The overarching goal of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Regional Research Institute (FDL- RRI) is to empower the Fond du Lac Band and collaborating tribes and agencies to “elevate the health and social well-being of American Indian people through the provision of culturally appropriate services, research, education, and employment opportunities”. In response to PAR-20-125 Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) initiative the FDL-RRI will be devoted to American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) health and wellness research, developing health research capacity and a cadre of AIAN students pursuing health and health disparities research for AIAN communities. The proposed FDL-RRI is rooted in the foundation of solid partnerships between Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Native American Community Clinic, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute of University of Washington, Johns Hopkins Great Lakes Hub, the Center for American Indian and Minority Health at University of Minnesota, and Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College. The FDL-RRI will build on the partners’ collective experience of successful tribal community collaborations and AIAN health-related projects. The aims are to: 1. Produce, validate, and implement a regional American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) cultural ecological health measurement tool with a set of core measures and community specific modules for immediate use and for future scaling to other tribal communities. The overarching goal of the FDL-RRI Research project is to promote prevention, inform intervention strategies, investigate changes to health or diseases over time, and direct tribal policy initiatives by developing and psychometrically validating an ecological heath data-collection instrument. 2. Create a research data repository, train an AIAN data manager, develop tribal data-sharing policies, and teach research ethics. The overarching goal of the FDL-RRI Capacity Building Project is to pave the way for more research opportunities for faculty and students by developing new relationships, making data more accessible, increasing knowledge about ethics of conducting research with tribal partners, and increasing benefits of research participation for tribal communities. 3. Create the FDL-RRI Fellowship Student Enhancement Program to generate a cohort of 10 American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) scholars to develop and implement health research projects that regional tribes have designated as a priority. A strong network of highly trained research scholars dedicated to serving AIAN communities will contribute to reducing health disparities among AIAN. 4. Promote and disseminate the products, models, and results generated by FDL-RRI projects and build future research partnerships to establish the FDL-RRI as a self-sustaining research institute serving the Bemidji and Great Plains areas and facilitating health research according to tribally identified priorities.

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Regional Research Institute (FDL-RRI) brings together research, education, and tribal research capacity building in a tribal-led partnership to contribute to national efforts to reduce health disparities, improve mental and physical health outcomes, and ultimately promote health and wellness among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN). Our projects are informed by AIAN key stakeholders and health researchers and have the potential to increase the availability of high-quality AIAN health data through the implementation of innovative science that will ultimately lead to improved health and the reduction of health disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native populations.