NDIA, in partnership with Amerind Critical Infrastructure, is proud to recognize the inaugural awardees of the Seven Star Communities program! Materials submitted by the applicants  showing how these Tribes and communities are involving community, building knowledge, reflecting their community’s culture and values, and gaining leadership support will be available soon.

Earlier this month, the Seven Star Communities recipients were announced at the 81st convening of the National Congress of American Indians during their Telecommunications subcommittee proceedings; a significant platform because NCAI advocates for Tribal sovereignty and drives policy efforts on a national level. Seven Star Communities recipients will be formally recognized at Net Inclusion 2025, hosted on the Gila River Indian Community.

Alliance for Navajo Broadband

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Gila River Indian Community

Gila River Telecommunications, Inc.

Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District

Mohawk Networks LLC

Pueblo of Jemez

Sṕq́ńiʔ Broadband Services

Tribal governments and Native entities actively working to build digital inclusion ecosystems have significant impacts on their communities. NDIA is dedicated to recognizing and honoring those nations and communities that have Native-led digital inclusion efforts. NDIA partnered with AMERIND Critical Infrastructure, which provides solutions for Tribal broadband deployment, to develop the Seven Star Communities program.

Seven Star Communities is a new program that highlights Native entities for their excellence in providing sustainable solutions to support their digital inclusion ecosystems and provides an opportunity for Tribal entities to learn from each other. The entities selected as Seven Star Communities serve as models of excellence for sustainable connectivity solutions that address the educational, health, economic, cultural, and social needs of their Tribal community. Seven Star Communities demonstrate digital self-determination efforts by increasing governance capacities through strategic planning, dedicated funding, strong leadership support, and community engagement.

With input and insight from Native practitioners, we established six guiding principles to illustrate the purpose and value of the program:

For non-Tribal local government applications, including municipalities, townships, counties and regional governments, see NDIA’s Digital Inclusion Trailblazer program.

Seven categories were identified to demonstrate how Tribal entities are building digital equity ecosystems that aim to close the digital divide and uphold the sovereignty of Tribal communities. These categories demonstrate the Tribe’s ability to build the programs and processes needed to inform decision making, internal knowledge and sustainable solutions to achieve digital equity (to estimate the anticipated score of your application while applying, see the Seven Star Scoring Worksheet). Click each category below to view a drop-down explanation of its indicators.

Digital equity has been a priority for many Tribal communities for decades. Native nations are equipped to self-govern and strive toward digital inclusion ecosystems aimed at finding Indigenous approaches to bridging the digital divide. For over two years, NDIA has worked together with Tribes on digital inclusion efforts, recognizing that this would not have been possible without the partnership of AMERIND Critical Infrastructure, a Tribally owned and operated entity.

Creating a sustainable digital ecosystem for Tribal communities takes into account the educational, health, economic, cultural, and social needs rooted in their Indigenous values.

Seven Star Communities looks to encourage Native nations to invest resources in digital equity to ensure that future generations benefit from current federal programs involving broadband infrastructure deployment on Tribal lands.

Indigenous communities in the United States that have established government-to-government relationships with state and federal governments, entities that are federally and state recognized, and Native Hawaiian communities are encouraged to submit applications to be recognized as a Seven Star Community.

For questions relating to Seven Star Communities, please reach out to [email protected]

NDIA and AMERIND acknowledge the efforts of the Seven Star Communities Working Group, without whom this project would not have been possible: Monica Braine, Francis Goli, Felix McGowan, Ernie Rasmussen, Spencer Risenhoover, Mikhail Sundust, Wayne Taylor, Brittany Woods-Orrison and Lisa Youvella.