OPA

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has published an updated report on American Indian reservations populations. The booklet includes estimates on unemployment.

Dated December, 1981, the report shows a population of 734,895 living on or near Indian reservations, including former reservations in Oklahoma. It also includes 64,047 Eskimos, Aleuts and Indians in Alaska.

The reservation population, which constitutes the BIA's service population, is 52 percent of the 1.4 million total Indian population counted in the 1980 census.

Unemployment on the reservations is reported to be 31 percent of the labor force.

The information in the report is presented by states, BIA area offices, agencies and individual reservations.

The data was compiled from information provided by BIA field offices.

The BIA's last report on reservation populations, in 1979, showed a total of 681,213 with a 27 percent unemployment rate.

The Bureau of Indi an Affairs has officially closed its Office of Technical Assistance and Training (OTAT) at Brigham City, Utah 1 Interior Assistant Secretary Ken Smith announced today.

Smith said the document abolishing OTAT, a unit in the BIA’s central office structure, was signed March 16 and that approximately 72 employees would receive general reduction in force (RIF) notices at an employee meeting to be held today.

Smith said the closing of the office was mandated oy Congress through the Interior appropriations bill which provided funding in fiscal year 1982 only for the continuation of two sub-units of the office and closing expenses.

The sub-units to be continued are the police academy at Brigham City and the Tribal Administrative and Accounting Services, which is located at Littleton, Colorado,

A total of 52 positions are being abolished. The 72 persons, including those on the police academy staff and a separate inspections and evaluation unit at Brigham City who will receive general RIF notices, will compete according to RIF procedures, for about 20 jobs to be continued at Brigham City.

Smith said "every effort will be made to place people who lose jobs in Brigham City in vacancies elsewhere in the Bureau." He said he had exercised waiver provisions in the Indian preference policy for the placement of the non-Indians who would lose jobs.

The Continental Divide Training Center, a sub-unit of OTAT located in western New Mexico, has been transferred to the BIA’s Albuquerque area office. Other OTAT activities will be decentralized and continued through the program offices.

OTAT was established in June of 1979 with the consolidation of various training and technical assistance functions of the BIA at Brigham City.

Although millions of Federal dollars have been spent over the past 20 years on economic development on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the reservation's economy is, at best, only marginally better according to a recently released review conducted by the Interior Department's Inspector General.

Federal funds were used to help develop an industrial park, a plastics factory, an electronics company, a sawmill and other enterprises. At the present time, only one business enterprise of significance is operating, Inspector General Richard Mulberry said, and it is in jeopardy.

The review covered contracts issued between 1977 and 1980 and included the now defunct Oglala Sioux Agriculture Enterprise, which received approximately $2 million from various Federal agencies. The money is gone, Mulberry said, and the remaining equipment has been, or will be, sold to pay portions of defaulted loans. A former Pennsylvania plastic fishing bait company was purchased by the Tribe for $305,000, although, Mulberry said, the Tribe was warned that the company was financially troubled. The review shows that this enterprise lasted about two years and then defaulted on a $195,000 loan guaranteed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Another review conducted by Interior's Inspector General at the Pine Ridge Reservation, on selected programs, contracts and grants of the Oglala Sioux Community College (OSCC), shows that OSCC purchased items of questionable necessity because it had too much money.

Some of the questioned expenditures, Mulberry said, included (1) $48,500 spent for computer equipment, which after 14 months from date of purchase had yet to be used because appropriate software programs had not been developed; and (2) $13,277 spent for a graduation ceremony honoring 17 students. This expenditure, the review shows, included $4,140 for dance contest prizes, $1,678 for food, and $2,417 for gifts and awards to the graduates. In addition, Mulberry said, OSCC implemented a new salary scale in which annual salaries were increased 28 percent over the previous year.

With respect to economic development on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Mulberry said it has been recommended, in part, to the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council that it (1) avoid Tribal ownership, (2) not start something simply because Federal money is available, and (3) require better cost/benefit analysis. It was also recommended, he said, that the Tribal Council take a more assertive role in the financial affairs of the Oglala Sioux Community College, because the Council is the only entity which can balance reservation needs.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer said today the President's fiscal year 1988 budget request of $985 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will enable the Bureau to carry out its responsibilities to the Indian people of this country and still hold the line against increased deficit spending.

