WASHINGTON, D.C. — Indian Country is rallying to continue the work of the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children.

Congress established the commission in honor of Alyce Spotted Bear, an educator and former chairwoman of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, and Walter Soboleff, a revered Tlingit elder who fought for Alaska Native rights and education. Members of the panel spent more than three years studying the ways in which the federal government can better support American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children.

“We gathered baseline data on topics including juvenile justice, socioeconomic issues, mental health, suicide, infant and child mortality, child welfare, substance use, ACEs or adverse childhood experiences, educational achievement, physical health, and we held hearings both in-person and during COVID virtually,” commission member Anita Fineday told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on January 28.

“We heard from elected officials, community leaders,” said Fineday, a citizen of the White Earth Nation who previously served as chief judge of her tribe’s court system in Minnesota.

“We had 26 site visits and 10 regional hearings, as well as 25 virtual hearings. We heard from experts in their fields, and we heard from scholars who had worked in each of these areas throughout their careers,” Fineday added.

But while Fineday and her colleagues formally completed their mission with the release of “The Way Forward: Report of the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children” in February 2024, the effort is far from over. With high-level support from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of the original co-sponsors of the bill that authorized the landmark study, tribal leaders, educators and their advocates have been working on new legislation to make solid improvements in programs that serve and benefit Native youth.

“It’s one thing to get the report and see action items,” Murkowski, the chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said at a well-attended celebration on Capitol Hill on Wednesday evening. “It’s another thing to move it forward. And that’s where we are now.”

“That’s where you all have helped us to get to this place, where we put in place legislation that was built by the voices of young people, of families, of educators, of health care providers, of all those across the country,” continued Murkowski, who was honored at the reception for her role in establishing the commission.

“And we’re gonna make some meaningful change, and we’re going to do it for our young people,” Murkowski promised. “We’re going to do it for these children.”

Young American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians are the focus of the Native Children’s Commission Implementation Act, currently in draft form. Murkowski announced the legislation last August and has been holding roundtables and hearings to discuss provisions affecting everything from the maternal health and food sovereignty to housing and teacher development.

“For too long, our communities have seen reports sit on shelves,” said Karen Guise, a citizen of the Red Lake Nation who serves as co-vice president of the National Congress of American Indians Youth Commission. “This bill is different because it is the bridge from recommendations to reality.”

“As a young person, I see how our lives are connected,” Guise said of the need to make broad improvements in federal programs. “You cannot talk about education without talking about my health. And you cannot talk about justice without talking about housing and nutrition.”

Native Children's Commission Implementation Act Panel, from left: Marisa Cummings, Jay Spaan, David Simmons @NativeChildren, Ben Mallott @NativeFed, A.C. Locklear @NIHB1, Rudy Soto @naihc_national on legislation to protect Native children & their families. @NCAI1944 #NativeYouth pic.twitter.com/NbclHSYWba

— indianz.com (@indianz) February 10, 2026

More importantly, the proposed bill invests resources in order to make lasting change, according to Ben Mallott, the president of the Alaska Federation of Natives. Speaking at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) executive council winter session in Washington, D.C., this week, he marveled at the size and scope of the draft bill.

“The bill not only gives, you know, authorization, but also it backs it up with more money,” said Mallott, who previously worked on Capitol Hill as a staffer for Murkowski.

“They never fund Indian Country, you all know that,” Mallott said at NCAI’s meeting on Tuesday, where a panel of experts discussed numerous provisions being considered for inclusion in the legislation.

Advocates anticipate introduction of the Native Children’s Commission Implementation Act in May or June of this year. Rudy Soto, the executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council, urged tribal leaders and tribal citizens to rally around the pending legislation.

“Continue to learn the ins and outs of this legislation and carry that information forward at home with your Representatives, with your Congressional delegation, with your Senators,” Soto, a citizen of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, said during the panel hosted by NCAI. “Get them on board.”

“You know, this is important for us in Indian Country to unify around legislation that impacts all of us for our children and families,” added Soto.

