In recognition of National American Indian Heritage Month, Diversity Best Practices is providing a list of key organizations serving the Native American community. Information about additional organizations is available in WOW!Facts. (Editor's Note: This article was updated on November 2, 2011 and now includes 21 organizations.)
American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL)
American Indian Business Leaders is a nonprofit organization designed to support and promote the education and development of future Native American leaders, while maintaining and incorporating cultural values.
American Indian College Fund
The American Indian College Fund provides scholarships and other support for American Indian students. The Fund disburses approximately 6,000 scholarships each year for American Indian students seeking to better their lives through higher education. The Fund also provides support for tribal college needs ranging from capital support to cultural preservation activities.
American Indian Policy Center
Its mission is to provide government leaders, policy makers and the public with accurate information about the legal and political history of American Indian nations, and the contemporary situation for American Indians.
Indian Country Today
Indian Country Today is a weekly newspaper that is distributed nationally and available in hardcopy by mail and at select newsstands. A digital version is available by subscription.
National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association (NANAINA)
The National Alaska Native American Indian Nurses Association’s mission is to promote a continuum of health among Native Americans; to serve the professional needs of Native American nurses; to cooperate with other professional associations, health care organizations and governmental entities in matters affecting the purposes of NANAINA; and to recommend culturally appropriate health-service delivery solutions where barriers to Native American consumers exist.
National Caucus of American Indian/Alaska Native School Board Members (NCAIAN)
The National Caucus of American Indian/Alaska Native School Board Members’ goal is to promote quality education for all students with emphasis on the problems and successes of the Native American student and to improve collaboration among all Native American school board members, their communities, fellow board members, political leaders, state school board associations, tribal education committees and the National School Boards Association.
National Native American Bar Association (NNABA)
The National Native American Bar Association serves as the national association for Native American attorneys, judges, law professors and law students. Founded in 1973 as the American Indian Lawyers Association, NNABA works to promote issues important to the Native American community and works to improve professional opportunities for Native American lawyers.
National Native American Law Enforcement Association (NNALEA)
The mission of the National Native American Law Enforcement Association is to promote and foster mutual cooperation between Native American law enforcement officers, agents and personnel, their agencies, tribes, private industry and public.
Native American Art Council
The Redhawk Native American Arts Council is a small grassroots not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 and maintained by Native American artists and educators who reside in and around New York City. It is dedicated to educating the general public and breaking stereotypes by presenting the traditions and societal contributions of Native Americans through song, dance, art, crafts and other forms of expression.
Native American Business Alliance (NABA)
The Native American Business Alliance’s mission is to facilitate mutually beneficial relationships between private and public businesses and Native American-owned companies, and to educate the communities on Native American culture.
Native American Capital (NAC)
Native American Capital fosters and promotes business and economic development in Indian Country through investment of private equity capital in promising new and developing high growth businesses in Native American and Alaskan Native communities. NAC also provides the technical assistance necessary to ensure the growth, development and profitability of these enterprises.
Native American Financial Official Association (NAFOA)
The Native American Financial Official Association’s mission is to improve the quality of financial and business management of tribal governments, their entities and their businesses.
Native American Journalists Association
The Native American Journalists Association serves and empowers Native American journalists through programs and actions designed to enrich journalism and promote Native cultures.
Native American Public Telecommunications
The goal of Native American Public Telecommunications is to produce and develop educational telecommunication programs for all media including public television and public radio, and to distribute and encourage the broadest use of such educational telecommunications programs.
Native American Rights Fund
The mission of the Native American Rights Fund is to preserve tribal existence, protect tribal natural resources and promote Native American human rights.
The Native American Times
The Native American Times is the largest independently owned Native newspaper in America and is distributed in Oklahoma, which is home to 39 tribes and has the second highest percentage of Native American population in the country. The newspaper has a readership of more than 60,000 a week. The website itself is now averaging 1.8 million hits a month and thousands of online users download the newspaper from the internet each week.
Native Peoples Magazine
Native Peoples Magazine has a circulation of approximately 50,000 copies per issue and a readership of 155,000). It is the only Native American-oriented magazine sold nationwide in the United States on major news stands, including Barnes & Noble, Hastings and Borders, and is considered the periodical voice of record of the Native American community.
Navajo Times
The mission of the Navajo Times is to inform the Navajo people of events, news and issues of importance to them, whether from within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation or throughout the United States. The Navajo Times is circulated in the Four Corners region and the rest of the U.S. through subscriptions.
Reznet
A project of The University of Montana School of Journalism, Reznet is a Native American news, information and entertainment Web site that also trains and mentors American Indian college students around the country as they prepare for journalism careers.
United Native American Housing Association
The mission of the United Native American Housing Association is to operate and manage a common interest association of Native American tribes, tribal housing authorities and/or tribally designated housing entities united to promote the common goal of the provision of safe, sanitary, affordable and habitable housing for tribal members and their families.
Wind of Change
Winds of Change is an American Indian-published and nationally distributed full-color magazine with a focus on career and educational advancement for Native people.
