North America

Kalt, Joseph P. 2022. “American Indian Self-Determination Through Self-Governance: The Only Policy That Has Ever Worked.” The Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children. View full testimony here Abstract

In testimony before the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children on December 15, 2022, Joseph Kalt, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Emeritus testified about the importance that American Indian self-determination has played in helping spark a remarkable period of economic growth across a broad swath of Indian Country.

Kalt, who serves as the co-director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy School delivered a detailed set of findings outlining how the expansion of the responsibilities and capacities of tribal governments have resulted in a remarkable period of economic growth over the past thirty years. “The onset of tribal self-determination through self-government in the late 1980s ushered in the only policy that has ever worked to improve economic and social conditions in Indian Country,” said Kalt in his remarks before the commission.

 

Marchers in Minnesota campaign for ranked-choice voting

Democracy on the (down) ballot

December 12, 2022
An Ash Center panel unpacked the election reforms that were at stake during the 2022 midterm elections.

Returning land to Native nations is about righting historical wrongs—and also averting future environmental disaster

Published on October 27, 2022 

“We need to recognize that landback is crucial to the health of our mother earth and potentially our survival as humans on this planet,” Alvin Warren MC/MPA 2013 said last week during a talk at Harvard Kennedy School examining the landback movement, a growing effort to return land to the control of Native peoples. 

Warren, the former lieutenant governor of Santa Clara Pueblo, a federally recognized Native nation in New Mexico, delivered the keynote address at the 2022 Truth and Transformation Conference organized by...

Read more about Returning land to Native nations is about righting historical wrongs—and also averting future environmental disaster
Considerations for Federal and State Landback
Jorgensen, Miriam, and Laura Taylor. 2022. “Considerations for Federal and State Landback”. Read the full report Abstract

Miriam Jorgensen and Laura Taylor, October 2022 

This policy brief showcases how geographic information system (GIS) techniques can be used to identify public and/or protected land in relation to current and historic reservation boundaries, and presents maps showcasing the scope of landback opportunities.

These lands include federal- or state-owned or managed land within current external reservation boundaries; within former reservation boundaries; near or abutting current reservation land; and protected areas designated for conservation management (which can include land held in fee).

The sentiment to give all U.S. national park landback to the stewardship of Indigenous Peoples is gaining momentum. These areas indeed may provide a cohesive set of initial opportunities towards that aim, and can lean on management or co-management agreements in strategic areas that present win-win solutions for both public agencies and American Indian nations in expanding their footprint.

While historically the laws that diminished reservations were intended to create opportunities for private ownership and settlement by non-Indigenous people, it is in fact the case that, 140 years later, six federal agencies currently manage approximately one-third the land that had been within former reservation boundaries.

A quarter of land just outside of present-day reservation boundaries (within a 10-mile buffer) is managed by one of six federal agencies, largely made up of the Bureau of Land Management (11%) and the Forest Service (11%).

Identifying where these parcels are, especially in relation to current or former reservation land, is a powerful first step for tribes and government agencies to begin to develop strategies for landback. Making this information more accessible will help streamline the process.

How to Reduce Rejected Ballots

Published on Friday, October 14, 2022 

With the 2022 midterm vote approaching, the issue of ballot “curing” or correcting clerical errors on ballots has garnered increased attention as some jurisdictions work to expand vote by mail, while others have sought to curb the practice. To understand ballot curing and efforts to minimize ballot rejection rates, we spoke with Jose Altamirano MPP 2023 and co-author of the Ash Center Policy Brief “...

