economic growth

How Tribal Leaders Are Creating Jobs

Producer
Indian Country Today
Year

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) has provided a vital spark to infrastructure and economic development projects across Indian country. Momentum has been building over the past several years but because of recent federal agency actions, and now tax-related Congressional bickering, it is in danger of petering out.

Out on the prairie, the skyline of Winnebago, Nebraska continues to grow. That is because the Winnebago Tribe is constructing a new multi-million-dollar educational center. This is a major achievement for a community in great need. Any other rural community might have issued bonds based on local property tax revenues to construct a critical community asset like this. But of course tribal governments cannot levy real property taxes. As such, NMTC-backed financing helped make this project a reality...

Resource Type
Citation

Morgan, Lance and Gabriel S. Galanda. "How Tribal Leaders Are Creating Jobs." Indian Country Today. October 15, 2013. Opinion. (https://ictnews.org/archive/how-tribal-leaders-are-creating-jobs, accessed July 18, 2023)

The Pueblo of Sandia's leasing regulations and what businesses need to do to enter into leases

Year

The Pueblo of Sandia ("Pueblo") was the first tribe in New Mexico, and the second in the United States, to receive approval by the Secretary of the Interior for its tribal leasing regulations promulgated under the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership ("HEARTH") Act Amendments to the Indian Long-Term Leasing Act, 25 U.S.C. § 415. The HEARTH Act authorized Tribes to promulgate regulations governing leases of tribal land for residential, business, and other purposes...

Native Nations
Resource Type
Citation

Stevenson, Sarah M. "The Pueblo of Sandia’s leasing regulations and what businesses need to do to enter into leases." Modrall Sperling Roehl Harris & Sisk PA. May 30 2013. Article. (http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2fe12118-d2a5-45db-b38a-ee..., accessed August 21, 2013)

The Growing Economic Might of Indian Country

Author
Year

The financial impact of Indian gaming beyond Indian country is fairly well-known. Less well-known is the impact made by noncasino enterprises–retail, housing, farming/ranching, tourism, Internet services, among many. When bundled with that gaming money, Native ventures have a hefty impact on state and local communities throughout the U.S...

Resource Type
Citation

Fogarty, Mark. "The Growing Economic Might of Indian Country." Indian Country Today Media Network. March 15, 2013. Article. (https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/business/the-growing-economic..., accessed March 22, 2013)

The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and its Application to Canadian Aboriginal Business

Producer
Simon Fraser University Beedie School of Business
Year

This lecture is part of a course Stephen Cornell is teaching in Simon Fraser University's Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership program. A panel of three joined Dr. Cornell in a discussion about the building of First Nation economies and the role citizen entrepreneurship can play in that process: Dr. Sophie Pierre, Chief Commissioner of the B.C. Treaty Commission; Lori Simcox, Senior Manager, Tsleil Waututh Nation Economic Development; and Dr. Doug McArthur, Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy.

Resource Type
Citation

Cornell, Stephen, Doug McArthur, Sophie Pierre, and Lori Simcox. "The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and its Application to Canadian Aboriginal Business." Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership program. Burnaby, British Columbia. Presentation. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b11QeZqizK4, accessed October 18, 2013)

Smoke Traders

Producer
TVO
Year

Told from a Native perspective, "Smoke Traders" looks at the controversy ignited by the Mohawk Nation's involvement in the tobacco trade, raising issues of sovereignty, economic independence and entrepreneurship versus what some see as illegal contraband activity. The multi-million dollar cigarette industry that Mohawks have built has pulled their communities out of third world poverty, but the Canadian government is determined to shut it down. "Smoke Traders" follows Brian, a former tobacco runner from Akwesasne trying to go legit by starting a sustainable energy business, and Robbie, who runs a federally licensed cigarette factory in Kahnawake. But is the tobacco trade a road to independence or criminality for Native people?

