Seminar looks at tribes’ future
SIOUX FALLS (AP) — Economic development on American Indian reservations helps tribes become more independent and develop a strong future for their members, according to Rodney Bordeaux, president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs brought tribal leaders, entrepreneurs, business strategists and investors together in Sioux Falls for a two-day economic-development seminar.
“The main important thing is providing jobs for our people because we have upward of 60 to 80 percent unemployment,” Bordeaux said.
It’s important to expand existing businesses and also to have tribal members start their own ventures, he said.
UPDATE: The Argus Leader has more in an editorial:
Job training. Work force development. Business creation.
Add basic education and we have the core of what’s needed to raise Indian reservations out of their crushing poverty.
That’s the focus of the Great Plains Regional Tribal Economic Development Summit in Sioux Falls this week.
Of course, none of this is a great secret.
“We know we can create jobs in Indian Country. It’s been done,” said Onna LeBeau of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who has organized the event for four years.
“The challenge is to get people living on the reservation trained and equipped to take on those jobs and keep those jobs,” LeBeau said.
Yes, that’s the challenge, after years of failed attempts, especially on remote reservations, such as those in South Dakota. But there’s a different attitude now. Both a greater recognition of the importance of job training and economic development, as well as an understanding of what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t.
One key: Economic development can’t be imposed, but rather has to come from the ground up. We see that in the successes:
The Winnebago reservation in Nebraska began Ho-Chunk Inc. with small construction projects and now has industries including online publishing and auto sales. Ten years ago, unemployment on the reservation was more than 60 percent. It’s now estimated to be half that.
The Four Bands Community Fund on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota has helped several businesses get off the ground, including an espresso shop and a plumbing business. Its director, Tanya Fiddler, is one of the speakers at the event.
“I think we have a good start, but there’s a lot more we can do,” Fiddler said. “Everybody wants an opportunity.”
There are serious impediments to doing more – or even getting started:
Unemployment is dramatic, as high as 80 percent on South Dakota reservations.
The high school dropout rate is just as dramatic.
There’s little money to invest in job training.
There’s a lack of money to invest in businesses.
Even if there were jobs and trained workers, there’s a lack of reliable transportation.
LeBeau said it will be up to tribal and business leaders to develop plans to provide that training and get workers to their jobs.
Maybe – with jobs and a way to get to them – that will encourage students to stay in school.
Just about everyone recognizes the importance of such a plan. Dependence on inadequate federal funding and a lack of options have led to a culture of despair on reservations. That culture has led to high dropout rates, increased alcoholism and additional health problems – in turn discouraging investment and making economic development less likely.
We’re a long way from success, but this summit and similar programs demonstrate that reservations are headed in the right direction.
For the first time in years, there’s at least some reasonable hope of progress. That’s a start.
Recent Comments