The people whose land we occupied so many years ago have not been given their fair share of our prosperity. Right now, there are more than 10,000 Native American households in Arizona that have no access to electricity. Shamefully, that’s 7% of all Native American households without electricity in America.

Arizona is making an effort to bring electricty to it’s Native American residents through a new program called the Tribal Rural Electrification Program (in PDF). Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano announced the new initiative Wednesday, saying the first phase will bring solar power to at least 100 reservation homes by the end of the year.

The Arizona Department of Commerce Energy Office will run the program, with the help of Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus’ Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory. Arizona utilities and solar power companies will also partner in the initiative.

What are other states doing?