NATIVE NATION BUILDING TV: Segment 5

Promoting Tribal Citizen Entrepreneurs examines the pivotal role that citizen entrepreneurs can play in a Native nation's overarching effort to achieve sustainable community and economic development. It looks at the many different ways that Native nation governments actively and passively hinder citizen entrepreneurship, and the innovative approaches some Native nations are taking.

NATIVE NATIONS INITIATIVES FEATURED

The Lakota Fund

Angie Reyes, owner of the La India Bonita restaurant, an enterprise supported by The Lakota Fund, Pine Ridge Reservation, Kyle, S.D. (Courtesy NNI)

The Lakota Fund, a community development organization, was created in 1986 by the First Nations Development Institute in an effort to help stimulate the private sector of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The Lakota Fund started by providing micro business loans and technical assistance to aspiring reservation entrepreneurs; today, it comprehensively promotes sustainable economic development among the Oglala Lakota through “culturally appropriate strategies.”

The Lakota Fund is the first and only financial development institution at Pine Ridge.

Its work focuses on overcoming the key roadblocks to reservation economic development, such as access to capital, access to technical assistance, access to business networks, and access to infrastructure. It offers a wide range of services, from start-up loans to business plan development to financial management training.

Related links:
The Lakota Fund

Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce (PRACC)

Richard Loafer, Richard Loafer Construction, Pine Ridge Reservation, Kyle, S.D. (Courtesy Elsie Meeks)

PRACC, a non-profit corporation, is one of the country's first and only reservation-based chambers of commerce in the United States. Established in 2001, its mission is to “create, sustain and enhance Indian-owned businesses that will improve the quality of life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, applying Lakota values of honesty, wisdom, respect, courage, fortitude, responsibility and generosity to the economic setting.”

Located in an area regarded as one of the poorest in the United States, PRACC already boasts more than 100 member businesses, including grocery stores, motels, restaurants, construction companies, gas stations, bed and breakfasts, and auto repair shops. These businesses have been instrumental in thickening the reservation economy, keeping dollars flowing within the community and providing much-needed local jobs and services to tribal citizens.

Related links:
Pine Ridge Chamber of Commerce

Oregon Native American Business Enterprise Network (ONABEN)

Al Bagley, River Bend Guide Service, Warm Springs, Ore. (Courtesy John Rae)

ONABEN is a non-profit, public-benefit corporation founded in 1993 by a consortium of Native nations in the Pacific Northwest. The founding members were the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Klamath Tribes, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

ONABEN seeks to increase self-reliance by promoting the development of tribal citizen-owned small businesses and the diversification of reservation economies. Their programs provide financial counseling; business mentoring; links to tribal efforts; access to financing, markets, a network of experienced teachers and business people; and training and support focused on developing entrepreneurship in Indian communities.

The Confederated Tribes of Umatilla in Oregon as well as a number of tribes in Washington have joined ONABEN's original tribes in a collaborative effort to provide ONABEN programs to tribal citizens in their communities.

Related link:
Oregon Native American Business Enterprise Network (ONABEN)

Nation-Building stories mentioned
First Nations Development Institute
Hopi Artisans
NAU Center for American Indian Economic Development (CAIED)
First Nations Oweesta Corporation
NNI's Native American Youth Entrepreneurs Camp

URL links verified July 18, 2006