Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown will keynote the third in a series of regional economic development conferences with Indian tribal leaders May 14-15 in Oklahoma City. The meeting is being held in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's third annual Indian economic development conference on May 14.
The conference will include tribal representatives from Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. The purpose of the meeting will be to highlight successful Indian economic development efforts and, through consultation with tribal chairmen, define the role for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the development of Indian community economies. The conference also will present an overview of the roles of federal, state and tribal governments in economic development and will offer information to tribal leaders on policy options for economic development. "We are pleased that Governor Henry Bellman has asked us and Indian tribal leaders of Oklahoma to participate in their annual conference and work together to attempt to find ways of creating more economic development on Indian lands," Brown said. "The diversity of economic development projects among tribes suggests that there is no single magical formula that will solve all the problems of unemployment and poverty on Indian lands," he added. "The key is to develop a partnership between tribes and the Bureau for both economic development issues and the approaches to resolve them."
The Oklahoma City conference will be held at the Marriott Hotel, 3233 Northwest Expressway. Brown will give the keynote address to the BIA tribal economic development conference on May 15 at 10:30 a.m. He will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. on May 15 in the Sooner Room of the hotel. This third economic development conference follows similar consultation sessions with Indian tribal leaders in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Hollywood, Florida. A fourth conference is scheduled later this month in Portland, Oregon.