The FY 1988 budget request for the main operating account, Operation of Indian Programs, totals $910.2 million, about $11 million less than the current 1987 estimate or about a one percent reduction.

With the budget request, the Bureau is introducing a series of initiatives to "provide incentives and opportunities for self-improvement of both tribes and individual Indians,'' Swimmer said. "All of the initiatives will strengthen the tribes, enhance self-determination, and provide greater opportunity for preservation of Indian culture. This will move the BIA away from the role of 'provider' to the appropriate role of 'enabler'."

The four major initiatives include: moving education away from Bureau control to local communities; an economic self-assistance/self-help program that will reform the general assistance grant program; increased assistance to small tribes through revenue sharing, and; control of drug and alcohol abuse through motivation and rehabilitation.

"These new initiatives are not budget driven, but we are introducing them in the budget process so that we will have the remainder of the current fiscal year to think about them and formulate them into final policy after input from the tribes and from Congress," Swimmer said. "Comments from the tribes and the Congressional hearing process will further shape these programs."

Swimmer said the education initiatives focus on the quality of education for Indian children and propose moving the management of BIA schools to the tribal or state school system. The Bureau has simply not been doing a good job of educating Indian children," Swimmer said. "Despite the fact that the Bureau spends more per student in its schools than public and private schools, test scores by McGraw-Hill reveal that by the time BIA students reach the 12th grade, they are over three years below the national norm. He said that there is need to get away from a system that permits as many as five separate school systems on a reservation to vie for Indian student enrollment and where students move from BIA, to tribal, to public, private and even to off-reservation boarding schools. "Common sense suggests that such a system is not conducive to quality education," he added. The Bureau operates or contracts for the operation of 181 schools in 23 states.

In its post-secondary schools, Haskell Indian Junior College, Lawrence, Kansas; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, H.K., and; Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, N.M., the Bureau will require students to pay a tuition of approximately $850. Students currently not paying any tuition are eligible for all U.S. Department of Education campus-based financial aid as well as BIA higher education grants. In the higher education area, BIA will develop a program in which recipients of higher education scholarships for post-graduate studies will be required to serve in either the BIA or their tribe after graduation in order to receive college grants. Such a "service obligation" requirement has worked successfully for the Indian Health Service.

Another initiative proposes implementation of an economic self-assistance/self-help program that requires able-bodied recipients of general assistance payments to work or enter job training programs to receive their grants. "We anticipate that most of the jobs or training programs would be in public service, building and repairing homes, laying water lines, sewers, and other needed services on the reservation,•• Swimmer said. The programs would be similar to the Tribal Work Experience Program (TWEP) currently used by some tribes. Recipients would receive some pay for their work or training in addition to their general assistance grant and would eventually leave the "welfare" rolls. Tribes would have an incentive for .putting their members in paying jobs by receiving a share of the savings achieved due to a decreasing percentage of grants paid out in general assistance.

Swimmer said that the initiative would combine the general assistance program ($66 million in 1987); employment assistance ($26 million); and, housing improvement program (about $16 million). The basic mission of the three programs would not change, but would be redirected to encourage and enable self-assistance by Indian individuals.

Small tribes of from 150 to 1,500 members would receive direct funding to operate their tribal governments under another initiative. The current small tribes program funded in FY 87 at $2.8 million would be raised in FY 88 to $6.8 million with expanded criteria of eligibility and purpose.

Continued efforts will be made to reduce the use of drugs and alcohol by Indians, with renewed emphasis on motivation and rehabilitation programs, especially through school counseling and construction or rehabilitation of emergency shelters. Nationally operated programs already proven effective against alcohol and drug abuse will be implemented on the reservations through joint efforts of the BIA and the Indian Health Service.

NOTE: Re attached budget comparison tables showing FY 87 and 88 budget figures. A FY 87 proposal for a single tribe/agency line item was not implemented at the direction of Congress. In FY .1988, five separate sub-activities have been established for requesting tribe/agency funding. As a result, comparisons between the individual line items in the 1988 budget request and the 1987 appropriation are generally meaningless. Major differences in the 1988 request generally reflect the tribe/agency line changes.

