Man's hand with a turquoise ring stretches deer hide
Jake Hoyungowa

Supporting Native Economies

Shifting power to Native communities as they renew their economies.

Navajo farmer Artie Yazzie shows off a carrot that he grew, farming is key part of supporting Native economies
Danny Upshaw

Native cultures in the Southwest innovated and prospered for thousands of years before white colonists arrived.

Robust trade networks connected tribes across the Americas. Indigenous peoples exchanged goods, shared knowledge, cultivated crops, made art, freely practiced their spirituality, conducted ceremonies, and built vibrant cultures and economies.

But as the U.S. government violently forced capitalism and top-down control onto tribes, Native peoples were stripped of their traditional sources of wealth and cut off from their dynamic Native economies.

Innovation, creativity, and traditional knowledge

Now, Native communities are renewing their economies. They are combining modern technologies with traditional knowledge to provide for basic needs, reflect cultural values, and heal the air, water, and land from decades of damage.

This process is called a just transition

Building a more inclusive and equitable Grand Canyon economy

Grand Canyon National Park is an economic powerhouse in northern Arizona. But very few of the park’s tourism dollars reach the 11 associated tribes of the Grand Canyon.

Native entrepreneurs, artists, community leaders, National Park service employees, and many others are laying the foundation for a more equitable Grand Canyon economy that centers, advances, and respects Native cultural values through the Emergence Economic Network.

Amber Benally writes on a white board during an economic summit at Grand Canyon National Park.
Jamie Arviso
The inside of an entrepreneurship hub with the words, "Change Starts Here" on the walls.
Navajo-Hopi Observer

Small businesses drive healthy economies

Change Labs, a Native-led entrepreneurship hub on the Navajo Nation, is breaking down barriers for small business owners on tribal lands by offering business coaching, a brick-and-mortar workspace, workshops, financial education, and more.

Change Labs is also making it easier for entrepreneurs to get business loans through the Navajo Small Business Credit Initiative, a partnership with the Navajo Nation and the U.S. Department of Treasury.

The Grand Canyon Trust is proud to partner with Change Labs to help entrepreneurs realize their dreams and build strong, resilient, and culturally respectful economies across Native America.

Meet Native change makers

“Our people have always been entrepreneurs, trading our goods, customs, and artwork with tribes throughout the Southwest. With a little bit of support, we can cultivate that spirit.”

Jessica Stago

Native American Economic Initiatives Director

Farmers feeding families, cultures, and economies

Native peoples have been growing food for generations. Not only is farming a way of life and a cultural practice, but it also cultivates strong local economies.

The farmers of the Little Colorado River Agricultural Cooperative are working together to turn the Little Colorado River area into a regional breadbasket. By sharing resources, hosting workshops, and selling fresh, healthy foods like corn, squash, melons, greens, beans, and more at local farmers markets, the co-op is reclaiming the power of food to shape their own food systems and nourish their communities.

Support the co-op

Farmer Shonri Begaye tends to her crops surrounded by sunflowers
Danny Upshaw
Farmer Felix Earlein stands in a hoophouse greenhouse surrounded by plants
Danny Upshaw
A red bowl filled with blue corn kernels
Danny Upshaw
A Navajo farmer tends to his corn fields; small farmers are key part of supporting Native economies
Danny Upshaw
Navajo Generating Station's three towers billowing steam
Ted Grussing

Legacy of resource extraction on tribal lands

Early tribal economic-development models have made it easy for corporations to extract natural resources, like coal and uranium, from tribal lands.

These extractive industries provide high-paying jobs, plus revenue to tribal governments, but the benefits are short-lived. The economy comes to a grinding halt when the resource that’s being extracted is gone. Mining has ravaged lands and polluted local groundwater. 

Supporting a just transition on the Colorado Plateau

Momentum is building for the “just transition” movement, which is about shifting agency from the federal government and large corporations to local communities as they create a vision for the world they want and know is possible, from housing, to food systems, to basic infrastructure needs and beyond. It’s about replacing extractive economies with Native economies rooted in respect for the Earth. It’s about recognizing Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and self-determination. And it’s long overdue.

The Grand Canyon Trust supports community-based projects that are rooted in Indigenous knowledge and leadership and local economies that provide for the needs of the people while protecting the lands and waters of the Colorado Plateau.

Native entrepreneurs raise their hands during an activity at a Change Labs event in 2019.
Raymond Chee

We facilitate conversations

We convene gatherings and create space for communities, local organizations, and leaders to design their dream economies. Achieving an equitable economy requires local drivers of change.

Change Labs co-founder Heather Flemming works with two young entrepreneurs.
Deidra Peaches

We help find resources

The Trust helps locate investment dollars to design and build equitable partnerships that increase the resources available to communities for their sustainable economic development projects.

Customers in line at the Rocky Ridge gas and market
Raymond Chee

We support Native businesses

The Grand Canyon Trust is proud to partner with Change Labs to help individual Native entrepreneurs build their businesses and serve the needs of their communities.

How you can help support a just transition

Everybody has a role in a just transition, no matter where you live, no matter who you are. A just transition necessarily starts from within Indigenous communities, but it’s not all on their shoulders.

You can help support a just transition by supporting Native economies and paying attention to policies around power generation, water use, and climate change. Collectively, we need to rethink our economic systems, figure out how to live in balance with nature, and put sustainability in place for all communities.

Take action

Entrepreneur hopes to bring motorcycle tours to the Navajo Nation.