NATIVE NATION BUILDING TV: Segment 4

Produced by Ian W. Record, Ph.D.

Building and Sustaining Tribal Enterprises explores corporate governance among Native nations, in particular the added challenge they face in turning a profit as well as governing effectively. It focuses on how tribes establish a regulatory and oversight environment that allows nation enterprises to flourish, particularly through the separation of day-to-day business operations from politics.

Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska

In the 1970s, Reuben Snake, tribal leader of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, began developing a strategic plan that would move the tribe toward social and economic self-sufficiency. Ho-Chunk, Inc., chartered under the laws of the Winnebago Tribe, became such a vehicle. Ho-Chunk, Inc., is an economic development corporation wholly owned by the Winnebago Tribe. The corporation's mission is to develop and operate successful tribally owned business enterprises, to provide jobs and opportunities for tribal members, and to achieve economic self-sufficiency for the tribe in general.

A bird's-eye perspective of Ho-Chunk Village, a planned community of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska to be built with funding from revenues generated by Ho-Chunk, Inc.
(Courtesy Ho-Chunk, Inc.)

One key to the success of the corporation is the separation of the enterprise from tribal government. Ho-Chunk, Inc., has a five-member board (two of whom are tribal council members) that acts independently of the Winnebago Tribal Council. Tribal council members concentrate on governance issues and the five-member board of Ho-Chunk, Inc., focuses on increasing the corporation's profits.

Tribal enterprises include AllNative.com, AllNative Office, AllNative Solutions, All Native Systems, Blue Earth Marketing, Dynamic Homes, HCI Construction, HCI Distribution, Heritage Express, Indianz.Com, Rez Cars, and WinnaVegas Inn.

An employee stocks the shelves of the AllNative.com
store, an enterprise of Ho-Chunk, Inc.
(Courtesy Winnebago Indian News)

To learn more:
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Ho-Chunk, Inc.
Ho-Chunk, Inc., mission statement
Indian Country Today article: "A Conversation with ... Lance Morgan"
Money magazine article: "Lance Morgan Ho-Chunk, Inc."
Other media coverage of Ho-Chunk, Inc.

Eastern Band of Cherokee Sanitation Program

For 25 years, the Eastern Band of Cherokee had provided a trash pickup and disposal service for tribal members. When new federal guidelines threatened the provision of the services, the tribe responded by innovatively and simultaneously addressing both its environmental as well as economic concerns. The outcome was the development of a waste-transfer station that receives and sorts solid waste on the reservation and transports the material off the reservation for disposal or sale.

This program continues to provide pick-up and disposal services free-of-charge to tribal members, while enabling the tribe to generate income through the sale of recyclables and compost, and by providing services to nearby counties. The tribe's waste-transfer station has been an environmental and economic success and has improved the standing of the tribal government and the Indian community.

photo: Recycling Center, Cherokee Tribal Sanitation Program, North Carolina.
(Courtesy Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development)

To learn more:
Honoring Nations Award: Eastern Band of Cherokee

Yukaana Development Corporation

Yukaana Development Corporation workers remove drums of toxic waste from log jam areas. (Courtesy Yukaana Development Corporation)

Faced with issues of environmental degradation and unemployment, tribal leaders of the Louden Tribal Council initiated a series of community planning sessions. After these meetings, the community rallied behind the slogan "Neel ghul neets niiy,” which translates to “We work together, we help each other.” As a result, the Louden Tribal Council established the Yukaana Development Corporation (YDC) to improve the health and well-being of tribal members by addressing environmental concerns and by improving training and employment opportunities for tribal members.

The Yukaana Development Corporation, a for-profit tribal corporation, is the first tribally owned corporation in the State of Alaska and is chartered under State of Alaska Laws. It stands as an example of the Louden Tribal Council's commitment to self-determination and has renewed a sense of pride, a commitment to community action, and the notion of "Neel ghul neets niiy” in the Louden community.

Honoring Nations Award: Yukaana Development Corporation


Native Nations mentioned:
Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

See Segment 1, "Introduction to Nation Building, for more information about these two nations.