NDNs today - economic development overview

There is an emphasis these days on developing tribal financial activities that are not directly tied to federal support - a push, of sorts, to have indians take matters into their own hands and start making some money.

Indians have WON in litigation establishing tribal governmental powers and the right to tax, as well as winning the limitiation, in some areas, of the reach of state tax and regulatory laws in indian country. Indians are, basically, expanding both their sovereign and entrepreneurial fucntions.

Rapidly growing numbers of tribes are engaging in major business ventures - just look at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Florida (http://www.seminolehardrock.com/) Casinos are a major part of indian tribe economic development, but by no means are they they only method. Factories, plants, industrial parks, and more are bringing the money in.

In 2002, gambling revenues from tribal gaming generated about 14.5 BILLION dollars (yes, with a B)and a lot of tribes are "giving back," so to speak. The largest donation ever given to the Smithsonian Museum was from the Pequot Indians - 10 million bucks to help establish a National Museum of the American Indian. And under a memorandum of understanding (or a hostage agreement, if you prefer) the tribe contributes 25% of their revenue from slot machine operations to the state of Connecticut - which was over 160 million dollars to the state in fiscal year 2002 alone. That's a lot of smackers!

Economic development, which we are gonna get into in more depth later, is a major force in NDN law and policy and a great predictor for the future of indian people. As such, the job of indian governments to help expand this will be important: according to the textbook, "the Indian governments need to be able to operate with business skills, and they willneed to make decisions about overall economic development consistent with the goals and ambitions of their people - so a lot of it is planning for the future....Indian sovereignty is being redefined according to what an NDN nation can actually do. It is no longer limited to discussions about state v. NDN jurisdiction, but rather around material issues and strategies designated by the NDN population and carried out by increasingly able NDN entities. The social implications are enormous. If NDN nations have the power to make decisions about their future, they can choose educational paths which cause their languages, history, arts and culture to survive and can therefore perpetuate the very elements which define them as distinct peoples."

That was an important quote. Read it again. What is the bottom line? Considerations for what to do with indian resources and economic development are MUCH more complex than with normal business decisions. More is at stake. More is dependent on the outcome. Including, to some extent, the future of indian country.