[1] Educational projects include working with Arizona State University on archiving archaeological artifacts that have been recovered, as well as working on health programs.
[2] The council was founded in 1952 as a private non-profit corporation to promote Native American's "self-reliance through public policy development."
Membership in the council includes governors and presidents of tribes, as well as tribal leaders.
[3] The council also works on voting registration, access and voting rights, which historically have been a "very long and hard political battle to win the right to vote" for Native Americans.
[6] The tribes represented are: the Ak-Chin Indian Community;[7] the Cocopah Indian Tribe;[8] the Colorado River Indian Tribes;[9] the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation;[10] the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe;[11] the Gila River Indian Community;[12] the Havasupai Tribe;[13] the Hopi Tribe;[14] the Hualapai Tribe;[15] the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians,;[16] the Pascua Yaqui Tribe;[17] the Pueblo of Zuni;[18] the Quechan Tribe;[19] the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community;[20] the San Carlos Apache Tribe;[21] the San Juan Southern Paiute;[22] the Tohono O’odham Nation;[23] the Tonto Apache Tribe;[24] the White Mountain Apache Tribe;[25] the Yavapai-Apache Nation;[26] and the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe.