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Policy Research Center
TThe NCAI Policy Research Center: Helping Indian Country Shape its own Future

At the request of NCAI member tribes, in late 2003, NCAI launched a national Policy Research Center was designed to collect, coordinate, and make available information, data, and analyses that are pertinent to public policy decisions. Tribal leaders charged NCAI to use the Policy Research Center to usher in the opportunity for truly proactive policy development, making data and analysis available in advance of critical policy debates. In this sense, the Center must anticipate the critical policy discussions on the horizon, developing research and/or marshalling data to inform policy debates, and identifying policy options for discussion and debate by tribal leaders. The intent of the Policy Research Center is to begin to change the public policy process in federal, state, and tribal policy-making from one of a reactive, problem-driven approach to a process that is far more informed by research and data. This alternative approach allows for the identification of multiple policy options and is characterized by critical debate in Indian Country, especially among tribal leaders.

With the guidance of a diverse Advisory Council convened to steer the Center's initial implementation, the Policy Research Center will serve to:

  • Organize existing publicly-available data into useful and manageable formats to improve its accessibility to the public, tribal leadership, public official, and academics;
  • Serve as an information clearinghouse to provide public information and connect existing Native institutions and projects through a comprehensive website;
  • Connect leading thinkers and institutions in a cohesive, shared network to develop proactive models and strategies for data collection and analysis;
  • Identify priorities for research and policy development and commission or conduct objective, independent research on selected issues relating to Tribal governance, federal Indian policy, and the socioeconomic status of Indian and Alaska Native peoples;
  • Educate the public, Congress, the Administration, Tribal leadership, and academic entities by publishing and disseminating the results of the Institute's research; and
  • Sponsor fellowships and internships to support scholarship and provide practical experience for young Native academics and scholars.
Supporting Documents

- Value Creation
- Partnerships
- Think tank
- Advisory Council





For more information on the NCAI Research and Policy Center, contact NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson at (202) 466-7767 or NCAIRPA Acting Director Sarah Hicks at shicks@wustl.edu or (314) 935-5896.
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