Northwest Tribal Economic Diversification: It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going
In May 2005, Debora Juarez and I published an article in Indian Country Today titled, “Attracting Private Investment in Indian Country.” We wrote:
Tribal leadership has recently expressed some concern regarding the future of gaming and its governmental benefits. “Indian gaming will one day cease to exist,” Anthony Pico, Chairman of the Viejas Band of the Kumeyaay Indians from California was quoted as saying in a Reuters article aptly titled, “U.S. Indian tribes need to look beyond casinos.” Chairman Pico goes on to explain that the threatened expansion of non-Indian gaming, the over-saturation of the national gaming market, and public policy concerns about gambling addiction, are all factors that will sooner or later contribute to the demise of the $18.5 billion Indian gaming industry.
Chairman Pico’s wise foresight, from the perspective of California tribes who have operated governmental gaming operations since the 1970s, should be heeded by gaming tribes through the country. There were 15 gambling measures on the ballot in six states last November, which embody exactly the type of threat of expanded non-Indian gaming and market over-saturation that Chairman Pico speaks of. Fifteen states have conducted statewide prevalence studies on “problem gambling” and several states are considering legislation to combat gambling addiction, just as Chairman Pico eludes. As such, it is imperative that tribes expand their revenue sources beyond gaming and avoid placing all of their economic eggs in one basket.
Although some tribes have begun to devise ways to attract private investment and industry to the reservation, it has become more important than ever for Indian Country to create new economic opportunities that will withstand the volatile gaming market.
Even though Indian gaming has since grown to a $26.7 billion industry, the current global economic crisis and the resultant decline in may tribal casinos’ net revenues should cause Indian Country to increasingly “look beyond casinos.”
In 2005, a companion to our article was born: the Emerging Northwest Tribal Economies Seminar. The seminar, which was co-chaired by Lael Echo-hawk and I, was carefully designed to help inspire tribal leaders to look beyond casinos, and towards healthier, less politically volatile and perhaps more sustainable modes of tribal economic development. The seminar, which featured predominately Indian faculty members, was “by Indians, for Indians.”
Now half a decade later, we embark upon the 5th Annual Emerging Northwest Tribal Economies Seminar. On August 13 and 14, 2009, tribal leaders, business executives and advisors will again meet to teach, learn and discuss how to create long-lasting Indian economies.
Last year, consistent with notions of “buy Indian,” the seminar was moved from downtown Seattle to the Tulalip Resort Hotel in Quil Ceda Village, a federally-chartered municipality governed and operated by the Tulalip Tribes. The seminar returns to Tulalip again this year.
This year’s seminar, again co-chaired by Lael and I and as always “by Indians, for Indians,” will feature teaching and discussion of:
- Lessons from the Harvard Project on Economic Development
- Tribal Entity Formation & Protection
- Tribal Taxation Update
- Tribal Enterprise Financing
- Federal Appropriations Process: How Congress Can Aid Tribal Economic Development Efforts
- TERO Update
- Tribal Code Development & Entity Formation for Tribal Members
- Tribal Family-Formed Businesses
- Federal Contracting Opportunities for Tribal Small Businesses
For the first time, the seminar will feature a half day, on August 14, dedicated to issues of interest to individual Indian entrepreneurs and tribal small businesses, which are increasingly becoming a vibrant part of tribal economies and helping tribal governments look beyond casinos.