The following is a summary and background on several of the BIA's major 1988 budget initiatives:

Indian Education

Elementary and Secondary Schools:

• In order to offer Indian students a better quality of education, the BIA in 1988 will expand the use of alternative delivery systems for federally funded Indian schools. The BIA proposes to increase the use of contracting and cooperative agreements with tribal governments and public school systems.
• Federal funding will remain near the 1987 level for schools that enter into cooperative agreements with state education or into self-determination contracts with tribal governments. The Bureau was allocated $153.8 million in fiscal year 1987 to operate its elementary and secondary schools. In 1988 the Bureau is requesting $163.1 million.
• The BIA will retain oversight to ensure that cultural and traditional opportunities continue and to monitor academic progress. Federal responsibility will be enhanced rather than ended.
• Indians in public schools oftentimes score higher in basic skills tests than Indians in BIA schools. In New Mexico, for example, Indian students in public schools out perform Indians in BIA schools at every grade level.
• Approximately 40,000 or ten percent of all Indian children attend the BIA's 181 schools. The education they receive there oftentimes is alarmingly substandard. In some states, eighth graders in public schools test a full year ahead of BIA students. By the time BIA students reach the 12th grade they test on average at the eighth grade level, according to McGraw-Hill test scores. Nevertheless, the Bureau spends more per student than the nation's public school systems. Despite that, most BIA elementary and secondary schools are not in compliance with academic standards set by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• A 1986 field study conducted by the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children reported that "the quality of education on the reservation is poor" and "school administration is badly fragmented." There can be as many as four school systems on one small reservation, according to the report. BIA, public, private and contracted schools cause a duplication of services.
• "Despite improving scores from 1984 in every area of achievement, BIA students in grades 1-12 performed substantially below the national norms in reading, language and mathematics," according to McGraw-Hill researchers
• While 66.6 percent of all students in the United States graduate high schools, only 48 percent of the Indian population graduated, according to the 1980 Census. Nationwide, 16.2 percent of all students graduated college in 1980 while only 7.7 percent of the Indian population graduated.
• Except for minor adjustments in the elementary and secondary school budget, this initiative is revenue-neutral.

Higher Education:

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1988 proposes to develop a program in which recipients of BIA graduate scholarships will be required after graduation to serve in either the Bureau or a tribe in order to receive college grants.
• A "service obligation" requirement has worked successfully for the Indian Health Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.
• More than 250 Indian graduate students receive funding each year through the BIA's special higher education program. Those students fall under these categories: 73 percent, master's degrees; 22 percent, doctorates; and five percent, certificates. Most are in the priority fields of health, business, education, natural resources and engineering.

Post-Secondary Schools:

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes in 1988 to require students attending the BIA's three post-secondary schools to pay a tuition. Approximately 1,400 students attend the BIA-run Haskell Indian Junior College, Kansas; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, New Mexico; and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
• Students, who currently pay no tuition, will be required to pay approximately $850 per year. They are eligible for all U.S. Department of Education, campus-based financial aid as well as BIA higher education grants.
• The BIA spends $12.2 million to operate the three schools.

Self-Assistance

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1988 proposes to implement an economic self-assistance program that will require able-bodied recipients of BIA general assistance payments to work or train in order to receive their grants. This initiative relies heavily on the concept of self-help, in which local residents work in their own communities on projects like building waterlines, housing and other needs.
• The plan coordinates three BIA programs -- General Assistance, which paid more than $66 million last year to 70,500 low-income Indians; Employment Assistance, a $26 million program designed to provide job training; and the Housing Improvement Program, which renovates sub-standard Indian homes. By coordinating these efforts, the self-assistance program opens a workforce in Indian Country that will continue to receive a check while working or training in the private sector as well as in self-help community projects.
• The short term goal of this initiative is to move general assistance recipients from unproductive roles to productive ones. The long-term goal is move recipients from the welfare roles to nonsubsidized payrolls.
• Unemployment oftentimes is the key to many of the socio-economic problems Indians face today. Alcoholism, which is responsible for 30 percent of the deaths per 100,000 Indians, is prevalent in areas of high unemployment. Nearly 30 percent of all Indians live below the poverty level. Indian unemployment, which stood at 13 percent nationwide in 1980, is the highest of any other race.

