President and CEO Joshua Arce Shares 2023 Predictions

As we enter a new year, it’s important to both reflect on the past year as well as look ahead to help us make informed predictions for 2023. In the case of Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA), 2022 brought along opportunities to continue raising awareness around Native issues – some of which will play out throughout 2023.

Here are three predictions surrounding Native issues and the actions being taken to address inequities in Native communities:

Policies affecting Native Americans

At the local level, Texas Native Health – a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a successful 50-year history of providing culturally sensitive, community-based services to meet the diverse needs of over 76,000 American Indians/Alaska Natives living in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex – has the opportunity to support Texas Senate Bill 136 in 2023. The bill is to establish the Texas Indian Affairs Commission, which currently doesn’t exist. The commission would consist of tribes and thought leaders in the Native space, giving them a platform to advocate for Native rights at the state level. The bill has the potential to significantly impact Native communities in Texas in a positive way.

At the national level, an ongoing Supreme Court case could potentially have a large impact on Indian Country based on the decision that is set to come out in 2023. Haaland v. Brackeen, a pending Supreme Court of the United States case brought by the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana, and individual plaintiffs, seeks to declare the Indian Child Welfare Act unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court determines that the act is race-based, it could have a larger impact on other issues in Indian Country that deal with gaming, fishing, hunting, and education rights – rights historically guaranteed through treaties.

Education building awareness

While there has been news about the discovery of mass graves of Indigenous children’s bodies stemming from ‘Indian’ boarding schools, there will continue to be news, reports and conversations surrounding U.S. ‘Indian’ boarding schools and the atrocities they created. As the government continues to unfold the traumatic events of the past through investigations in boarding school locations, I predict more reports on mass graves of children’s bodies will surface.

Very little attention has been given to the dismal failure of the boarding school system or the long-lasting impact it has had on Native communities, but as more people are educated on this brutal part of U.S. history through the materials and news that are continuing to surface, they are stepping up to make others #NativeAware. Additionally, if you have watched the Paramount + series “1923” by Taylor Sheridan, you cannot help but cringe at the treatment of Native children at the hands of boarding school leaders of that era. This is not fiction, and there were over 300 boarding schools in the United States affecting every Native American alive today.

Opportunity for more corporate engagement

Only 1 percent of total giving to nonprofits goes to Native nonprofits. While there is clearly a large percentage of giving that is not going toward supporting Native causes, it means Native organizations have a large opportunity when asking for support. It starts with building awareness, which is what PWNA is doing by connecting with CSR and ERG groups of large corporations for widespread discussions about the inequities being faced by Native Americans.

As awareness campaigns continue in 2023, corporations are becoming  #NativeAware, which will hopefully lead to increasing that 1 percent.