Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 20, 2006 22:34:44 GMT -5
Indian leaders call for action, not new study
By DIANA MARRERO
Gannett News Service
www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/NEW\
S01/604140312/1002
<http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/NE\
WS01/604140312/1002>
WASHINGTON — One in four Native Americans continues to live in
poverty, despite the vast casino wealth on some reservations.
Study after study has shown a number of factors, including lack of
infrastructure, isolation, unstable governments, federal bureaucracy and
a poorly educated workforce, contribute to an atmosphere that has
stifled job creation.
<http://gcirm.greatfallstribune.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/news.grea\
tfallstribune.com/stories/localnews/749244302/ArticleFlex_1/OasDefault/2\
8Eklunds/eklunds.html/63313532313033613434343065353530?http://www.eklund\
sappliance.com>
<http://gcirm.greatfallstribune.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/news.grea\
tfallstribune.com/stories/localnews/749244302/ArticleFlex_1/OasDefault/2\
8Eklunds/eklunds.html/63313532313033613434343065353530?http://www.eklund\
sappliance.com> But Congress has done little to help Native Americans
overcome those obstacles. In fact, some argue that many of the economic
gains on Indian reservations have occurred in spite of intervention by
the federal government.
Now, a Republican House committee chairman wants to order one more study
to figure out just how to spark more business development on
reservations.
Native American leaders, however, want action.
"If it's just a study that provides information, it's not going to go
anywhere," Joe Garcia, president of the National Congress of American
Indians, said at a recent congressional hearing.
Even so, Garcia and others support the proposal by California Rep.
Richard Pombo — glad that lawmakers are, at least, talking about the
issue.
Pombo, whose committee oversees Native American issues, wants Congress
to establish a study group to look at establishing an Indian-owned
Tribal Development Corp.
The idea for such a corporation, which could coordinate federal economic
development efforts and help identify and attract investment
opportunities to needy reservations, has been around for years, said
Jackie Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American
Indians.
Native American leaders don't have to wait to see if the federal
government follows through on the idea — tribes could work together
to come up with their own economic development entity, she said.
There is a patchwork of agencies and groups — both tribal and
federal — working on the issue, but none has emerged as a central
agency to help spur the development that Indian country needs, experts
say.
"The result is predictable: ineffective programs and inferior results,"
said Roger Fragua, deputy director of the Council of Energy Resource
Tribes, who testified before a House panel recently.
In places such as Browning, where the Blackfeet Indians make their home,
there are no drug stores, no movie theaters and just one supermarket.
"Our poverty rates and our unemployment rates are like Third World
countries," said Carol Juneau, a Blackfeet Indian who serves as a
Montana state House member. "We really need good-paying jobs, businesses
and sustainable growth.
"When the federal government comes in with a short-term grant, I guess
that's good but it's not going to help us in the long term," she said.
It's up to Congress to try to help tribes like the Blackfeet create a
better business environment, said Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont.
"It's incumbent upon us to work on it," he said.
There were nearly 2,000 native-owned businesses in Montana in 2002, the
most recent year in which figures were available, according to the
Census Bureau. Nationally, there were about 206,000. But the economy is
still largely dependent on the government.
And while there have been some successes, economic development is still
taking root unevenly across the nation, argue Harvard researchers Eric
Henson and Jonathan Taylor in a recent report about the state of Native
Americans.
The Interior Department, which oversees many aspects of the federal
government's dealings with Native Americans, is working to change that
through grant programs, loans and business school partnerships, said Bob
Middleton, director of the agency's Indian energy and economic
development office.
He also dismissed criticism that the agency has fostered a stagnant
business climate in Indian country through over-regulation.
By DIANA MARRERO
Gannett News Service
www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/NEW\
S01/604140312/1002
<http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/NE\
WS01/604140312/1002>
WASHINGTON — One in four Native Americans continues to live in
poverty, despite the vast casino wealth on some reservations.
Study after study has shown a number of factors, including lack of
infrastructure, isolation, unstable governments, federal bureaucracy and
a poorly educated workforce, contribute to an atmosphere that has
stifled job creation.
<http://gcirm.greatfallstribune.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/news.grea\
tfallstribune.com/stories/localnews/749244302/ArticleFlex_1/OasDefault/2\
8Eklunds/eklunds.html/63313532313033613434343065353530?http://www.eklund\
sappliance.com>
<http://gcirm.greatfallstribune.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/news.grea\
tfallstribune.com/stories/localnews/749244302/ArticleFlex_1/OasDefault/2\
8Eklunds/eklunds.html/63313532313033613434343065353530?http://www.eklund\
sappliance.com> But Congress has done little to help Native Americans
overcome those obstacles. In fact, some argue that many of the economic
gains on Indian reservations have occurred in spite of intervention by
the federal government.
Now, a Republican House committee chairman wants to order one more study
to figure out just how to spark more business development on
reservations.
Native American leaders, however, want action.
"If it's just a study that provides information, it's not going to go
anywhere," Joe Garcia, president of the National Congress of American
Indians, said at a recent congressional hearing.
Even so, Garcia and others support the proposal by California Rep.
Richard Pombo — glad that lawmakers are, at least, talking about the
issue.
Pombo, whose committee oversees Native American issues, wants Congress
to establish a study group to look at establishing an Indian-owned
Tribal Development Corp.
The idea for such a corporation, which could coordinate federal economic
development efforts and help identify and attract investment
opportunities to needy reservations, has been around for years, said
Jackie Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American
Indians.
Native American leaders don't have to wait to see if the federal
government follows through on the idea — tribes could work together
to come up with their own economic development entity, she said.
There is a patchwork of agencies and groups — both tribal and
federal — working on the issue, but none has emerged as a central
agency to help spur the development that Indian country needs, experts
say.
"The result is predictable: ineffective programs and inferior results,"
said Roger Fragua, deputy director of the Council of Energy Resource
Tribes, who testified before a House panel recently.
In places such as Browning, where the Blackfeet Indians make their home,
there are no drug stores, no movie theaters and just one supermarket.
"Our poverty rates and our unemployment rates are like Third World
countries," said Carol Juneau, a Blackfeet Indian who serves as a
Montana state House member. "We really need good-paying jobs, businesses
and sustainable growth.
"When the federal government comes in with a short-term grant, I guess
that's good but it's not going to help us in the long term," she said.
It's up to Congress to try to help tribes like the Blackfeet create a
better business environment, said Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont.
"It's incumbent upon us to work on it," he said.
There were nearly 2,000 native-owned businesses in Montana in 2002, the
most recent year in which figures were available, according to the
Census Bureau. Nationally, there were about 206,000. But the economy is
still largely dependent on the government.
And while there have been some successes, economic development is still
taking root unevenly across the nation, argue Harvard researchers Eric
Henson and Jonathan Taylor in a recent report about the state of Native
Americans.
The Interior Department, which oversees many aspects of the federal
government's dealings with Native Americans, is working to change that
through grant programs, loans and business school partnerships, said Bob
Middleton, director of the agency's Indian energy and economic
development office.
He also dismissed criticism that the agency has fostered a stagnant
business climate in Indian country through over-regulation.