Tribal Government Assistance

• Recognizing the special needs of tribal governments, the Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes to establish Tribal Government Assistance, a program that will award revenue sharing grants to small tribes with populations between 150 and 1,500. These grants will enable tribal governments to maintain the basic management functions necessary to their survival.
• Tribal Government Assistance also will provide specialized technical assistance to any tribe whose ability to govern is threatened by indebtedness and other financial management problems.
• Tribal Government Assistance replaces and strengthens the BIA's "Small Tribes Initiative," which in 1987 offered $2.8 million to troubled tribes. In 1988 the BIA requests $6.8 million to better enable tribal governments to carryout their administrative responsibilities

Equity Funding

• The Fiscal Year 1988 budget request includes $700,000 to conduct a special study that will identify criteria and methods for determining equity in the allocation of BIA funding to tribal governments. Approximately $300 million in BIA funding currently goes directly to tribal governments.
• Tribes and other groups have expressed concern about the method by which the Bureau establishes funding for each tribe. The BIA has received numerous recommendations, most of which call for more "equity" in Bureau allocations.
• A federal court in 1980 required the Indian Health Service to develop an equity funding method.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs is committed to maintaining a government-to-government, self-determination relationship with tribal governments. Therefore, federal funding levels should be distributed among the tribes based upon a rational and equitable method.
• BIA funding for tribes has evolved through arbitrary executive and legislative directions.
• The analysis envisioned for this initiative must review each BIA program in sufficient detail to determine the many factors leading to an equitable formula for resource allocation.

Improving Trusteeship

• In order to raise the quality and standard of trust responsibility, the BIA in 1988 will increase internal modernization of trust programs and systems and acquire private sector services that enhance the Bureau's trustee capabilities. To accomplish this, the BIA proposes the following initiatives:
• Establish agricultural technical assistance centers - Private sector contractors will offer technical assistance to tribes and individual Indians in the extension areas of agribusiness, soil conservation and range management.
• Offer forestry marketing assistance - Approximately six million commercial acres of forests held in trust make Indian umber owners a potential economic force in the timber and fiber industries. In order to maximize profits and better manage forest assets, the BIA will offer quality technical assistance from the private sector to improve marketing and sales incomes.
• Increase energy and mineral development opportunities - The BIA will emphasize offering contracts for energy and mineral development directly to Indian tribes. In the past, the BIA has conducted mineral inventory and assessment studies on its own. This will allow tribes locally to determine what opportunities exist and which ones to pursue.

Distribution of Bureau and Tribally-Contracted Schools by State

The following is a break down by state of BIA-funded schools run by either the Bureau or contracted by a tribal government:

A proposed project to develop oil and gas resources within the boundaries of the Miccosukee Indian Reservation in Florida would not create significant environmental issues or concerns, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has concluded.

The BIA has prepared an environmental assessment on a proposal by Natural Resource Management Corporation, Tesoro Petroleum Corporation and American Quasar Petroleum Company to engage in explorations, development and production activity for oil and gas on the reservation.

The proposal calls for a reconnaissance survey over 76,800 acres of the reservation, drilling exploratory wells, the selection of wells for production and the construction of pipelines, tanks, and other facilities.

Potential environmental impacts of the proposal would be typical of those encountered elsewhere in nearby locations in Florida. Potential impacts on land use, wildlife habitats, and air/water qualities are judged to be either absent or insignificant and of short duration.

Single copies of the environmental assessment may be obtained from the BIA Eastern Area Office, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N, W., Washington, D. C. 20245.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will transfer fifteen Alaskan village day schools to the state school system at the end of this school year. Deputy Assistant Secretary John Fritz ordered the transfer completed by June 15.

The move is part of a plan to transfer all BIA schools in Alaska to the state.

In 1982-83, the BIA will operate 22 village schools and one boarding high school in Alaska. At the end of that year the high school will be closed and the village schools transferred to the state.

Fritz noted that the Bureau of Indian Affairs' schools for the Alaska Natives were established to meet needs until the state was able to assume the responsibility. He added that the BIA and the state had formalized an agreement in 1963 for the transfer of Bureau schools to state administration, At one time there were as many as 120 BIA schools in Alaska. Transfers have occurred intermittently over the years. Village councils for each of the fifteen schools to be transferred this year have passed resolutions of concurrence in the transfer plan. Fritz said that all school property and equipment together with the buildings would be transferred to state ownership.

