Resources for Teachers and Students on Phil Lane Jr.

Prepare: Phil Lane Jr., a member of the Yankton Sioux and Chickasaw tribes, is president of the Four Worlds International Institute (FWII), which promotes sustainable community development while helping developing peoples rediscover their life-enhancing values. His biography can be found at the FWII website.

Read: Phil Lane Jr. wrote an original essay for the Architects of Peace project. In it, he explores how the natural world can be a source of wisdom regarding issues such as living in peace.

Explore: The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development is an on-going effort of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The project is involved in applied research concerning how to foster sustained, self-determined social and economic development among American Indian nations.

Write: One of the fundamental axioms of the Four Worlds International Institute is that development comes from within, especially in the sense that the driving force for growth and progress most come from within a community itself. What this means, in essence, is that development can't happen within a community unless there is first a vision of possibilities arising from the community itself. Is this a sound principle of organizational development? If so, would the FWII philosophy apply to other forms of community, such as corporations or universities? Research one other model of organizational development, such as a strategic planning model or a management-by-objectives model, and write a three-to-five page paper comparing that model to the FWII philosophy.

Extend: The National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, located in Washington, D.C., is one of the primary organizations concerned with Native American self-governance and community development. Those interested may view an overview of the issues upon which the NCAI is currently focused.

Additional Resource: The Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI), part of the University of Arizona's Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, is a resource to help native nations with self-governance, self-determination, and development.

Biography of Phil Lane Jr