In 2024, The Opportunity Project (TOP) launched its first set of Indigenous-led product development sprints focused on challenges facing American Indian, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian communities across the nation.

We don’t always hear about the vital conversations and relationships that helped bring inspiring projects and ideas to fruition. Yet these relationships and serendipitous moments are sometimes the most critical to making it all happen.

This was very much the case for TOP’s Indigenous Communities-Focused Sprints. To share the story of how TOP Indigenous Communities-focused sprints came to life, I’d like to reflect on key moments and conversations that led to the creation of the first TOP Indigenous Communities-Focused sprint in 2023. A series of human-to-human moments helped build trust and create space to dream about possibilities.

With a background across various sectors, my experiences, shaped by a groundedness in my own Indigenous heritage, have highlighted the value of designing programs that draw on community insights from the start. This approach helps ensure resources are used effectively to address challenges in ways that are directly relevant to the communities they serve.

Moment #1: Finding The Right Collaborators

To write this blog post, I sat down with the sprint leaders of the TOP EDA sprint to learn about how the first TOP Indigenous Communities-Focused sprint got started.

The first serendipitous moment that led to these sprints happened when COIL found colleagues in other parts of government who were also grappling with a similar question of how to best drive change. After meeting with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) about TOP and challenging them to propose a sprint topic, a submission landed in our inbox on a project titled “Improving Access to Capital for Indigenous Communities.” This ultimately became the impetus for more projects like it within TOP.

Matt Knutson, a Program Analyst and Acting Revolving Loan Fund Coordinator for EDA, shared that the idea was planted in December 2022 through a meeting with the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition (Mountain | Plains Coalition), which was a recipient of a Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant that included an EDA-funded regional revolving loan fund.

At that meeting, representatives from the Mountain | Plains Coalition, which includes nine Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), presented data on the challenges Native communities encounter in accessing capital. This data was presented by Lakota Vogel (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), Executive Director of Four Bands Community Fund, and Jael Kampfe, President of Indigenous Impact Co.

“They raised typical hurdles in the grant-making process,” Matt said. “But it was the first time these were framed as an issue of equity, especially for Indigenous communities with fewer staff and lower capacity.”

After the Mountain | Plains Coalition’s feedback, the EDA team looked at the data highlighting the issue and the discrepancy pointed out was, as Matt and Tom from EDA pointed out, “as clear as day.”

Jael recalled, “it could have been easy for Tom and Matt not to take action from that conversation, but they listened and said, you know, […] this is what the statistics are showing, and that’s not okay.”

Six months later, the TOP team connected to the team from EDA, which included Matthew Knutson, Thomas Hitz, Carolee Wenderoth (Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes) and Mitchell Harrison. They were inspired to propose this challenge as their sprint problem statement.

EDA’s TOP sprint, “Improving Access to Capital for Indigenous Communities,” provided a forum to create community-led data-driven solutions.

“TOP was a forum to help address this [challenge]. It was a chance for innovation,” said Tom Hitz, former TOP EDA sprint leader and previous Management and Program Analyst at EDA. He now works in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “What was cool about TOP was that the solutions were coming from the community. This was an opportunity to be more straightforward.”

Moment #2: Honest Relationships Between Sprint Collaborators Drive Key Sprint Insights

The second critical moment that helped foster relationships essential to the Indigenous sprint happened when I was asked to support this sprint. I remember the earnestness in the EDA team, and I was excited to see how TOP could benefit their goals. Through months of planning and conversations, the sprint leaders and I had extensive conversations on the best way to approach this sprint. Since this was the very first sprint in TOP history that focused solely on Indigenous communities’ challenges, we understood that the sprint process itself might need to be amended to address the needs of our cohort. Since the project was proposed by a federal agency, we also knew we needed to find a way to ensure Indigenous voices were prioritized from the very beginning.

Eventually, these changes included a core group of community leaders to lead and shape the problem statement. We had in depth one-on-one dialogues with potential participants to explain the intent of the project and add meaningful amendments to the process. After the sprint, we held retrospectives with leaders and participants to gather feedback for improving future projects.

Throughout the sprint process, the team at EDA and Mountain | Plans Coalition reminded us of the importance of staying present, and paying attention. How the work is done matters. “The natural space for creativity [within TOP] allowed end-users to drive it.” Jael from Indigenous Impact Co. said.

When asked how this sprint contributed to EDA’s work, Matt answered, “It’s impacting the way that we are looking at our work. The traditional way of doing finance is leaving a lot of communities behind, Native or otherwise. The lessons we’re learning by working with Native communities can be applied broadly.”

The connections and insights from TOP provide a collaborative space for people who may not always end up in the same room together, an opportunity to work hand in hand, shed our pretenses and recognize our shared humanity.

Moment #3: Centering Tribal Data Sovereignty Session at Census Open Innovation Summit

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 sprint, the TOP team at COIL organized an annual summit to showcase the work from all the teams across the projects. With the support of my colleagues, I organized several high-impact sessions at Census Open Innovation Summit 2024 that brought attention to Indigenous-led priorities and resources. These sessions included a Tribal Data Sovereignty panel, featuring U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba (Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut), and a workshop focused on exploring the future of TOP Indigenous Communities-Focused Sprints. These sessions were a turning point in COIL’s work, helping the TOP team see the value of making a deeper, long-term commitment to Indigenous-focused initiatives.

Forging New Paths: Indigenous-Led TOP Sprints in 2024 Focus On Two Core Topics

Indigenous Communities-Focused Sprints have now become a continuing focus area for TOP. Looking back, it’s clear that none of this would have been possible without the connections we made during those early months in forming the 2023 EDA sprint. Bringing this group of people together set the stage for the incredible progress we’re seeing today.

By closely supporting the sprint process, our team fostered relationships that were essential to the success of our Indigenous-led initiatives. Through collaboration and shared goals, we built a network of trust that continues to drive our work forward.

In 2024, we have launched two new projects: The first is “Building Stronger Pathways to Grants and Funding for Indigenous Communities” led by Saundra Mitrovich (Tyme/Yahmonee Maidu) and James Tucker from Natives Count Coalition and Rio Fernandes (Lower Elwha Klallam) from National Urban Indian Family Coalition. The second is “Expanding Opportunities for Native Homeownership and Housing Stability” led by Alaina Capoeman-Davis (Quinault) from the Census Bureau, and Iris Friday (Tlingit) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Results from these projects will be showcased on December 11, 2024, at our annual innovation event.

These sprints are designed around challenges that are framed or proposed by Indigenous communities. The participants who sign onto the sprint reflect a broad range of both lived and professional expertise and experience. This approach helps ensure that the solutions are driven by the community’s perspective and needs. TOP has played a key role in fostering partnerships and addressing gaps that were previously overlooked. Through this process, we’ve found a valuable mechanism to combine innovative practices, collaboration, and community priorities and insights to drive meaningful progress.

More About TOP

TOP engages technologists, government, and communities to prototype digital and non-digital products that solve real-world problems with open data. The Opportunity Project is a program of the Census Open Innovation Labs at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Get Involved in the Next TOP Indigenous Communities-Focused Sprints

Learn more about TOP’s sprints, and email us to get involved or attend our upcoming showcase. If you are interested in leading or being involved in a future TOP Indigenous Communities-Focused Sprint, please email us at census.opportunityproject@census.gov.