WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has awarded approximately $2.0 million in economic development technical assistance grants to 30 federally recognized tribes. The funding was provided by the IEED’s Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) grant program to foster economic activity and create jobs within tribal communities.
“Providing funding for tribes to conduct the research necessary for developing their economic and business plans is a vital and necessary part of Indian Affairs’ mission,” Echo Hawk said. “The funds provided by the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development’s Native American Business Development Institute technical assistance grant program are the seeds that, if carefully tended, will help Indian Country’s economy to bloom and grow. I am very pleased to announce these grants to tribes who are seeking to improve their local economic and employment conditions.”
The NABDI grants will allow recipients to hire consultants to perform feasibility studies of tribal economic development opportunities or long-term, strategic, reservation-wide economic development plans. Consultants may include universities and colleges, private consulting firms, non-academic/non-profit entities, or others. The feasibility studies may concern the viability of an economic development project or business, or the practicality of a technology a tribe may choose to pursue.
In response to a solicitation of proposals the IEED published in the Federal Register on July 13, 2011, the NADBI grant program received 79 tribal funding requests totaling approximately $7.8 million. Last month, the program awarded almost $2.0 million in grants for 46 projects from 30 tribes. The list of those grantees is attached.
The IEED established the Institute in 2007 and the NADBI grant program shortly thereafter. This is an annual program and the IEED uses a competitive evaluation process to select several proposed projects to receive an award. The program is funded under the non-recurring appropriation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) budget and is based on available funds.
The Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs oversees the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, whose mission is to foster stronger American Indian and Alaska Native communities by helping federally recognized tribes with employment and workforce training programs; developing their renewable and non-renewable energy and mineral resources; and increasing access to capital for tribal and individual American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses. For more information about IEED programs and services, visit the Indian Affairs website at http://www.indianaffairs.gov/WhoWeAre/AS-IA/IEED/index.htm.
Indian Affairs Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development List of Economic Development Technical Assistance Grantees September 2011
ARIZONA
Hualapai Indian Tribe
Grant Award: $75,000 Purpose: For a feasibility study on the expansion or replacement of the only local grocery store.
Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation
Grant Award: $26,000
Purpose: For a market feasibility study on the development of a local grocery store. Navajo Nation Grant Award: $150,000 Purpose: For ten projects that include feasibility studies on developing a variety of on-reservation businesses, and market assessment and planning to support the development of a tribal solar energy manufacturing facility and a tribal commercial scale bio-fuels facility.
Yavapai-Prescott Tribe
Grant Award: $39,997
Purpose: To develop the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe Telecommunication Infrastructure Feasibility Project.
CALIFORNIA
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe
Grant Award: $55,000
Purpose: For a strategic plan for agricultural economic development.
Karuk Tribe
Grant Award: $43,838
Purpose: For a tribe-wide economic development plan.
Santa Rosa Indian Community
Grant Award: $110,000
Purpose: For feasibility studies on the development of a commercial retail center and for a biomass/ renewable energy project.
Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians
Grant Award: $50,000
Purpose: For a market analysis on and an applicable business plan for a travel plaza.
COLORADO
Ute Mountain Tribe
Grant Award: $30,000
Purpose: To prepare a master plan for the expansion and development of on-reservation tribal enterprises.
KANSAS
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians
Grant Award: $57,900
Purpose: For a comprehensive economic development plan.
MAINE
Penobscot Tribe
Grant Award: $69,576
Purpose: For a feasibility study for an alternative energy-related business.
MICHIGAN
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
Grant Award: 22,900
Purpose: For a feasibility analysis and impact study on agricultural economic development initiatives.
MINNESOTA
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
Grant Award: $15,000
Purpose: For a feasibility study on the merits of starting a vocational education program in the area of construction and carpentry technology.
MONTANA
Crow Tribe
Grant Award: $50,000
Purpose: For a reservation-wide economic development strategy focused on tourism.
Northern Cheyenne Tribe
Grant Award: $55,043
Purpose: For a feasibility study on a motel/lodging business in conjunction with local mining operations. NEVADA Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes Grant Award: $59,500 Purpose: For a reservation-wide economic development plan with an emphasis on the U.S. Highway 96 commercial district.
Wells Indian Colony Band Council, Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians
Grant Award: $69,850
Purpose: For an economic development plan that includes an incubator feasibility study, a land use study and a tribally chartered economic development enterprise.
NEW YORK
Shinnecock Indian Nation Grant Award: $49,500
Purpose: For feasibility studies on the development of a gas station/convenience store business and on long-term economic development initiatives.
NORTH DAKOTA
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota
Grant Award: $100,000
Purpose: For feasibility studies on small business development on the Standing Rock Reservation and for the tribe’s telecommunications company Standing Rock Telecom.
Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation
Grant Award: $100,000
Purpose: For a feasibility/economic impact study in regards to the recent oil boom of the Bakken Shale Formation.
OKLAHOMA
Delaware Nation
Grant Award: $60,000
Purpose: For a feasibility study on a joint-venture solar module manufacturing business.
OREGON
Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
Grant Award: $35,000
Purpose: To develop and implement a comprehensive strategic economic plan.
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians
Grant Award: $74,154
Purpose: For a comprehensive economic development strategy.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation
Grant Award: $175,000
Purpose: To establish baseline analysis on creating Tribal Intellectual Property (TIP) centers on tribal lands across the U.S. and for feasibility studies for projects relating to a hydrogen production facility, an electrical micro-grid business, the operation of convenience and/or retail stores and expansion of an existing tribal fish hatchery for water bottling and aquaculture.
UTAH
Indian Peaks Band, Paiute Indian Tribe
Grant Award: $50,000
Purpose: For an economic feasibility study for an RV park/campground.
WASHINGTON
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Grant Award: $75,672
Purpose: To develop feasibility studies to update the tribe’s current strategic plan and for the development of an indoor water park.
Port Gamble Indian Community
Grant Award: $121,442
Purpose: For two projects that include developing a strategic long-term economic development plan and a local market study of the Noo-Kayet Development Corporation.
Quileute Tribe
Grant Award: $81,330
Purpose: For feasibility studies on the development of a conference center facility in conjunction with the existing Ocean Side Resort and on the renovation and expansion of services related to the tribe’s marina.
Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation
Grant Award: $45,500
Purpose: For a tribal economic zone market analysis study.
WISCONSIN
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Grant Award: $50,000
Purpose: For feasibility studies on the redevelopment and reuse of an old casino site and facilities
