Indigenous Governance Database
tribal enterprises
The Impact of the Pandemic on Native American Communities: Interview with Joseph Kalt
As COVID-19 tears across Indian Country, tribal governments are racing to meet not only the public health challenges caused by the pandemic, but are also grappling with the economic devastation left in its wake. To learn more about the economic crisis unfolding across Indian Country, the Ash…
White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program
The White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program fulfills the dual role of performing all wildlife conservation and management and serving as a self-sustaining business enterprise based on the Tribe’s recreation/tourism industry. The program’s effective wildlife management techniques have…
Blackfeet Nation's Siyeh Corporation
For years the Blackfeet Nation struggled to create sustainable tribal enterprises that could produce revenue for the nation and meet the needs of its citizens for jobs and services. Many of these efforts did not succeed because of conflicts within the tribal government. In 1999, the Nation tried a…
Honoring Nations: Jon Cooley: Building Capable Institutions of Self-Governance: White Mountain Apache Wildlife and Recreation Program
Jon Cooley, former director of the White Mountain Apache Tribe's Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation division, discusses how their program went about building capable institutions of self-governance in order to manage the Tribe's natural resources -- specifically wildlife -- in a sustainable manner.
Michael Taylor: Nation-Owned Businesses: Quil Ceda Village
Tulalip Tribal Attorney Michael Taylor discusses Tulalip's rationale for taking the unique step of creating Quil Ceda Village, a federally chartered city, and the benefits this approach has brought the Tulalip Tribes.
Brian Titus: Nation-Owned Enterprises: Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corporation
Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corporation (OIBDC) Chief Operating Officer Brian Titus provides an overview of OIBDC and the reasons for its success, notably the great lengths it goes to educate Osoyoos citizens about the corporation's activities and overall health.
Cecil F. Antone: Nation-Owned Businesses: Gila River Telecommunications, Inc.
Former Gila River Indian Community Lieutenant Governor Cecil F. Antone provides an brief overview of the evolution and growth of Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. (GRTI), an enterprise of the Gila River Indian Community.
Stephen Cornell: Governance, Enterprises, and Rebuilding Native Economies
Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development Co-Director Stephen Cornell discusses the two basic approaches Native nations typically take as they work to build and sustain nation-owned enterprises, and shares a number of examples from across Indian Country.
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "The Politics-Enterprise Balance"
Native leaders and scholars share their thoughts about how Native nations can effectively manage the relationship between their governments and the businesses they own and operate.
Jerry Smith: Building and Sustaining Nation-Owned Enterprises (2009)
Laguna Development Corporation President and CEO Jerry Smith shares the lessons he has learned about building and sustaining Native nation-owned enterprises, in particular the critical step of creating a formal separation between tribal politics and the day-to-day management of those enterprises.
From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "Rules are More Important than Resources to Enterprise Success"
Professor Joseph Kalt discusses the importance of sound laws, codes, policies and other rules to the building of diversified, sustainable economies in Indian Country and everywhere else around the world.
Native Nation Building TV: "Building and Sustaining Tribal Enterprises"
Guests Lance Morgan and Kenneth Grant explore corporate governance among Native nations, in particular the added challenge they face in turning a profit as well as governing effectively. It focuses on how tribes establish a regulatory and oversight environment that allows nation-owned enterprises…
Jerry Smith: Building and Sustaining Nation-Owned Enterprises (2008)
Laguna Development Corporation President and CEO Jerry Smith discusses the evolution and growth of the Pueblo of Laguna's diversified economy, and the importance of building an infrastructure of laws and rules in ensuring the success of Laguna's nation-owned enterprises.
UW Names Colville Tribal Federal Corp. Minority Business of the Year
The tribal business for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in North Central Washington–the Colville Tribal Federal Corp., or CTFC–recently won the 2013 William D. Bradford Minority Business of the Year Award. It’s the granddaddy of seven awards given annually by the University of…
Oklahoma City University Study Reveals Substantial Economic Impact of the Chickasaw Nation on Oklahoma's Economy
The contribution and impact of the Chickasaw Nation on the economy of Oklahoma exceeds $2.4 billion dollars according to an economic impact analysis released today by the Steven C. Agee Economic Research & Policy Institute at Oklahoma City University. The report, "Estimating the Oklahoma…
Blackfeet: Stocking the Aisles
...Although Glacier Family Foods adds 56 new employees to the Blackfeet Reservation’s year-round workforce, the people behind the store’s creation hope it will do much more than create immediate jobs. For the last 20 years, members of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and the community bounced…
Ho-Chunk, Inc. has grown into global enterprise
The Winnebago Tribe's reservation in Northeast Nebraska is home to about 2,800 enrolled members. The tribe, a federally recognized, sovereign nation, is governed by a council of nine-elected tribal members. The tribe owns a number of enterprises, including gaming operations in Iowa and Nebraska,…
PBS "We Shall Remain": Spotlight on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation
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…
PBS "We Shall Remain": Enterprise in Indian Country
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…