Read more about How to Reduce Rejected Ballots
Ensuring All Votes Count: Reducing Rejected Ballots
Altamirano, Jose, and Tova Wang. 2022. “Ensuring All Votes Count: Reducing Rejected Ballots”. Abstract

Executive Summary

This brief studies trends in mail ballot rejection rates in 2020 compared to previous years and how different factors, including sets of policies and policy changes, the political environment, and voter outreach, may have contributed to these changes in an extraordinary election year. Our main findings include:

  • Mail ballot rejection rates decreased in most states in 2020 compared to 2018, and a number of states saw a consistent drop from 2016 to 2018 to 2020.
  • Certain states that adapted their voting laws to make mail voting more accessible in 2020, particularly in the South, saw especially pronounced changes in rejection rates.
  • In North Carolina, rejection rates vary from county to county. Previous studies of other states’ rejection rates found similar trends.
  • States that implemented mail ballot policies, including ballot curing, increased ease of access when returning mail ballots at boards of elections, early voting sites, drop boxes, and ballot tracking, saw lower rejection rates than those that didn’t, though we caution against assuming a causal relationship.
  • Previous academic and advocacy research suggests that voters of color, young voters, and first-time voters are disproportionately more likely to have their mail ballots rejected.

We highlight these trends and suggest further areas of study that researchers, advocates, organizers, and policymakers can explore to better understand how voters casting their ballots by mail can ensure their votes are counted.

Download the PDF

 

Strengthening Models of Civic Engagement: Community-Informed Approaches to Inclusive and Equitable Decision-Making

Archon Fung, Hollie Russon Gilman, and Mark Schmitt; July 2022

For too long the federal policymaking process has been mysterious and inaccessible to everyone but the most sophisticated, elite stakeholders. Not only has this made the policymaking process exclusive to long-standing players with connections and resources, but it has also made it extremely difficult for most Americans, especially those from underrepresented communities, to be engaged in authentic ways with federal agencies and institutions.

The costs of such exclusion are evident: Federal policies created and implemented without meaningful input from local leaders and residents are less efficient, less effective, and more likely to perpetuate the very systems of injustice they are often designed to disrupt or reverse. In contrast, inclusive engagement demonstrably increases the efficacy and legitimacy of federal policy, triggering a virtuous cycle of feedback and trust between government and the people.

When the Biden-Harris administration took office, one of their very first acts was to issue an executive order to advance equity and racial justice throughout federal agencies and institutions. This was quickly followed by orders intended to transform the experience of interacting with government, modernize the federal regulatory process, and strengthen tribal consultations and nation-to-nation relationships. Together, these efforts push the executive branch to improve equity and racial justice through more inclusive policy processes.

Lessons from and for Indian Country

Published on May 23, 2022 

In the small city of Ada, Oklahoma, the buildings belonging to the Chickasaw Nation stand out. Ringed with meticulous landscaping, the modern facilities of the Chickasaw Nation reflect the Nation’s economic and community development efforts, which transformed Chickasaw’s tribally-owned businesses into one of the largest private employers in Oklahoma.

“Tribes must be really innovative in how they create revenue to help fund some of their vital social...

Read more about Lessons from and for Indian Country

Should all residents—including noncitizens—be able to vote in Boston?

April 21, 2022 

As efforts spread across a swath of states to restrict voting access following unproven allegations of widespread non-citizen voting and other unsubstantiated claims of fraud following the 2020 presidential elections, several cities have taken an opposite approach to non-citizen voting. These cities are working to give, or more accurately restore, the franchise to noncitizens in local elections.

“One of the most common objections to non-citizen voting is that this violates the tradition in that the right to vote has always been confined to...

Read more about Should all residents—including noncitizens—be able to vote in Boston?
"Help wanted" sign in window

Reimagining Workforce Development in the Age of COVID

March 11, 2022

As local governments around the country continue to grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Stephen Goldsmith, Derek Bok Professor of the Practice of Urban Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, recently released a new book along with Kate Markin Coleman.

Reimagining Workforce Development in the Age of COVID

Published on March 11, 2022  

Ash: As employers grapple with a historically tight labor market, are policymakers paying enough attention to workforce development issues in their communities?

Goldsmith: The tight job market requires not just more attention by officials but different policies as well. The approaches necessary to respond to current labor conditions effectively and fairly need to be bolder and more coordinated. Workforce...

Read more about Reimagining Workforce Development in the Age of COVID

Pages