Overview
KAI was contracted by NDN Collective to provide a rigorous community engagement process to facilitate data collection, analysis, and reporting regarding the planning, design, and implementation of the Bush Foundation Community Trust Fund Initiative ($50 million).
Challenges
In particular, NDN Collective aimed to understand the community definitions and measures of collective abundance, wealth gaps and wealth-building activities through an Indigenous lens. The primary goal of community engagement in the planning phase of this initiative is to ensure responsiveness and a program model informed by, for, and with the direct beneficiaries of the program. KAI implemented qualitative and quantitative information gathering methods to ensure broad engagement and input from tribal individuals across the tristate area. This included one-on-one discussions, community discussions and a survey. Through this approach, the thoughts and opinions about wealth-building activities and collective abundance from community leaders, organizations, and the general tribal public were voiced.
Solution
KAI successfully conducted key stakeholder interviews, focus groups, survey design, pilot testing, launch, data collection, and analysis. KAI supported NDN collective in all facets of community engagement for the development of this initiative, including communication with tribal leadership, community partners, media outlets, tribal institutional review boards, tribal lawyers, elders, families, and tribal members.
Results
KAI’s outreach to the AI/AN population spanned North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, and included the facilitation of a quarterly regional advisory committee, an internal workgroup, development of an evaluation plan, qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and development of a findings report.
The ultimate engagement numbers included 117 participants in community discussions, 22 one-on-one discussions, 5,325 survey respondents, and five community events attended.
