Matthew Croxton
Christian Goes Ahead Lopez
Dana Kingfisher
Blakely Brown
Kim Gilchrist
Ali Manuel
We would like to share information about our data sovereignty project that engages three Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs) in Montana. The primary goals of this project are to talk with data sovereignty experts and American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) community members living in urban areas about data sovereignty initiatives and how health research data can be shared and stored between Montana UIOs. At the Summit, we will share what we are learning from these interviews and our collaborative research approach, and invite discussion and questions from other groups working on similar initiatives under the Day 1 theme of Authority to Control. Background of our study: The five UIOs in Montana are aware of the importance of data sovereignty and are taking steps to transition from dependence on ill-fitting data systems, that often gatekeep data and prevent community access—to data sovereignty. Currently, there are no formal practices for data collection, sharing, ownership, and sovereignty at Montana UIOs. This research study is exploring barriers and enhancers for developing a data collection, sharing, storage and sovereignty agreement between three Montana UIOs by conducting interviews with stakeholders knowledgeable about Indigenous data sovereignty protocols and AIAN staff and community members associated with these UIOs. The UIOs will then explore the feasibility of implementing a data sovereignty initiative across the three organizations and share these initiatives with other UIOs.