Economic Development in Native Communities

The Minneapolis Fed’s Community Development Department has been engaged in promoting economic development in Indian Country for more than 15 years. Our emphasis is on helping tribes build governance, infrastructure, financial access, and resources to support sustainable private business development in Native communities. For more on our approach, please explore the Our Model tab in the slide show display above.

We focus our efforts in four primary areas:

1. Developing Native entrepreneurship and small business ownership and
2. Broadening access to capital for Native-owned small businesses.

   Community Development is a founding and active partner in Indian Business Alliances that work to promote entrepreneurship and capital access in the Ninth Federal Reserve District’s Native communities. Currently, there are active Indian Business Alliances in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. For more information, visit the Indian Business Alliances tab on this page (above).

3. Developing tribal legal infrastructure to support business activity.

   In many Native communities, private business development may be hindered because federal laws and procedures governing matters such as lending, commerce, and property ownership are absent or insufficient. Since 2002, Community Development has worked closely with the Uniform Law Commission and tribal representatives on initiatives to help tribes select and build a sound legal infrastructure that can support private business development in Indian Country.

   Highlights:

   Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act. Completed in 2005, the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act is a flexible, culturally appropriate model law designed to facilitate a type of lending that is crucial for starting and sustaining private businesses. Community Development serves as a national leader for outreach and training on the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act.

   For further reading:

   • The Uniform Law Commission’s Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act page features links to the model act, the accompanying Implementation Guide, and related resources.
   • A super model: New secured transaction code offers legal uniformity, economic promise for Indian Country
     Community Dividend, March 2006
     A discussion of how the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act could provide the legal structure and consistency American Indian tribes need to facilitate borrowing from off-reservation partners or other tribes.
   • Secured Transaction Codes: An Important Tool for Tribal Economic and Housing Development
     Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 2004
     A discussion of how commercial codes are important tools for enabling and supporting tribal economic and housing development by improving access to commercial and consumer credit.

   For information or technical assistance on tribal legal infrastructure development, contact:

   • Sue Woodrow
     Community Development Advisor
     Helena Branch, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
     (406) 447-3806
     susan.woodrow@mpls.frb.org

   Model Tribal Probate Code. Community Development serves on a Uniform Law Commission steering committee for the development of draft tribal legislation that will address the significant issue of fractionated trust land—an issue that severely affects the use of land value as collateral in seeking capital. Proposed next steps in the initiative include researching the barriers and potential solutions for freeing up the value held in trust and restricted lands while preserving land ownership, tribal jurisdiction, and tribal sovereignty.

4. Supporting Native financial education and Native credit counseling initiatives.

   Community Development supports financial education initiatives by working with the Indian Business Alliances and statewide financial education coalitions, such as the Montana Financial Education Coalition; by publishing information on Native financial education; and by hosting educational events.

   For further reading:

   • Menominee poster contest promotes free tax prep
     January 2008
     Since 2005, Menominee Indian High School has sponsored a poster contest to promote the use of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites.
   • Workshop promotes Native youth financial education
     March 2007
     The presentations from a Fed-sponsored workshop illustrate a variety of promising approaches to Native financial education.
   • Lessons learned from a financial education pilot for Native youth
     May 2006
     A pilot program at Oh Day Aki Charter School in Minneapolis shows that standard financial education materials can be adapted to benefit Native students in an urban setting.

   For further information:

   • Montana Financial Education Coalition

Special Report

Growing Economies in Indian Country: Taking Stock of Progress and Partnerships [off-site PDF]
Published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
April 2012
A summary report of findings from the 2011 Growing Economies in Indian Country workshop series, which was sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and multiple partner agencies. The series explored challenges, recommendations, and promising efforts for economic development in Native American communities. It culminated in a national Growing Economies in Indian Country summit, held on May 1, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

Testimony

Opportunities and Challenges for Economic Development in Indian Country
Susan M. Woodrow
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
November 10, 2011

Economic development in Indian Country is a frequently explored topic in Community Dividend, the Minneapolis Fed’s quarterly community development newsletter.

Recent Community Dividend articles on Indian Country

Spanning the spectrum of Native workforce development
July 2012
Initiatives under way in the Ninth District demonstrate that Native-focused organizations are working to increase work preparedness, education levels, and employment rates in the communities they serve.

Fed releases report on economic development in Indian Country
July 2012
News and Notes

Citi Foundation awards entrepreneurship grant to SDIBA
July 2012
News and Notes

Mini-banks provide hands-on education in personal finance
April 2012
School-based, student-oriented banking operations teach kids the fundamentals of saving.

Tribal college receives $18.9 million for career training initiative
April 2012
News and Notes

Energizing Native economies: Tribes build corporate governance to spur investment and development
January 2012
Some American Indian tribes are overhauling their corporate governance structures in order to facilitate energy projects and other economic development on tribal lands.

Leech Lake Band and State of Minnesota sign lien-filing agreement
January 2012
A new state-tribal arrangement will facilitate lending to reservation-based businesses.

