Description
Department of the Interior (DOI)/BIA held a virtual a consultation on June 20, 2023 on Tribal data priorities. Ensuring quality data is available to inform policy making, resource distributions and effective program management is critical to advancing the well-being of Indian Country. This fact was made clear in attempts to determine needs for tribal communities during the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic and then in efforts to decide on fair, equitable and transparent payments to tribes. To make progress on this need for improved data, an Indian Country Data Working Group (ICDWG) was established among Federal Agencies to identify shared goals and actions which could be presented to Tribes in consultation. The goals and actions address a spectrum of efforts including: ensuring Tribal sovereignty is recognized upfront in all our practices, improving quality of existing data, creating new data sources, increasing capability to integrate data, and producing new data driven research products. If you would like to provide written comments, please submit them by October 20, 2023 (the former deadline was July 20, 2023).