The reception on Wednesday evening, which was spearheaded by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation and supported by a number of Indian Country organizations, is part of an ongoing effort to keep the unity going. The event included a special presentation by MHA citizen Bheri Rose Hallam, whose paternal grandmother was Alyce Spotted Bear, the educator and leader who passed on in 2013.

Hallam, who credited the unique spelling to her name to her late grandmother, led a naming ceremony of her own on the ninth floor of the Hart Senate Office Building in D.C. She explained the cultural traditions of her community back in North Dakota as she bestowed a Nuu’etaa language name on Sen. Murkowski.

“When we’re born, our parents will decide us a name,” said Hallam, who works in her tribe’s language and culture department. “And as we get older, as we do different things and different deeds, our names can change.”

“So this is a given name for all your good deeds,” Hallam told Murkowski .

In Nuu’etaa, the language of the Mandan people, Hallam repeated the name chosen for Murkowski as the lawmaker turned to face each of the four cardinal directions. The name is Hó’ Hsííhe.

“Hó’ Hsííhe,” Hallam said as Murkowski herself repeated the name, Hó’ Hsííhe.

“And what that name means is ‘Strong Voice,'” Hallam said as people in the audience registered agreement.

Hallam presented Murkowski with a name tag bearing the Nuu’etaa language name. Murkowski proudly wore the Hó’ Hsííhe tag for the rest of the evening after she accepted the duty of being a strong voice for tribes and their communities.

“Know that you have left me with a responsibility,” Murkowski told the large crowd. “The responsibility to speak my voice, the responsibility to speak the truth, the responsibility to speak for our Native people of the land.”

The evening also featured another high-profile lawmaker. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), the first woman to serve as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, celebrated tribes and advocates for their legislative achievements, including the bill that established the Native youth commission.

“So there’s so many things we can talk about: how you have been the stewards of the land, have been taking care of it for generations, for generations in the past and for generations to come,” said Pelosi, who is retiring later this year after serving nearly four decades in the U.S. Congress.

“But here tonight, I want to congratulate you on the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Sobeloff Commission and the fact that you have put this together about how we care for our Native children,” continued Pelosi.

“And that’s really important because so many injustices went before. So thank you for honoring what that commission was established to do, and we’re all congratulating you on the way forward that you have put together,” Pelosi said in reference to the panel’s report and recommendations.

The draft Native Children’s Commission Implementation Act consists of nine titles:

The January 28 hearing focused on Title II – Justice for Children, Youth, and Families. The committee heard from tribal leaders and experts about provisions meant to safeguard Native children and their families.

“As Sitting Bull once said, ‘If we can put our hearts and minds together, we can make a better life for our children,'” testified Lonna Jackson-Street, the chairwoman of the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota.

Jackson-Street and other witnesses spoke in support of Section 205 of Title II, which would codify the Tiwahe Program at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The initiative has been widely praised for helping tribes improve family and social services in their communities.

“The flexibility of the Tiwahe model is a necessity,” said Joan Johnson, a council member from the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana. “It allows us to move away from ‘one-size fits all’ federal mandates and toward a whole response that integrates our culture, traditions and spirituality into every service we provide.”

Tiwahe, whose Lakota language name comes from the understanding of how families are interconnected in a close and sacred manner, was launched in 2015 as a pilot program, meaning it could lose federal support. One of the original demonstration sites has been hosted by the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), representing 56 federally-recognized tribes in the Yukon–Kuskokwim river delta in Alaska.

“When tribes lead, families thrive,” Vivian Korthuis, the chief executive officer of AVCP, said at NCAI’s meeting on Wednesday morning. “Our request is simple but urgent: To preserve and make Tiwahe permanent for all of us.”

“Preserve and make Tiwahe permanent”: Vivian Korthuis, CEO of Association of Village Council Presidents, calls on Congress to formalize Tiwahe Program so more tribes can improve family and social services in their communities. @NCAI1944 @AVCPAlaska #Tiwahe #DC pic.twitter.com/i3VhfuN9i5

— indianz.com (@indianz) February 11, 2026