Casinos began to dot the state’s tribal landscape in the late 1980s with the passing of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Cash flow increased and tribal economies, long stagnant, began to flourish and grow.

Fast forward to 2011, and the state’s Indian tribes are training their focus in a new direction — economic diversification. Indian tribes from Wisconsin Dells to Black River Falls to Green Bay and Lac du Flambeau are hedging their bets on new economic strategies designed to position their communities for future growth.

“We are trying to develop so that we have something for our children — not just the casino,” explains Ho-Chunk Nation Vice President Dan Brown. “The casino is the hub — yes — but we are treating the casino as an anchor around which we plan to develop.”

Gaming monies have helped — and will continue to help — make such development initiatives possible, agrees Samantha Greendeer, an attorney with Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek’s Indian Law Practice Group. “Gaming money coming to these communities helps diversify tribal economies, to include things like biomass projects, museum expansions, and other entities that draw more economic development and more tourism.”

Now’s the time, tribal leaders say, to expand beyond gaming.

“Gaming is not an absolute,” Greendeer explains. “Congress can take away gaming tomorrow and all of these tribes would have to rely on their non-gaming efforts to support their communities.”

Economic bright spots abound across the reservations, from the expanded Oneida Nation Museum near Green Bay to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s Woodland Indian Art Center to Northwoods NiiJii Enterprise Community Inc.’s community development financial institution NiiJii Capital Partners Inc. (NiiCAP), and more.

As economic opportunities have grown, so has the number of tribal businesses. “In 2000, the state Department of Commerce list of Wisconsin Native American-certified businesses was less than 200 for the whole state. Today, we’re in the thousands on just the three reservations we serve,” says Patricia O’Neil, executive director of Northwoods NiiJii, a nonprofit organization formed to address poverty among the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and the Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Mole Lake.

Finessing Financial Opportunities

Lack of financial capital has often presented a key barrier to tribal development, says Paul Tysse, grant writer at Ho-Chunk Housing and Community Development Agency (HHCDA). He cites this as one of the primary reasons the HHCDA developed a community development financial institution (CDFI), using U.S. Department of Treasury grants. This lending organization offers commercial and personal loans and will eventually provide mortgage loans as well.

The HHCDA’s financial arm is designed to help Ho-Chunk entrepreneurs launch new businesses. The CDFI offers small business lending up to $35,000, providing seed money to budding tribal entrepreneurs.

NiiCAP also offers financial lending for the Wisconsin tribes it serves. This institution provides loans along with comprehensive and technical assistance from writing business plans to loan servicing. “It has a very, very low default rate, which is unusual for tribal revolving loan programs,” says O’Neil. “And that’s due to the program’s intensive technical assistance.”

These organizations also strive to improve financial literacy among tribal populations to better prepare them for entrepreneurial ventures. “A lot of our people need help learning how to manage their finances, establish good credit and so on,” O’Neil explains. 

HHCDA also works to build tribal awareness about home ownership and the benefits of building equity. “There is a different mindset of what home is to a Native American,” says Neil Whitegull, HHCDA modernization and development director. “We have had to teach them that their home is not just a place to live but an investment too. Our focus on housing is a seed that will help businesses grow.”

Building Better Businessmen

In 2009, Northwoods NiiJii received a three-year USDA-Rural Business Economic Development Grant to implement a Native Arts Initiative through Lac du Flambeau’s Woodland Indian Art Center.

This cultural center features artwork by Native American artists from across the Woodland region and offers art classes to the general public, but more importantly the organization strives to develop Indian artisans into businessmen and women. According to Woodland Indian Art Center Development Director Kathleen Kvern, the center offers entrepreneurial training for Native American artists, including grant writing, business courses, and art workshops.

“There are tons of Native Americans who know how to do some sort of art, and it sits in their closet until they need money and then they go out and sell it for a song,” says O’Neil. “These artists are being developed into entrepreneurs so they possess solid management skills and know how to turn their art into a business and get an appropriate price for their work. We are taking an asset in the community and developing it into a viable economic activity in the hopes that we’ll someday mirror the Southwest.”