Ross Swimmer, the Interior department's assistant secretary for Indian affairs, told tribal leaders, state officials and his own employees in New Mexico and Arizona that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is looking for a new way of doing business.

Swimmer began a four day speaking tour Jan. 12 in the two states to explain several major initiatives being proposed in the BIA's 1988 budget request.

The assistant secretary met on Jan. 12 in Albuquerque with the All Indian Pueblo council and several other New Mexico tribes. He met later in the day with New Mexico Governor Garrey Carruthers in Santa Fe. Swimmer also discussed his plans with the editorial boards of the Albuquerque Journal and The New Mexican newspaper.

Swimmer attended the Jan. 13 inauguration of Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald in Window Rock, AZ, briefed BIA employees in the Navajo area office, toured the Navajo Times Today and met in Phoenix with tribal leaders from Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

Swimmer spoke on Jan. 14 to BIA employees in the Phoenix area office and met with Arizona Governor Evan Mecham and state education officials.

The BIA, which educates only about 10 percent of the nation's Indian children, is not providing the quality of education available in local systems like the public schools and oftentimes duplicates existing educational facilities, according to Swimmer.

Ross Swimmer, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, has sent Indian tribes, organizations and Congressional leaders a nine-page paper that provides answers to 48 of the most commonly asked questions concerning a contract with Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh for trust fund services.

In an attached letter, Swimmer said he or his representative will be visiting each of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) 12 area offices to meet with tribes and employees about trust fund changes.

In October of last year the U.S. Department of Treasury announced the selection of Mellon from a competition with other financial institutions to provide depository, accounting and investment services for the $1.7 billion the BIA holds in trust for tribes and individual Indians. The BIA is working with the Treasury Department to finalize a contract with the Mellon Bank.

Mellon was founded in 1869 and is the 12th largest bank in the nation. Its trust department is the third largest in the country and it does business in all 50 states.

Studies by government and private accountants dating back to 1982 have recommended improvements in the trust fund management program. Swimmer, who took office in December of 1985, moved quickly to use private sector information on services available that could assist the BIA in making needed improvements.

"Many of the benefits from the contract will be in the form of (improved) accounting and quicker investment of trust collections," the question and answer paper says. "BIA employees will have a direct access to information about collections, deposits, investments and earnings by account on a daily basis.

"Tribes and individual Indians also will benefit from immediate access to account information and improved reporting both in terms of quality and timeliness."

The contract will be for three years with an option to renew for two additional years. It is expected to cost around $4 million annually.

"Mellon's proposal of approximately $4 million is about what we spend (on trust fund services) but less than what it would cost the BIA to make the kind of improvements Kellon will provide," Swimmer told the United South and Eastern Tribes in Washington. D.C. earlier this month.

Swimmer said it is unlikely that many BIA employees will lose their jobs as a result of the contract. He said many of the employees affected can be absorbed within the Bureau during the contract's two year implementation and there will be a need for clerks at each BIA agency office as well as central office personnel to monitor the contract. Any reduction in force will be through attrition of jobs.

The Billings Area Office will be used as the test site for contract implementation. Swimmer told USET it will be up to two years before the contract is implemented fully at every area.

Swimmer discussed the trust fund improvements with tribal leaders in Portland Feb. 12 and in Billings Feb. 13. He will speak with Oklahoma tribes Feb. 27 and will be in Phoenix the first week of March.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) announced today that it would reopen competition by conducting a new full-scale procurement for financial trust services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.7 billion of Indian trust funds.

"This will give Indian tribes a chance for greater input on this important decision," said Ross Swimmer, Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. "Many tribes have indicated a strong interest, and have requested additional consultation. By consulting the tribes in conjunction with a full competition, we hope to increase understanding and secure the best possible contract."

Swimmer said that he is drafting a letter to the chairman of all Indian tribes to discuss the anticipated procurement and how their concerns will be covered.

"BIA will prepare a new request for proposals (RFP) ensuring full and open competition among financial institutions at large through the regular procurement process," he said. "We will develop a new proposal to meet the needs of the BIA which will include the same components that were in our original proposal -- collection, accounting and investment services," he said. "In addition, we will develop a comprehensive consultation plan for publication in the Federal Register that informs and seeks input from tribes and individuals with monies invested in the trust fund."

