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30 Tribes Awarded Funds for Economic Development Technical Assistance

Red Lake Awarded $15,000 for Feasibility Study

WASHINGTON -Thirty tribes have been awarded approximately $2.0 million in economic development technical assistance grants. The funding was provided by the Indian Energy and Economic Development's Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI) grant program to foster economic activity and create jobs within tribal communities. Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk made the announcement on Tuesday.

"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 Indian Energy and Economic Development published in the Federal Register on July 13, 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 Indian Energy and Economic Development established the Institute in 2007 and the NADBI grant program shortly thereafter.

This is an annual program and the Indian Energy and Economic Development 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.

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 abio mass/ 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 US 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 US 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.

 

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