The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council is a Tribal organization that serves more than 100,000 American Indians (AIs) in the States of Montana, Wyoming, Shoshone Bannock of Idaho, and the Piikani Nation of Canada. The RMTLC is dedicated to improving the health, economic development, and education for Tribes and their members through a variety of programs, policy recommendations, and Tribal Leaders meetings. Since 2005, the RMTLC has housed the Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center (RMTEC), which serves AIs in Montana and Wyoming (Billings Area). As one of twelve Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs), the RMTEC works in partnership with local, area Tribes to improve the health and well-being of their Tribal community members by offering culturally competent approaches to reduce health disparities AI populations face.
Each year, the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council (RMTLC) hosts an annual conference in Billings, Montana for Tribal Health Departments, Directors, Tribal Councils, Urban Organizations, public health professionals, relatives, partners, Indigenous Advocates, and others who serve American Indians (AI) in Montana and Wyoming. As a regional Tribal Public Health event, this year’s theme was Strengthening Indigenous Well-Being: A New Era in Tribal Public Health, August 14-15, 2024. A variety of topics and sessions featured Tribal Public Health professionals, the sharing of Tribal best practices, and Indigenous-led wellness activities. Our region continues to celebrate our resiliency, our culture, and strengthen AI Health Equity. This year, RMTLC was pleased to offer several pre-conference sessions focused on building capacity and strengthening collaborations. Through conversations, partnerships, and working groups with Tribes, the RMTEC organized a one-day workshop titled, Indigenous Data Warriors Training (IDWT), on August 13, 2024.
Valuing our region’s diverse workforce that serve our Tribal Nations, the IDWT had more than 50 attendees, in-person and virtually. The following topics covered were:
- Fundamentals of Epidemiology
- Fundamentals of Descriptive Statistics
- Hot Topics: Data Decolonization and Reducing Racial Misclassification
- How to Manage a Dataset (Data Management 101)
- Fundamentals of Data Visualization
- What Does Data Mean to you? Indigenous Data Sovereignty
All attendees were provided with course materials and supplies. In addition, attendees were provided with the option for Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Attendees were also provided opportunities to reinforce concepts learned through interactive activities and networked with fellow regional data warriors. Understanding that travel expenses may be limited, the RMTEC offered travel scholarships to attendees along with the opportunity to attend the full conference.
Besides regional attendees, the IDWT event had individuals from Arizona, Nebraska, and Minnesota register. One IDWT attendee mentioned, “This training was appropriate for beginner/intermediate levels of understanding. A lot of ground covered, and they were able to answer my questions. I can tell they are passionate about this.” Another IDWT attendee stated, “The delivery of information was engaging and left me feeling empowered with my ability to manage data.” “I liked that other TECs joined in. It shows collaboration.” As a thank you to the attendees for taking time, the RMTEC provide attendees with Indigenous Data Warriors power banks.
For future trainings, many IDWT attendees would like a second training that builds off the skills learned and hands-on practice to build a dashboard. The IDWT was a months long process to identify foundational data training topics and to identify presenters/speakers. Rather than seek assistance externally, the RMTEC reached out to fellow TECs to share their expertise with our attendees. Those who work with AI/AN data, understand the data challenges such as—data access, representation in data, and the importance of data sovereignty. We appreciated the presenters/speakers for taking the time and effort to carefully develop course materials that have laid a foundation for our data warriors. The skills learned through this training have increased an attendee’s understanding about data, where to locate data, and how to interpret data. The skills that will be useful for developing Tribal data initiatives. Data is medicine. Data empowers Indigenous people to make change.
