CTGR alta

Grand Ronde needed a better way to reach their members. Traditional communication channels like text messages, phone calls, email, and Facebook groups came with serious limitations: spam filtering, uneven deliverability, and a lack of privacy or control. Sensitive information could be easily forwarded, and important announcements didn't always reach their intended recipients.

More importantly, the Tribe wanted a communication platform that belonged to them — one that ensured only confirmed tribal members could access internal updates, documents, and announcements. They envisioned a secure, private environment where information could be shared confidently and delivered reliably to the community.

We worked closely with The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to bring alta to life through a full design and development partnership.

Design Phase

The project began with a comprehensive design process. Initial wireframes were created to explore the structure of the app, followed by polished Figma mockups to visualize the member experience. The final design encompassed approximately 20 mobile screens, along with a full administrative backend for the communications team.

Development of the alta Platform

As the Tribe finalized design in July 2024, we translated those mockups into a working, secure mobile platform. Development progressed through late 2024 and into early 2025, and the core build was completed in March 2025. Between March and the public launch in August 2025 we partnered with the Tribe on user testing and launch planning to ensure alta met the community's needs.

The platform we delivered focuses on secure, reliable, tribe-owned communication. Key features:
Member-only access & user approval — a gated authentication flow plus a backend admin where staff can approve and manage confirmed tribal members.

-Announcements & scheduling — create posts in the admin, schedule them, and publish announcements from one place.

• Cross-posting to social — option to cross-post announcements to Facebook and Instagram directly from the admin.
• Push notifications — built-in push to improve deliverability compared with SMS and email, getting important notices directly to members' devices.
• Group and individual messaging — targeted messaging to individuals or groups inside the app.
• Automatic PDF watermarking — upload a single PDF and the system generates watermarked copies per recipient (each stamped with the member's number) before distribution to discourage unauthorized sharing of sensitive documents.
• Admin dashboard & content controls — staff can create content, approve users, schedule posts, and oversee messaging and document distribution from a central console.

Every feature was implemented to give the Tribe ownership, control, and confidence in their communications — secure distribution, clear provenance for documents, and higher likelihood that critical messages actually reach members.

Since its release, alta has quickly become the Tribe's central communication tool. With approximately 5,400 enrolled members, the app has already achieved 12% adoption, putting it into double-digit usage among all members — including children and elders who may not use smartphones. This represents a strong, healthy adoption rate that meets and slightly exceeds expectations for the initial launch period.

The communications team now has a secure, Tribe-owned platform that delivers important updates directly to the community without being filtered, suppressed, or scattered across third-party networks. Sensitive documents are protected, announcements reach people reliably through push notifications, and tribal staff have one cohesive place to manage all communication.

Tribal leadership has expressed positive feedback about how centralized and controlled their communication processes have become since launch.

We continue to support The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde as their long-term development partner. A Version 2 of alta is already in progress, expanding functionality and building on the strong foundation established in the first release.