Big Water Consulting

Big Water is thrilled to have been part of NATIVE ACTION NETWORK's 20th annual Native Women's Leadership Forum and Young Native Women’s Leadership Academy this week! Research Associate Chloe Adler presented the findings of the Native Women's Leadership Report, a NAN initiative completed in March 2024 aimed at fostering Native women's leadership in the state of Washington by gathering information and insight from hundreds of Native women about their leadership goals, current barriers, and programming wants and needs. Chloe had the opportunity to discuss the report's findings with Leadership Forum attendees, and to hear from up-and-coming Native women leaders participating in the Leadership Academy, many of whom are interested in embarking on similar data collection and analysis projects themselves. It was an honor to learn from and connect with these inspiring women. Thank you to NAN's Iris Friday and Claudia Kauffman for initiating and championing the Native Women's Leadership Report project, and to Britany Kee' ya aa. Lindley for coordinating this exciting two-day event.

Big Water, alongside the Urban Institute and the National American Indian Housing Council, is an organizer of the EDA-funded Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice (CoP) www.indigenouscop.org. This community brings together tribal economic development practitioners to learn from each other and build capacity to plan for, apply and secure funding for, and implement economic development projects. Next Wednesday, October 16th from 11:00am – 12:30pm PST, the CoP, Cody Seaton and Jonathan Bittner are leading the 8th monthly informational session, Creative Mechanisms for Funding Economic Development. During this event we will discuss a variety of new, and in some cases untested, mechanisms for supporting community economic development in tribal and Native communities. Join us in fostering an amazing community and facilitating economic development learning by registering here: https://shorturl.at/bocM8

I will be moderating the session titled "Telling Your Own Story with Data: The Rewards and Challenges of Conducting a Tribal Census" from 12:00-1:00 pm CT. Please join the session to learn from and engage with our three tremendous tribal panelists. Center for Indian Country Development

We are seeking a part-time Office Coordinator for our office in Seattle’s University District. Apply your amazing administrative and office management skills with a small consulting firm dedicated to serving tribal/Native and other diverse communities…and help its Managing Director restore his sanity. We are seeking an experienced office manager or administrator who is interested in scaling back their schedule and their workload while supporting important community development work that is both interesting and rewarding. Learn more about the position here: https://lnkd.in/gHbkjTq

We are seeking a Research Manager, Data Collection and Analysis to guide our data collection efforts in tribal/Native and rural communities throughout the United States. If you (or someone you know) have the passion and the experience necessary to design and implement highly accurate, well-framed and culturally appropriate surveys and qualitative data collection activities in diverse (and oftentimes remote) communities, please consider applying for this dynamic and rewarding position. Learn more about the position here: https://lnkd.in/gHbkjTq

In June, Big Water hosted a workshop on integrating community economic development activities with partners from the Urban Institute and National American Indian Housing Council as part of the U.S. Economic Development Administration funded Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice (https://lnkd.in/gverNsPz). During the workshop, participants mapped fictional community assets to practice incorporating all the sectors of economic development into holistic planning processes.   We want to thank all 100 tribal housing and economic development practitioners who participated in this 4-hour workshop. We are particularly thankful for our panelists and subject matter experts who served as keystones leading conversations and answering questions: Joel Smith, Lorna Fogg, Josh Jackson, Lisa Serrano, Cheryl Cloud, Tedd Buelow, Adam Hasz, and Onna LeBeau.   As tribes work on projects to grow and improve their communities, it is essential that planning processes are collaborative and holistic, taking input and ideas from stakeholders across various sectors. Some key takeaways we heard from experts and participants include:   ▶ Housing in integrally connected to all other aspects of economic development ▶ Mapping all community assets develops a better foundation for future funding efforts ▶ Federal Agencies such as the USDA, HUD, BIA, Department of the Treasury, and DOE have committed to working together to make grant opportunities more accessible to Tribes ▶ Energy projects are potential enterprises for Tribes that offer potential jobs, revenue and cost savings while contributing to natural resource conservation   To read more about this critical ongoing conversation and access workshop materials, visit the Indigenous CoP website: [https://lnkd.in/e6pbVA8s]

Introducing the latest addition to the Big Water Team, Catherine Bartlett! She is joining us as a Community Economic Development Intern to support our partnership with the Economic Development Administration (EDA). Catherine, known as Thanmahal Wakhan Izanzan Win in Lakota, is a passionate member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation from the Rosebud Indian Reservation. She is a Community Economic Development Research Intern whose work at Big Water is focused on conducting research and developing resources for tribal and local community economic development. She has experience in tribal community events, marketing, nonprofit management, and rural and diverse community development. She has been passionate about tribal sovereignty and is looking to advance her skills in tribal sovereignty, policies, and law. Catherine enjoys riding horses, playing video games like Stardew valley, and crafting.

We are so excited to introduce one of our summer interns, Raagul Nagendran! His work will focus on supporting the senior staff with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis and uncover insights, create data visualizations and report findings. He is passionate about utilizing data for social good and welfare, and has a software engineering background of building accessible websites and data visualizations for brands like WIRED. He is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Data Science from the University of Washington and completed his B.Tech in Computer Science from Vellore Institute of Technology, India. Outside of work, Raagul enjoys reading fiction, playing badminton and board games like Catan. We can't wait to see what you accomplish with us this Summer!

We are so excited to introduce one of our summer interns, Raagul Nagendran! His work will focus on supporting the senior staff with both qualitative and quantitative data analysis and uncover insights, create data visualizations and report findings. He is passionate about utilizing data for social good and welfare, and has a software engineering background of building accessible websites and data visualizations for brands like WIRED. He is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Data Science from the University of Washington and completed his B.Tech in Computer Science from Vellore Institute of Technology, India. Outside of work, Raagul enjoys reading fiction, playing badminton and board games like Catan. We can't wait to see what you accomplish with us this Summer!

Hey there NAIHC! We're so excited for Day 3 of the 50th Annual Convention and Tradeshow! The last few days have been full of insightful conversation, collaboration and planning for the future of Indian Country. We have learned a lot and can't wait to share what we know and can do. Stop by our booth to learn how we can help drive tribal sovereignty forward or just to chat about our favorite survey methods. See you soon! Hear more about our experience at the conference here: https://lnkd.in/gArt5KzD