Walking Shield: Building Capacity and Honoring Tribal Self-Determination
From Stop & Talk by Grant Oliphant, Prebys Foundation, Crystal Page
November 20, 2025 · 57 min · Season 3 · Episode 17
About this episode
The episode discusses how Walking Shield supports Native communities in building capacity and accessing federal resources for self-determination.
Walking Shield has spent nearly four decades improving quality of life for Native communities across the United States—bridging sovereign tribal nations with philanthropy, federal agencies, and the U.S. military. Alongside the Walking Shield team, Executive Director, Dr. John Castillo, and Senior Fellow, Mariano Diaz help tribes build the capacity needed to secure federal funding, strengthen infrastructure, and advance true self-determination. Their work blends grassroots trust-building with systems-level strategy, supporting tribes on projects ranging from road repairs and water access to energy development, environmental co-management, and leadership planning. This Episode: What does true collaboration with tribal nations require? Dr. John Castillo and Mariano Diaz highlight the deep assets that guide Native communities, including long-standing governance traditions, cultural and environmental knowledge, and a strong commitment to collective well-being. They share how Walking Shield helps tribes use these strengths to access federal resources, plan for long-term development, and steward land and water. They also discuss the systemic barriers tribes still face, such as…
People in this episode
Host: Grant Oliphant
Guests: Dr. John Castillo, Mariano Diaz
Topics covered
- tribal self-determination
- capacity building
- federal funding
- collaboration
- Native communities
- infrastructure development
Keywords
- Walking Shield
- tribal nations
- federal funding
- capacity building
- collaboration
- Native communities
- infrastructure
- trust-building
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Walking Shield
Places: United States, San Diego
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