Building the Future of Tribal Public Health with Geoff Strommer

Welcome to another episode of Impact Unfiltered, where we dive deep into honest conversations with leaders creating real change in healthcare and beyond. In this session, host Stuart sits down at the Self-Governance Conference with Geoff Strommer — an Indian law attorney with 35 years representing tribes, tribal governments, and tribal organizations on self-governance work spanning legislation, litigation, and negotiation. Geoff Strommer walks through what it actually takes — agency by agency, statute by statute, dollar by dollar — to move authority from the federal government to tribal governments. He details how Alaska’s 27 co-signers built the strongest model of tribal cohesion in the country, why 105(l) leases are a once-in-a-generation game changer for tribal infrastructure, and why a recent New York district court win could unlock self-governance for water and sewer treatment facilities. With on-the-ground stories of tribes like Jamestown S’Klallam filling rural healthcare voids that the private market simply can’t sustain, this episode is a working tour of how policy becomes lived reality. Tune in for a conversation about the inch-by-inch fight for tribal self-governance, the next legislative frontiers, and why tribes are now operating the most sophisticated public health systems in the country.