The center offers a host of professional development workshops, including courses on grant writing and business plan development. Artists with measureable success are also trained to mentor others in this process. For instance, the center first assisted David and Sandy Peterson, master birch bark basket makers from Lac du Flambeau, in landing a First People’s Fund Artist in Business Leadership grant, which helped them write a business plan, create marketing materials and uncover new markets for their work. Now, the Petersons assist other artists interested in doing the same. “It’s a grassroots approach where established artists from the community are teaching and working with emerging artists in the community,” says Kvern.

Not every tribal member wants to be an entrepreneur, however. But they still need to work. For this reason, workforce development also plays a central role in NiiJii’s diversification efforts, adds O’Neil. She explains in Lac du Flambeau, tribal members can work at the casino, in tribal government or at Simpson Electric Co. If an individual cannot land employment with these employers, their employment options can be limited.

“We are working to build skills levels so that our folks are competitive in the off-reservation market,” she says.

Getting Their Green On
The hot topic today — no matter where you are at — is developing alternative energies. The green movement heated up on tribal lands when the Obama Administration earmarked funds to develop tribal energy initiatives. “Tribes are using that money to engage energy consultants to develop alternative energy sources, be it solar, wind or biomass,” says Greendeer.

O’Neil explains the push to green tribal lands and become more sustainable as a means of addressing growing energy costs and preserving the environment fits really well with native culture. “There is such a strong cultural value toward preserving resources and only taking what you need,” she says.

Some notable green developments include:

•    In March 2010, the Ho-Chunk Nation was one of 13 tribal governments selected to share $3.7 million designated to develop renewable energy sources on tribal lands. The grant will help identify and plan how the Ho-Chunk Nation can effectively develop a biomass energy source on its land.
•    The Oneida Tribe plans a 5-megawatt, 60,000-square-foot biomass power plant to be located in Green Bay. If constructed, the $23 million plant will use 150 tons of municipal solid waste per day. The tribe will sell excess power to Wisconsin Public Service.
•    The Lac du Flambeau Natural Resources Department instituted the Tribal Energy Program, which will establish a baseline for energy use in tribal facilities. The program will conduct energy audits of tribal facilities, assess the potential for renewable energy on the reservation, and develop educational outreach programs regarding sustainable energy.
•    In 2010, Menominee Tribal Enterprises, which manages, harvests and processes timber from the world-renowned Menominee Forest, opened a Menominee Tribal Enterprises Millwork Division, which offers natural wood cabinets, furniture, moldings and caskets. “Products from this mill meet the requirements of sustainable contractors across the state,” O’Neil says.

“And diversifying their production generated additional jobs on the reservation.”

Growing Pains

But economic development isn’t always easy; sometimes the road is fraught with challenges.

The Ho-Chunk Nation is among the state’s tribes experiencing some growing pains. The tribe filed a request with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to place approximately 600 acres of land in trust to build a cultural center, IMAX movie theater, restaurant and strip mall. Not surprisingly, their request met with some resistance from surrounding communities over a potential loss of property tax revenue and tourism dollars.

These worries are unfounded, says Brown, who notes, “There are fears that we plan to replicate the tourist attractions of the Dells,” he says. “But we don’t want to get into go-carts, roller coasters and other types of businesses. Yes, we’ve talked about a water park; we feel we need to do that to capture that market segment for our casino, but we don’t intend to re-create the Dells.”

A cultural focus represents a large chunk of the proposed development, adds Greendeer. “It has been a priority of the Ho-Chunk Nation for years to get a museum and cultural center in Wisconsin Dells.”
While the move will render the land tax-exempt, Brown says he hopes other, more lucrative, agreements, such as revenue tax sharing, can be reached to ensure the development is a win-win for everyone. At the end of the day, Anne Thundercloud, public relations officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation stresses, “We want to be sure we are good neighbors to all of the communities where we reside and hold businesses.” 

From one end of the state to another, Wisconsin’s tribal lands are positioned for economic growth. Whether this growth comes in the form of cultural or historic preservation, new businesses, or commercial leasing opportunities, the initiatives will build a foundation for the future.
As Greendeer says, “Economic development enables tribes to acquire more land, manage their lands appropriately and use their lands better,” which paves the economic landscape for future growth.

By Ronnie Garrett

Ronnie Garrett owns and operates Garrett & Co. Studios, a Fort Atkinson company providing editorial, photography and graphic design services.

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