Citation

TVO. "Smoke Traders." Toronto, Ontario. October 25, 2012. Film (http://tvo.org/video/documentaries/smoke-traders, accessed August 23, 2013)

IWCL Case Study: Membertou First Nation

Producer
Coady International Institute
Year

This is a documentary produced by the Coady International Institute and is part of their "Indigenous Women in Community Leadership" series. The video is described on their website as follows:

"The community of Membertou has come a long way to be crowned the "jewel of Cape Breton". Once a small and thriving reserve in the heart of Sydney -- a city perched on the northeast shore of Cape Breton Island -- it was forcibly relocated from its premium lands on the harbour in the 1920s. Remnants of this event have shaped the community for most of the 20th century and even fifteen years ago the average resident of Sydney would not have had a reason to set foot in Membertou.

Today however, it is a key economic driver of the region, providing 700 jobs in peak season -- close to half of them non-Aboriginal people -- and grossing annual revenues of $75 million from Band-owned and operated businesses." 

This case study explores the process of Membertou's transformation from a welfare reserve completely dependent on federal funding, to one of Cape Breton's economic bright spots.

Native Nations
Resource Type
Topics
Citation

 "IWCL Case Study: Membertou First Nation." Coady International Institute. 2011. Documentary. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8SrNfDFFEQ&feature=related, accessed July 26, 2023)

PBS "We Shall Remain": Enterprise in Indian Country

Producer
American Experience (in association with NAPT)
Year

Indian Country is experiencing an economic resurgence despite decades of dependence on the federal government. Though the per capita income of Native Americans living on reservations is still less than half the national average, tribes across the country are building economies with a diverse range of businesses...

Native Nations
Citation

American Experience (in association with NAPT). "Enterprise in Indian Country." PBS "We Shall Remain" documentary series. April 13, 2009. Television, Radio and Film. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/enterprise, accessed August 16, 2012)

PBS "We Shall Remain": Spotlight on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Producer
American Experience (in association with NAPT)
Year

Tribal Chairman John "Rocky" Barrett discusses how the Citizen Potawatomi Nation has become an economic powerhouse in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Key to the tribe’s success has been the decision to reinvest casino earnings to build new businesses rather than dividing the casino dividends and sending checks to the 27,000 members of the tribe nationwide.

Native Nations
Citation

American Experience (in association with NAPT). "Spotlight on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation." PBS "We Shall Remain" documentary series. January 8, 2009. Television, Radio and Film. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/enterprise_spotlight, accessed August 16, 2012)

Social and Economic Change on American Indian Reservations: A Databook of the US Censuses and the American Community Survey 1990-2010

Year

The fortunes of Indians on reservations continue to lag those of other racial and ethnic groups tracked by the census in the United States. The per capita income of Indians on reservations, for example, has been less than half the US average, consistently falling far below that of Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Indians living elsewhere. Nonetheless, in recent decades, tribes have made progress in income growth and other measures. This databook–research made possible with funding from the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming–documents how and where change has taken place.

Citation

Akee, Randall K.Q. and Jonathan B. Taylor. Social and Economic Change on American Indian Reservations: A Databook of the US Censuses and the American Community Survey 1990 — 2010. The Taylor Policy Group, Inc. Sarasota, Florida. May 15, 2014. Paper. (https://static1.squarespace.com/static...AkeeTaylorUSDatabook2014-05-15.pdf, accessed November 12, 2023)

Native Entrepreneurship in South Dakota: A Deeper Look

Year

Native Entrepreneurship in South Dakota: a Deeper Look is designed to raise the profile of Native entrepreneurship in South Dakota and offer lessons for policymakers, foundations, tribes, and non-profits in developing effective policies and strategies. The research identified the following key recommendations to promote Native entrepreneurship in South Dakota.  

Resource Type
Citation

Malkin, Jennifer and Johnnie Aseron. Native Entrepreneurship in South Dakota: A Deeper Look. Northwest Area Foundation. Washington, D.C. December 2006. Paper. (http://cfed.org/assets/documents/native_entrepenuership/phaseII_report.pdf, accessed March 24, 2014)