A survey was recently done of Native Americans who live in the Bismarck-Mandan community.
It was completed by the Sacred Pipe Resource center. Center director Cheryl Kary says some of the responses weren’t surprising.
"Housing came across as one of the very big issues," said Kary. "People also felt there was an availability of jobs, but that the wages weren't great. A lot of residents were very happy with parks and recreation, health care and schools."
Kary says one surprising finding was that urban Natives are concerned about the responsiveness of local government to issues of concern to them.
"People brought it up a lot, and they really want the government to be more involved," said Kary.
Kary says she plans to take a more in-depth look at the findings. She says one take-away from it is that Native Americans living in Bismarck-Mandan have to work more closely together.
The director of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition says Native Americans who live off the reservation and in cities have to work at developing Native communities.
Janeen Comenote lives in Seattle. She spoke to the Sacred Pipe group. She says ever since Congress passed the Relocation Act, which encouraged Native Americans to leave the reservations, urban Natives have struggled with forming communities that can speak to issues facing them.
"It (the act) was designed to integrate and assimilate American Indians into urban populations," said Comenote. "There was a very purposeful intent of geographically dispersing us throughout cities."
Comenote says that makes it harder for Native Americans to feel the idea of community.
"In cities, you get power from the fact that you are geographically located," said Comenote. "When you have Indians spread all over the city, you have to bring them in to one place to start developing social and political capital."
Comenote says cities like Buffalo, New York, now have active groups that promote Native issues and the sense of community.
Sacred Pipe is planning to have more community gatherings to talk about the issues.
