Civic & Policy Engagement
More than 70% of Native Americans live off reservations, in cities and communities that federal, state, and local systems were rarely designed to serve. Urban Indian communities vote, pay taxes, raise families, and build institutions. Yet the policies and decision-makers that shape their daily lives too often act as if they don't exist.
NUIFC is working to change that, and policy is how we do it.
Our member organizations show up in the rooms where decisions get made. They build relationships with the elected officials and agencies that control the resources their communities need. NUIFC supports that work by providing the technical assistance, data, research, and funding that help urban Native organizations navigate complex systems and make those systems more accountable. This work is slow and sustained by design. Real change requires it.
Our policy work is grounded in Democracy Is Indigenous, our framework rooted in the understanding that self-determination and collective decision-making are not concepts Native peoples borrowed from American democracy. They are Indigenous values, practiced since long before the systems we now navigate were created.
Through Thriving Cities, NUIFC partners with urban Native service organizations to engage the local officials and agencies that govern human services. We provide the resources and coordination that help our partners secure greater investment in health, housing, education, and economic opportunity for urban Indian communities.
Through Margins to Mainstream, we support urban Native organizations across the country in building the civic infrastructure that makes sustained policy change possible. Our partners put community members in direct conversation with elected officials at every level of government, because organized, visible communities are harder to ignore.
Both initiatives start from the same conviction: the people closest to the issues are closest to the solutions. NUIFC is committed to making sure urban Native communities have the resources and support to prove it.
Thriving Cities
Resources follow policy. That's the premise at the heart of Thriving Cities, NUIFC's human services capacity building initiative.
Since 2021, NUIFC has partnered with urban Native service nonprofits to strengthen their ability to access public human services funding. Thriving Cities formalizes that commitment. By supporting our member organizations in engaging the local elected officials and agencies that govern human services systems, we help ensure those systems actually invest in the communities that depend on them most.
This work takes time. Navigating complex policy frameworks and building relationships with government agencies requires sustained effort and real investment. NUIFC provides the technical assistance, coordination, and resources our partners need to show up, stay at the table, and make the case for their communities.
The results speak for themselves. Urban Native nonprofits engaged through Thriving Cities have secured over $20 million in new funding for education, healthcare, and capital projects, while building lasting relationships with policymakers at every level of government.
Thriving Cities is part of NUIFC's broader Democracy Is Indigenous framework, but distinct in its focus: advocating for expanded human services and educating the agencies that oversee them.
Margins to mainstream
More than 70% of Native Americans live off reservations, in cities and communities that have long treated them as invisible. Urban Native people vote, pay taxes, raise families, and build community. Yet the institutions that govern their lives rarely reflect their presence or their priorities.
Margins to Mainstream exists to change that.
Launched by NUIFC as a national civic power initiative, M2M starts from a straightforward premise: political systems respond to organized communities. By partnering with urban Native organizations across the country, M2M builds the relationships, skills, and local infrastructure needed to ensure urban Native communities are a visible and engaged force in the civic processes that shape their lives.
Through M2M, partner organizations host town halls, civic forums, and community events that put urban Native community members in direct conversation with elected officials at every level of government. NUIFC provides national coordination, strategic resources, and peer connection, while keeping local organizations in the lead. Those closest to the issues are closest to the solutions.
This is not a short-term project. Civic power takes time to build. M2M is NUIFC's commitment to that long game, rooted in our Democracy Is Indigenous framework and the understanding that Native peoples have practiced self-governance and collective decision-making since long before the systems we now navigate were created.