The Indigenous Leadership Academy tackles infrastructure gaps on Tribal lands

Less than 6% of U.S. lands could play an outsized role in the country’s clean-energy future. Tribal lands contain nearly 8% of the nation’s overall wind potential and more than 5% of its solar capacity, according to recent federal estimates. Yet tribal lands are often excluded from energy investment, signaling a missed opportunity in the race to decarbonize.

Energy development is just one piece of a broader infrastructure gap facing Tribal Nations. Many continue to grapple with aging water systems, limited broadband access and inadequate grid infrastructure, challenges that shape public health, economic development and long-term community resilience. Despite this potential, few large-scale infrastructure projects are owned or controlled by Indigenous nations.

“Native communities experience the effects of climate change first and worst, while benefiting the least from existing renewable energy development,” said Corrie Grosse and Brigid Mark, researchers who study environmental inequality. They said renewable energy projects tend to benefit non-Native developers more than the communities where projects are built. As a result, infrastructure has become a cornerstone of modern sovereignty, shaping a Tribal Nation’s ability to meet energy challenges and exercise self-determination over land use, sustainability efforts and economic futures.

This year, The Indigenous Leadership Academy introduced a focused cohort aimed at preparing Indigenous leaders to guide and oversee infrastructure initiatives in their communities, with an emphasis on renewable energy, water systems and sustainable development practices rooted in Indigenous stewardship.

“Through the program, ILA participants will explore how Indigenous knowledge and practices inform infrastructure development, learn how to build community consensus around sustainability needs, and gain a deeper understanding of how infrastructure intersects with sovereignty,” said Brooke Curleyhair, Diné, assistant director of the program.

Twenty participants have been selected, including five Tribal leaders alongside utility professionals, policymakers and researchers. Gov. Stephen R. Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community, a board member for the American Indian Policy Institute at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where the Indigenous Leadership Academy is housed, is scheduled to welcome the cohort Saturday, Jan. 24 as the cohort’s first guest speaker. 

“Infrastructure is a nation-building tool,” Lewis said. “As the mega-drought strains water supplies across the Southwest, tribes need the resources to plan and manage infrastructure in ways that protect both our water and our people.”

As Tribal Nations face mounting climate pressures and infrastructure demands, organizers say the program is designed to help leaders move beyond participation toward control, positioning tribes to shape infrastructure development in ways that reflect community priorities and long-term stewardship.

Meet the cohort.