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Introduction

On July 22 and 25, 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) held an information-gathering meeting titled Intergenerational Poverty and Mobility Among Native Americans¹ in the U.S. The meeting was held to inform the future consensus report of the National Academies Committee on Policies and Programs to Reduce Intergenerational Poverty. This ad hoc committee was convened by the Board on Children, Youth, and Families to identify policies and programs with the potential to reduce long-term, intergenerational poverty (see Appendix B for the committee’s Statement of Task). As noted in the 2019 National Academies report, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty, the harmful effects of living in poverty during childhood can entrench families and communities in poverty, leading to the transmission of poverty from one generation to the next. This cycle has a disproportionate effect on Native American families. To inform its work and understanding of this population, the committee held a public information-gathering meeting to engage with leaders, researchers, and practitioners on issues surrounding intergenerational poverty and mobility among Native American families in the United States, including exploring key structural determinants of entrenched poverty and promising interventions designed to address those determinants. The meeting was held virtually and was open

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¹ During the workshop, speakers used the terms “Native Americans,” “Natives,” “Native people,” “Indians,” and “American Indians” to discuss the population of focus. Therefore, throughout this proceedings the multiple terms are used to accurately reflect speakers’ remarks.

to the public. Three meeting sessions were held over two days under the following headings:²

• A Conversation with Tribal Leaders on Intergenerational Poverty
• Intergenerational Poverty and Mobility Among Native Americans: Data & Trends
• A Conversation with Researchers and Practitioners: Drivers and Interventions of Intergenerational Poverty Among Native Americans

ORGANIZATION OF PROCEEDINGS

These proceedings follow the structure of the sessions and summarize the presentations and discussions that were held. Chapter 2 summarizes the first session, which featured community leaders discussing their work around intergenerational poverty. Chapter 3 summarizes the second session, in which data were presented on trends in poverty and mobility in Native American communities. Chapter 4 summarizes the final session, which examined the drivers of intergenerational poverty among Native Americans and explored potential interventions.

This proceedings was prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. The views contained in the proceedings are those of individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all workshop participants, the committee, or the National Academies.

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² Recordings of the workshop can be found here: https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/07-22-2022/intergenerational-poverty-and-mobility-among-native-americans-in-the-us-day-1; https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/07-25-2022/intergenerational-poverty-and-mobility-among-native-americans-in-the-us-day-2