Welcome to the Nakoda Aaniiih Economic Development Corporation!

We are movers and shakers celebrating six years in operation. We hope our new site shows you who we are, what we do, and where we want to go.

Changing our communities on the Fort Belknap Reservation starts at home. Healing, transforming, and growing starts within each of us and, in turn, extends positive change to make a lasting impact throughout our reservation and lands and indeed the world. We are inspired to inspire others.

We are proud to have developed four major programs over the past six years. We want to continue to grow these programs, especially our Tourism Program, by adding the Drone Virtual Tourism Project and a new RV and campground on the southern end of the Fort Belknap Reservation. We also opened the Aaniiih Nakoda Tours gift shop with free local artist consignment, a community forest project, and a buffalo incubator project.

For our Life’s Language Lodge, we will continue providing technical support and staffing through the Aaniiih Nakoda Language Nest.

We will continue to support the advancement of community food sovereignty projects on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. This year, we opened the Red Paint Creek Trading Post & Pantry. This is a nonprofit grocery cooperative, food pantry and commercial kitchen for our citizens.

Lastly, we will advance our community-based entrepreneurship program by assisting local artists and entrepreneurs to market their goods and services locally, nationally, and globally. We eagerly anticipate adding a fifth program by 2022 called the “Youth Entrepreneurship & Leadership Development Program.” This program will assist our youth with building their entrepreneurial and leadership development skills and prepare them to engage successfully in business and commerce.

Each day we go to work and greet our colleagues, families, youth, program partners, volunteers, visitors with love and respect. We are committed to continuous learning, sharing, and improvement as individuals and as an organization. Whether in the office, classroom, community garden, we live by a set of values that informs our behavior and how we walk in the world.

The Nakoda Aaniiih Economic Development Corporation deeply thanks our sponsors, funders, partners, donors, and volunteers. With your support and enthusiasm, we have accomplished so much and so quickly. We rely on your continued support and rapport as we continue our quest to reestablish a sustainable, thriving, and healthy community on the Fort Belknap Reservation and environs.

We thank our many partnerships: Fort Belknap Indian Community, World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, American Prairie Reserve, The BBC, National Geographic, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Island Mountain Development Group, First Nations Development Institute, The Administration for Native Americans, Fort Belknap Montana State University Extension Program, Fort Belknap Head Start, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Montana Audubon Society, Fort Belknap Tribal Historic Preservation Office, Fort Belknap Fish & Game, Red Paint Creek Gardens, Hays Community Garden, Red Paint Creek Trading Post & Pantry, Fort Belknap Tribal Health, Fort Belknap Language Preservation Office, Aaniiih Nakoda College, Hopa Mountain, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Colorado, Fort Belknap Buffalo Program, Hays Lodge Pole Schools, Harlem Schools, Dodson School, Whiteclay Society, Buffalo Chasers Society.

We also thank our hundreds of friends, allies, and volunteers who have generously donated to our cause, especially: Hillary Maxwell, Elizabeth Werk, Ramona King, Lynn Cliff, Jr., Hannah Has Eagle, Barbara Cliff, Lynn Cliff, Sr., John & Rebecca Andrews, Merle Snell, Jamie Stanley, Mindy McCabe, Chad Wing, Marty Lone Bear, Randi Rae Wing, Hannah Has Eagle, Yogi Wing, Joesiah Long Fox, Craig Shambo, Wylynn Shambo, Beverly Werk, Wilma Werk, Tobias Jones, Thomas Licht, Kayla Tandy, Jr. Lodge, Blue Miller, Curtis Snow.

Leslie “Josie” Cliff
Executive Director