BIA announced last October that BIA and the U.S. Treasury Department had selected Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh from among six competing banks already providing "lock box" services to Treasury to handle the Indian trust fund account. A three-party agreement had been anticipated among BIA, Treasury and Mellon. At the time, it was believed that the accounting and investment services would simply be enhancements to the already existing "lock box" arrangements between Treasury and the banks. Recently, however, Treasury officials became concerned about certain technical aspects of the competition, including the limitation of competition to Treasury's six primary depositories.

"Although we will not be able to proceed with the proposed contract, we very much appreciate the interest and cooperation of Mellon Bank officials," Swimmer said. "Mellon is a highly professional financial institution and we hope it will continue its interest in assisting the BIA in improving its trust fund management.

"Numerous reports from Congress and the Department of Interior have pointed out the deficiencies of our system and recommended that we obtain help in administering our trusteeship from the private sector, however, until then we have no choice but to continue the use of existing internal systems until a contract is signed," the Assistant Secretary pointed out. "I think it is important that tribes and individuals understand that it is not practical to develop an in-house computer system and acquire full-time money managers. The time and cost of doing so would be prohibitive."

A Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) investment that created three "business opportunity centers" last September is paying off with real jobs for Indian people.

The Rensselaerville Institute of Rensselaerville, N.Y., one of the three new centers, has been working with tribes and individual Indian entrepreneurs across the country. It has created and saved a total of 84 jobs.

"Our focus for these centers is on creating jobs," said Ross Swimmer, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for Indian affairs and director of the BIA. "We certainly encourage major industrial development but I think it's the jobs created by individual entrepreneurs and small businesses that will add up to success for Indian Country."

Swimmer announced last fall that the BIA had awarded $250,000 contracts to three organizations that proposed to create 1,081 jobs over a three year period. In addition to Rensselaerville, those centers are the Fairbanks Native Association in Alaska and the United Indian Development Association (UIDA) in California.

Their method is to link the resources of Indian Country with the needs of industry.

That approach has worked on both the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus Reservation and the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York.

Rensselaerville had been meeting with managers at Eastman Kodak Company and learned that a number of small contracts were available through the company for skilled craftsmen.

David Gordon, executive director of the business opportunity center, contacted the Seneca Nation and found that a BIA vocational training program was nearing the completion of classes and 13 tribal members with metal working skills would be out of a job.

The business opportunity center brought Kodak and the Seneca Nation together to sign a contract in which the Tribe will hire the 13 members to refurbish metal storage bins, which require sand blasting, welding and painting skills. There is a potential for nearly 25 jobs.

"Their work is very good," said Kodak's Dennis W. Zink, the investment recovery manager in the manufacturing resources division. "It meets company needs, it helps Kodak, and I'm certainly pleased that this relationship is helping create jobs for these highly-skilled people."

Bob Hoag, president of the Seneca Nation, also is pleased with the results and looks forward to future successes.

"This gave us an opportunity to keep the people going, and able to subsidize themselves. That's the name of the game. There is a lot more to be done. It’s strictly up to us to prove we can compete in the outside world, Hoag said.

The BIA-funded opportunity center did much the same thing on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, where the tribe had trained five wood workers that needed jobs.

The Mohawk tribe now is employing five tribal members to build precision wood parts for Kodak.

The students were unemployed, going through training and had no place to go," said Gordon. This was a case where we found a training program that was about to end and brought jobs to the people that were consistent with the skills they had learned."

In New Mexico, Rensselaerville conducted an extensive study of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. The center was in the process of foreclosure.

Gordon, working with local BIA credit officials, recently recommended a comprehensive management plan that includes management reform, consolidation of debt and BIA loan guarantees for property renovation.

Those recommendations could save up to 66 jobs, according to the cultural center's Chief Executive Officer, George Wickett.

He said the BIA stepped forward last fall to make an interim loan that kept the center open until a complete business plan could be written. Rensselaerville's business opportunity center worked with Wickett to produce the plan.

It took an outside professional to take a fresh look at our project. It was very instrumental to our staying open," said Wickett.