Journal Article

IMPROVING NATIVE AMERICAN ACCESS TO FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS WITH RURAL COMMUNITIES

Wagner, Joanna M

2008

Overview

Loans and grants are easily provided by private, tribal, state, and federal sources - and they are the most immediate method of assistance that governments can provide to increase the number of Indianowned businesses on and off reservations.7 Thus the provision of cash should be considered an even more pressing goal than increasing governmental financial support for programs that provide training in management and business skills.8 Loans for economic development were made available as early as the 1930s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); however, it was not until the 1960s that the federal government began to offer funding for economic development to Native Americans through more mainstream agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Housing and Urban Development, and the Small Business Administration.9 While this method of encouraging economic development has its own flaws, the diversity of available funding at least has increased the dollar amount of available grants, and the number of development projects which ultimately receive federal support.10 Currently, there are 184 grant and loan programs available to support economic development in Indian country - some of which are specifically targeted to Indians, others of which may be utilized by a variety of applicants. Largely using USDA programming as a case study, this comment demonstrates that Indian communities are having serious difficulties accessing federal funding for economic development.12 Grant application processes are difficult to navigate.13 Moreover, funding levels for economic development on reservations are also largely disproportionate to population size or need - often because agencies lack up-to-date information on program usage and effectiveness as it relates to Native Americans.14 As a result, Indian communities may be leaving millions of dollars untouched in the Treasury every year - millions of dollars that were originally intended by Congress for economic development purposes. [...]if both Indian and non-Indian rural communities appreciated their commonalities, and that they share similar obstacles to economic growth and federal assistance, an alliance could be forged that could help all parties improve their economic circumstances. Part IV provides background information on federal rural development programming, and summarizes the economic development programming available to Indian communities. [...]it compares rural people's experiences with federal support (or lack of support) for economic development to the experiences of Native America.

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma
• Subject: Alcoholism / American Indians / Community / Culture / Economic development / Economic growth / Economics / Federal aid to rural areas / Federal funding / Federal government / Intersectionality / Native North Americans / Political power / Politics / Population / Rural development / Stereotypes