Native CDFI News
January 2012
News and Notes

Harvest Initiative and Hunkpati Investments: Stirring up economic development on the Crow Creek reservation
October 2011
The story of how residents of the Crow Creek Indian reservation, a prominent businessman, a church congregation, and two young attorneys came to be deeply involved in improving the reservation's economic circumstances.

Native American Credit Counseling initiative aims to bridge the credit gap in Indian Country
October 2011
A certification program created by Rural Dynamics/Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Montana is designed to build credit counseling education and services in Native communities.

Making the New Markets Tax Credit work in Native communities
October 2011
Some Native communities have had success in attracting New Markets Tax Credit investments, despite unique challenges involved in implementing the program in Indian Country.

Earlier Community Dividend articles on Indian Country

Recent demographic data reveal effects of economic slowdown in Indian Country
July 2011
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau confirm that economic trends on American Indian reservations in the Ninth District worsened or stagnated during the recent recession.

Standing receives Minority Small Business Champion Award
July 2011
News and Notes

Transportation partnership offers economic hope in north central Montana
January 2011
For many residents of Montana's Hi-Line region, an innovative transit partnership provides the means to pursue an education, commute to work, or access important services.

Ninth District community developers use green innovations to help make housing affordable
October 2010
For affordable housing developers, the goal of "going green" is not only to provide permanent shelter and community stabilization at a lower cost, but to provide low-income families with long-term reductions in overall living expenses.

Ethics as a building block of economic growth: Global insights and Indian Country models
July 2010
An effective institutional framework to encourage and manage ethical behavior is a crucial aspect of good governance.

Overcoming start-up barriers: Native-owned food business serves up lessons learned
November 2009
The founders of Native American Natural Foods demonstrate that the goal of starting up a well-positioned business on an Indian reservation is attainable, provided certain elements are in place.

Homeownership gaps among Indian reservations prove puzzling
May 2009
An analysis of some persistent gaps in homeownership rates among American Indian reservations in the Ninth Federal Reserve District.

Financial literacy especially low among Native youth, survey finds
May 2009
News and Notes

Articles from Other Minneapolis Fed Publications

Growth by degrees
fedgazette
March 2006
The good news: tribal colleges help develop Indian economies and cultures. The bad news: they face a chronic funding crisis.

Indianpreneurs
fedgazette
March 2006
Small business development holds great promise for American Indian economic progress, but big obstacles remain.

Other Articles and Reports

The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America: Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S.
Published by the Community Affairs Offices of the Federal Reserve System, in Partnership with the Brookings Institution, October 2009
A report exploring the dynamics of poor people living in poor communities, and the policies that will be needed to bring both into the economic mainstream. Featuring a profile of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.

Secured Transaction Codes: An Important Tool for Tribal Economic and Housing Development
Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 2004
A discussion of how commercial codes are important tools for enabling and supporting tribal economic and housing development by improving access to commercial and consumer credit.

Community Development is a founding member and co-leader of several Indian Business Alliances. These statewide coalitions of tribes, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, corporations, colleges and universities, and government agencies work to maximize and develop resources that encourage and support Native small business owners and entrepreneurs. Although each alliance has created a unique communication, networking, and initiative platform, all have pledged to continue working on the four building blocks of sustainable business development in Indian Country: governance, infrastructure, finance, and resources. For more on these building blocks, please explore the Our Model tab in the slide show display above.

For more on the objectives and work of the Indian Business Alliances, see Partnering to Diversify and Strengthen Indian Country Economies: Indian Business Alliances, October 2009 [pdf], and visit the sites listed below.

Active Indian Business Alliances in the Ninth Federal Reserve District:

Upcoming Indian Country Events

Past Indian Country Events

Indian Country Currents: Materials from Past Events

More Community Development Events

For a listing of general Community Development events from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, visit our Community Development Events page.

Additional resources can be found on our Indian Country Currents: Materials from Past Events page.

Tribal Legal Infrastructure

Training materials, model laws, and other resources related to building sound laws and legal systems that can support private business development in Indian Country. (For more on the connection between economic development and tribal legal infrastructure, see the About tab.)

Indian Country Data

Data releases, analyses, and other resources on socioeconomic and demographic trends in Indian Country.

• U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners: American Indian- and Alaska Native-Owned Businesses: 2007 [pdf], Census Bureau Economic Data, March 15, 2011.
• American Community Survey Reports: The American Community—American Indians and Alaska Natives: 2004 [pdf], U.S. Census Bureau Economics and Statistics Administration, May 2007.
• Characteristics of American Indians and Alaska Natives by Tribe and Language: 2000, U.S. Census Bureau Population Division, December 2003.

A list of nations, organizations, and agencies engaged in Native community and economic development in the Ninth Federal Reserve District. (Our District encompasses Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and 26 counties in northwestern Wisconsin).

American Indian Tribes in the Ninth Federal Reserve District

Tribal Colleges and Universities in the Ninth Federal Reserve District

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

National Entities Involved in Native Economic Development

Research and Law Centers

Regional Intertribal Organizations

State Tribal Agencies