AIO has collaborated with tribal governments, organizations and community groups to address and affect a variety of areas in Tribal America including energy policy, economic development, housing, the environment, education, tribal governance, arts and culture. AIO also seeks to create new avenues for international Indigenous interaction, to explore ways Indigenous peoples can influence globalization.

AIO’s acclaimed initiative is the American Indian Ambassadors Program, a Native American community capacity-building, leadership development effort that AIO has been operating since 1993. The program is designed to help early to mid-career Native American professionals strengthen, within an Indigenous cultural context, their ability to improve the well-being and growth of their communities.

“The program works to reaffirm cultural values and identity, and helps emerging community leaders incorportate these values into solutions that build sustainable communities” says Laura Harris, AIO Executive Director.

During the course of the program, Ambassadors meet and work with leading Native decision-makers and national policymakers, explore family and tribal histories, develop and implement a community-based project, explore personal “medicine” or inner strength, and strengthen communications skills. They attend gatherings in communities across the nation and visit at least one Indigenous community outside the United States.

In addition to the award-winning Ambassadors Program, AIO projects and initiatives include:

Partnering with Indigenous Communities Worldwide: AIO announces the Advancement of Global Indigeneity (AGI), a new organization and outgrowth of a partnership with the Advancement of Maori Opportunity (AMO), New Zealand. Together, AIO and AMO seek to foster transnational Indigenous interactions that are liberating, nurture the self-determination capabilities of Indigenous communities, promote Indigenous leadership, and contribute indigeneity (Indigenous values, philosophies and alternative world view) to global society. AIO and AMO hope to facilitate leadership initiatives in Indigenous communities around the globe.

Developing Solutions Through Consensus Building Methodology : AIO is a developer and facilitator of the Indigenous Leadership Interactive System (ILIS™), an issues management process that affirms the value of diverse opinions, clarifies a group vision, and fosters ownership in the collective outcome. Before European contact, Navtive Americans applied effective consensus oriented decision-making through traditional participatory processes, protocols, social stuctures, and value systems. Through a specially developed computer software program (CogniScope™), AIO recaptures traditional tribal processes and successfully incorportates those traditions into ILIS™.

Enhancing Intergovernmental Relations: AIO works as a liaison between tribal governments and federal agencies to institutionalize intergovernmental relations and establish guidelines for carrying out government-to-government policies. AIO's influence has been paramount in creating Indian policy statements for key federal departments. AIO also helped create an organization that facilitates interaction between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and tribal governments.

Acting as a Resource and Facilitation Center: AIO brings together diverse groups to discuss a wide variety of issues affecting Indigenous cultures, and presents educational material on American Indian modern history and the unique political status of tribal governments in the U.S. federal system. AIO also hosts visiting international groups, including Fulbright Scholars, and acts as a clearinghouse for the dissemination of various types of information and referrals. AIO’s resource foundation is a database of more than 9,000 records on tribes, organizations, agencies, and individuals.

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