geographically dispersed community is complex, but it’s crucial to breaking down preconceived ideas and histories about Indigenous peoples in this country.
* Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) and programs that leverage Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) funding are only obligated to serve their populations. NAYA uses a mix of funding sources and follows the Fair Housing Act. It serves those belonging to federally recognized tribes as well as those who self-identify as Indigenous. It provides educational and other support services, as well as access to affordable housing.
The Énóvo Fund
Investments that promote Indigenous-centric design
Location: Nationwide
Artist Role: Thinking holistically about the meaning of home value, beyond the structure
Partner Organization: MASS Design Group Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab
According to MASS Design Group case study research, Red Feather Development Group (RFDG) worked with Northern Cheyenne tribal members to develop a cooperative design/build. “The homes are designed in collaboration with low-income first-time homeowners and built through donations and volunteer efforts. Typically building one house each year, RFDG has created homes with several Northern Cheyenne families and initiated a similar program with the Hopi in Arizona. These load-bearing straw-bale homes represent a climate-appropriate, super-insulated response to the Northern Plains’ winter conditions.” Photo by Michael Rosenberg, courtesy Nathaniel Corum.
All of the projects discussed here operate on the principle that Native Americans need better housing, but that housing also needs to be a catalyst for cultural/community pride and economic growth in Native communities. The financing of projects and of home ownership are key here, and innovative “design thinking” about financing will reap dividends.
How can we rethink the use of block grants, for example? If a given grant can be used not just for building a home for a single family, but for down-payment assistance to multiple families, it will give more families a chance to become financially stable. It will help many families qualify for mortgages, through a bank or community development financial institution (CDFI), to build financial independence and create wealth for the generations to come.
Community-focused investments, from whatever source, will create a market where there isn’t one today and build something that will attract investors. It’s not just that homes will be erected; if the right measures are adopted in projects, the result will be workforce development too. Skilled and unskilled Native artisans can be hired on construction teams, and this can fuel both employment and business growth. The growing labor force will generate money and keep those dollars circulating multiple times within the community.
This is really an argument for internally focused regenerative capitalism, enriching the people who live in the community and increasing the value of the land that the community controls. It’s a sustainable model, and sustainability is a foundational value for many Indigenous peoples. The simple creation of homes, without the consideration of what that home will mean a generation or two generations from now, devalues not only the homes but the people who live in them and the communities they make up.
The simple creation of homes, without the consideration of what that home will mean a generation or two generations from now, devalues not only the homes but the people who live in them and the communities they make up.
One mechanism to re-contextualize and reframe capitalism is to think holistically and in ways that lift up many voices, empowering individuals, which is the essence of the Énóvo Fund, a financing entity of the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab. The Énóvo Fund will leverage private philanthropy to amplify the work of Native-led organizations and deepen funding relationships across Indian Country. It will invest resources in Native-led organizations in three ways: as Catalyst Grants to provide access to essential design services; as Bridge Capital Grants in order to maintain momentum once a project is started; and as patient “Flywheel Equity” investments to jump-start new housing development projects for community development corporations (CDCs) with successful teams and track records. Framed as an urgent call to action for philanthropists and foundations to right centuries of wrongdoings, the Énóvo Fund will spark cultural and economic shifts in how capital is accessed and used throughout Indian Country. After all, Énóvo is the Cheyenne word for you are home.
Inspired by a Cheyenne term meaning you are home, the Énóvo Fund will deploy catalytic resources to organizations that need them the most. A financing entity of the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab, the fund will leverage private philanthropy to amplify the work of Native-led organizations and deepen funding relationships across Indian Country. Graphic courtesy MASS Design Group.
Sign up for our Public Art Update to receive monthly insights on what's happening at Forecast and in the fields of public art and creative placemaking. You can also follow along behind the scenes with our consulting team in our quarterly Making Change and learn how we work on projects our team is leading nationwide.
FORWARD: Issue #4
Redefining Sustainable Design in Indian Country
© COPYRIGHT 2022 - FORECAST PUBLIC ART ISSN 2768-4113