Opinion | Op-Ed
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- By Kim Pate, NDN Fund
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. Seven years ago, when NDN Fund set out to finance large-scale loans across Indian Country, the LandBack movement was a growing rallying cry for the return of land to Indigenous hands. Today, it thunders as a full-throated demand for justice, especially now that federal funding for community-driven investment is in peril. It's more than a slogan — it's a profound indictment of America's extractive land ownership model, born from centuries of genocide against Indigenous peoples.
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- By Toni Stanger-McLaughlin, Native American Agriculture Fund
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. In tribal agriculture, timing means everything. Delayed financing can force producers to sell herds, miss planting windows or lose land opportunities that may not come again. Yet, for too many Native producers and rural entrepreneurs, persistent barriers to capital continue to stand in the way of growth. Producers today are making decisions on next year’s crops, equipment and livestock. But those decisions, and the livelihoods tied to them, depend on stable access to capital. Today, that stability hangs in the balance. Capital delayed is opportunity lost.
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- By Jacob Malcom, Next Interior
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
- Paywall Status: Free
- Reader Survey Question: No Question
EDITOR'S NOTE: We're excited to feature analysis from Next Interior, a new policy platform launched in 2025 that focuses exclusively on the U.S. Department of the Interior. Founded by Jacob Malcom, former director of policy analysis at Interior, Next Interior publishes detailed policy memoranda that offer unflinching analysis of what's happening at the department. For Tribal Business News readers, Malcom will be providing special briefings that focus specifically on Indian Country issues within Interior policy, drawing from his insider knowledge to help tribal leaders understand and respond to federal decisions that affect their communities.
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- By Pete Upton
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
- Paywall Status: Free
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Guest Opinion. Twenty-three years ago, Congress confronted a hard truth: Indian Country faced systemic financial exclusion — and Native-led solutions were the key to change. At a Senate hearing prompted by The Native American Lending Study, witnesses like Elsie Meeks of First Nations Oweesta Corporation and Roger Boyd of the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund called for a new federal commitment to Native-controlled lenders.
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- By Scott Turner, HUD Secretary
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. Homeownership is a cornerstone of the American Dream. For many communities, including tribal communities, the path to homeownership has been filled with challenges.
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- By Cody Two Bears, Indigenized Energy
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
- Paywall Status: Free
- Reader Survey Question: Business Topics
Guest Opinion. When I first tried to pursue solar energy development after the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, I learned a lot.
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- By Jeff Grubbe, Former Chairman, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. President Trump did a favor for Indian Country his first week in office, revoking the Biden administration's misguided diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. In doing so, he opened a door for a long overdue conversation about tribal sovereignty, federal programs and an undeniable fact: Tribal nations are governments, not minority groups.
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- By Stephany Seay
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. Gov. Greg Gianforte’s lawsuit against Yellowstone National Park’s bison management plan represents Montana livestock interests — not the vast majority of Montanans, who support restoring wild, migratory buffalo restored in the state.
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- By Kevin J. Allis
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. American Indian tribes and their federal contractors must not be included in any congressional or administrative effort to remove existing preferences in the SBA 8(a) program due to their unique and legally distinct status. Tribes are sovereign nations with a political, not racial, classification under U.S. law, a principle affirmed by the Supreme Court in Morton v. Mancari (1974). This foundational distinction underscores the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the federal government and differentiates tribal programs from those aimed at racial equity or diversity initiatives.
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- By Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior
- Opinion | Op-Ed
- Type: Default
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Guest Opinion. Fifty years ago, President Ford signed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 into law. This seminal law – the product of tireless Native activism that rallied against a centuries-long status quo – changed how tribal governments serve their people. It solidified that, while the federal government is a partner with trust and treaty obligations to tribes, it is tribes that know best what their people need from their governments.