MINNEAPOLIS — Tribal leaders need better tools to address persistent data gaps that undermine their governance and economic development efforts, according to Rob Maxim, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who spoke Thursday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ Center for Indian Country Development.
Maxim, a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, outlined five critical data challenges facing Indian Country during a fireside chat with Casey Lozar, vice president and director of the Center for Indian Country Development. The discussion, held Thursday during the center’s 10th anniversary event and data summit, focused on how poor data quality and limited access restrict tribal decision-making.
The most fundamental problem, Maxim said, is sample size. In a recent study of 16 federally recognized tribes in Southern California, three tribes had margins of error in their…
