The lights were turned on this week for 20 families in the Navajo Nation, as volunteer power company workers continue to connect previously dark homes to the grid.

Workers from utility companies across 10 states are pitching in on a collaborative effort known as Light Up Navajo. The project aims to electrify 300 homes over the next eight weeks, helping Native Americans who have lived on tribal lands for generations to throw a light switch for the first time.

Shirley Chee, a Navajo Nation resident, wished her parents could have been there when the power went on.

"Seeing the lights turned on, me and my sister were just crying, saying, 'Oh, mom, dad, look at the lights. Look at the porch lights. They're all on.' We're all crying, sitting, and we're just crying last night when they left," Chee recounted.

The project was organized by the American Public Power Association and Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. It began in 2019 but was put on hold during the pandemic. It has, so far, connected some 230 Navajo homes to the grid.

A pair of Tempe-based Salt River Project (SRP) line crews have connected power to more than 20 homes since April 4. Each team is made up of 10 workers who are putting in 12-hour days to complete the project.

Mark Henle, a line worker for SRP, said for many families, it will be the first time they have electricity in their homes.

"Yesterday, we were able to complete an unstructured wire and frame job," Henle explained. "And the family was kind enough to come out and say 'hi' to us after we finished it up. And they're like, 'You know, we've been out here waiting for 30 years for you to get power to us.' It was emotional."

Officials say the process of rigging a home, including stringing the wires, setting poles, installing insulators and so on, is valued at about $5,500 per home.

Wayne Wisdom, senior director of distribution grid services for SRP, said the end result is not about the money.

"Just the joy that we saw in the faces when they were finally able to flip that light switch and the lights came on," Wisdom remarked. "They finally had electricity, and they were able to improve the quality of life and not have to deal with fueling up their generators."

Conditions may have improved, but Native American tribes in South Dakota say they're still reeling from the recent blizzard that left many stranded without vital resources. That's prompted renewed calls for improved aid to make it through future weather events.

The storm cut off roads to areas such as the Pine Ridge reservation, forcing some residents to burn clothing and furniture to stay warm. State Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the conditions there were extremely dangerous, too. He said tribes already have limited resources and can only do so much to prepare.

"Considerable investments in roads and bridges and equipment," he said, "manpower is going to be needed if we're going to continue to have storms like this."

He called on local, state and federal leaders to ensure infrastructure needs and emergency planning for tribal areas receive priority. In response to the current storm, Gov. Kristi Noem ordered expanded National Guard missions to help affected tribes, including hauling firewood from the Black Hills.

Heinert said that assistance was a huge help, but noted that residents are still having trouble getting to their livestock. Tribal governments have their own emergency preparedness plans, but often lack enough snow-removal equipment to prevent snowdrifts from swallowing up fields, as well as surrounding roads.

"What we found down here in Rosebud is we had no place to put the snow," he said. "There was so much and it was so deep, and it was so heavy."

Because first responders had trouble reaching homes, Heinert and other local leaders said, a 12-year-old boy died after suffering a medical emergency. Because of term limits, Heinert won't be back in office in the new legislative session, but he said he will continue to serve as a voice for remote tribal areas in need of additional support.

Arizona tribal communities face inequalities every day, but a recent Arizona State University graduate said she wants to shape public policy to help change it.

Ty'Lesha Yellowhair argued changing public policy which guides social services would not only ensure tribal members receive the care they need, but also help to change the public perception of Native communities, which hold lots of strength and resiliency, despite challenges.

Yellowhair is from the Navajo Nation, originally from Kayenta, Arizona, and currently works in the Office of Health Programs for the Phoenix Area Indian Health Services as a social service assistant. She explained she wants her story to serve as an inspiration to others.

"I hope that my story being shared can change the image of what people have of Native communities, like, we too, can become professionals. We, too, can deal with policy. We, too, have the power to change what's happening around us," Yellowhair outlined.

Yellowhair comes from a family of teachers, and is her family's first social worker and public administrator. She emphasized her mother, a teacher of more than 50 years, was fundamental in helping her understand people have different lived experiences.

Yellowhair added her childhood influenced the work she does today. She acknowledged she grew up in a home with two educated working parents, and knows it was not the case for everyone. Her graduate work led her to study violence in Indigenous communities, specifically against Native women and children.

Yellowhair stressed she has not met a single Native woman who was not impacted by some sort of violence in her life, and she is convinced there must be a greater focus on the issue.

"To me, that speaks volumes," Yellowhair remarked. "That is what continues to drive me, as a person who strives to be an advocate for my community."

Yellowhair believes she has the tools to fight for justice and reparations, and hopes to give back to her community and others by advocating through policy and fighting for systemic change.

Indigenous activists in the Commonwealth are calling on state lawmakers to pass legislation to strengthen protections for Native American remains.

The outcry follows an announcement from Harvard's Peabody Museum that it has hair samples from indigenous people around the world, including clippings from some 700 Native American children, many of whom attended U.S. Indian boarding schools. The hair was part of a donation to the museum in 1935.

Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the North American Indian Center of Boston, said he was horrified to learn about it.

"This was a severing of a spirit and of identity, forcefully cutting off the connection between the children and their home communities," Pierite asserted.

Pierite emphasized lawmakers can ensure publicly-funded institutions in the Commonwealth adhere to federal protections for Native American remains by passing An Act to Protect Native American Heritage, which was originally filed in 2019.

The Peabody Museum did not respond to multiple requests for comment, although it has created a website detailing efforts to return the hair samples to families and Tribes.

Pierite argued the museum's collection is indicative of a broader issue, in which sacred objects and
human remains continue to be, in his words, "held captive" by public institutions. He contended the Peabody Museum needs to correctly identify the origins of the samples to help families properly heal, as well as the Indigenous students on Harvard's campus.

"You know, we've had students feeling like they're in a situation where they couldn't even breathe," Pierite pointed out. "And not even really knowing how much is in there, but just knowing that these are places that hold so much that needs to go back home."

He added legislation would also have hastened the recent return of items and remains from the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre by a museum in the town of Barre after decades of requests by descendants of those who were killed in the battle.