MASS Design Group

Sustainable, low-cost housing solutions connect to much more than just providing shelter. A community with adequate housing is much better positioned to address systemic issues such as healthcare, food insecurity, economic equality, environmental concerns, and more. As the Director of MASS Design Group’s Sustainable Native Communities (SNC) Design Lab, I have the tools and insight needed to transform the systemic, urgent issues around the built and unbuilt environments for one of our most underserved populations.

As a member of the next Elevate Prize cohort, our outreach capacity, exposure, and network support would be greatly extended allowing us to scale the SNC Design Lab and our financing entity — the Énóvo Fund — to the next level. The two-year structure of the Elevate Prize’s capital support, mentorship, and campaign guidance would be transformational in bringing positive change to Native communities through design processes that align with indigenous values and honors the worldviews of indigenous populations throughout North America. Through the shared lessons and collaborative capacity of the Elevate Prize Global Hero cohort, we can shift the larger narrative around Indigenous sovereignty and equity.

I am a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and I have seen that the issues that plague my own community are the same issues that we see all over Indian Country. As the Director of the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab based in Santa Fe, NM, my work explores how architecture, planning, and construction can positively impact the built and unbuilt environments within Indian Country. 

As a young kid visiting my grandfather, uncles, and aunties, I could see the critical need for housing. This motivated me to pursue an undergraduate degree in architectural engineering and a graduate degree in architecture. But working in the field, I learned there were complexities for which engineering and architecture were only part of the solution. It wasn’t until I started to practice in Indian Country that I understood how housing is financed and its impact on systemic issues and generational damage to our Native populations. Hence where I find myself today, designing methods to solve the housing crisis in Indian Country through the lens of justice, wealth, and genocide. A team of Natives and non-Natives, the SNC Design Lab addresses these issues from financing and development to planning and design.

MASS Design Group’s mission is to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity. Under that umbrella, the SNC Design Lab works to close the wealth gap in Indian Country through culturally-responsive housing and Native home ownership. There are over five million tribal members in the U.S., belonging to one of 574 federally recognized tribes. While home ownership has driven wealth creation and upward mobility for millions of Americans, Native Americans were largely denied this opportunity. One in three Native American people lives below the poverty line, compared to 11.8% of the American population overall.

The SNC Design Lab creates opportunities for philanthropic investment in housing. Working with strategic partners — tribal community development corporations, housing authorities, and other critical Native and non-Native stakeholders — we create pre-design and development packages that can be leveraged to unlock additional capital. We assist designers, developers, and the philanthropic community to bridge gaps between community ambitions and capital investment. This model seeks to redistribute power back into the hands of Native communities and create a new model for housing development that will not only be dignifying and culturally specific, but is also a wealth-building engine for communities.

Current trends in affordable housing development prioritize scale and prefabricated units over sustainable, culturally-responsive building practices. In a crisis when speed is critical – such as the current pandemic – poorly-constructed temporary homes often end up becoming permanent ones. In contrast, we believe that a transformed model of tribal housing development is possible, and urgently necessary. SNC Design Lab leverages design partnerships and philanthropic investment to catalyze mission-driven capital projects that are responsive to the unique contexts and histories of Native communities. Getting proximate is necessary to understand constraints and opportunities, uncover questions we didn’t know we needed to ask, build relationships, and develop a shared vision for how design can achieve each project’s unique mission.

“Accompaniment” is an expanded concept of engagement: immersing our team in a community, collaboratively working through each stage of a project’s development with our partner organization’s key staff, and meaningfully engaging a broader group of stakeholders into the process. This long-term presence builds trust, organizational capacity, and the technical Native/non-Native partnerships that communities rely on. The Énóvo Fund, a financing entity of SNC Design Lab, leverages private philanthropy to amplify the work of Native-led organizations and deepen funding relationships across Indian Country.

Our theory of change requires a proximate and committed approach to:

1. Accompanying tribal community development corporations during pre-design
2. Innovating financial models to provide strategic investment to unlock private capital
3. Designing and building culturally-responsive housing and resilient community infrastructure
4. Building Native and non-Native partnerships
5. Cultivating the next generation of Native design leaders

In every project and partnership, we prioritize community-driven design solutions. We leverage public workshops, an extended pre-design phase, and participatory design processes to ensure that the ultimate project mission addresses community needs. SNC Design Lab’s comprehensive approach is vital as federally recognized tribes are sovereign nations each with their own unique cultures and structures of government. By building long-term relationships and working towards relevant solutions, we can have long-term impact within these communities. Through collaboration with Native and non-Native partners we anticipate positive impacts nationwide by providing community access to expert planning and design, getting more tribal members into homeownership, and building Native wealth through real estate.