WHO WE ARE

About NNI

The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI) was founded in 2001 by the Morris K. Udall Foundation and The University of Arizona as a self-determination, self-governance, and development resource for Native nations.

NNI's mission is to assist in the building of capable Native nations that can effectively pursue and ultimately realize their own political, economic, and community development objectives. This effort, which we call nation building, is the central focus of NNI's programs.

NNI fulfills this mission by providing Native nations with comprehensive, professional training and development programs, including executive education and youth entrepreneur training programs, designed specifically to meet the needs of Indigenous leadership and management, by providing Native nations and other policymakers with outstanding policy analysis and accessible research on governance and development in Indian Country, and by working with Indigenous groups on strategic and organizational development.

The International Advisory Council, composed of 19 Indigenous leaders from the United States and Canada, has been closely involved in the development of NNI. The council provides advice and oversight on an ongoing basis and meets twice a year to advise NNI and help set the organization's strategic direction.

NNI is an outgrowth of the research programs of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, an organization with which it retains close ties. Udall Center Director Stephen Cornell and NNI Director Manley Begay serve as co-directors of the Harvard Project, which Cornell co-founded with Harvard University professor Joseph P. Kalt in the late 1980s.