NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Federal authorities in New Mexico have released the names of more than 170 missing Native American people in the latest push for answers. It comes amid efforts to highlight the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous people and promote better collaboration among tribes and agencies.

The FBI says this is the culmination of six months of work, gathering and vetting information from different databases. “We identified two areas of priority. first being better communication with law enforcement,” said Justin Hooper of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. “We noticed right away that there was a huge hole with data management, data collection. We feel like this is a huge first step toward both goals.”

The federal government encourages families of missing Indigenous people who are not on the list to contact local law enforcement or the FBI. The list includes people missing from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, which spans parts of neighboring states.