wfn.org | Native Americans focus on building economies

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 13, 2002  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.   10-34-71BP{362}

NOTE: Photographs and sidebar, UMNS story #363, are available with this
report.

By Kathy Gilbert*

BROWNING, Mont. (UMNS) -- Marty Woolf is a savvy businessman. 

He sits on a bank board of directors. He and his fellow directors have some
tough rules: You must have $3 to open an account, you must maintain at least
a $3 balance at all times, and if you lose your passbook, it will cost you
$2.

The bank is at Napi Elementary School, which is convenient for Woolf, 11. In
addition to serving on the bank's board, he's also a student at the school
on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning.

The United Methodist Native American Economic Development and Empowerment
Task Force met Aug. 9-11 in Browning and Polson, Mont., to visit Native
American businesses. The task force is working on a report that it will
present to the 2004 General Conference, the United Methodist Church's top
lawmaking body. 

The task force's mission is to enable the United Methodist Church and others
to be more engaged in supporting Native American economic development.

Woolf represented the mini-bank program as part of a presentation to the
task force by the Blackfeet Reservation Development Fund Inc. The mini-bank
program in Browning is sponsored by the development fund, a community-based,
tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation that promotes the economic and social
well-being of the Indian inhabitants of the Blackfeet reservation.

The mini banks - in elementary, middle and high schools - are part of the
"seven-generation plan" that will create generations of Native Americans who
understand financial services and the importance of savings, said Janice
Coburn, with the Blackfeet Reservation Development Fund.

"The vision for the program is to build the capacity for understanding
finance and business at a young age, so that when the community's children
become adults, they are better prepared to take on the role of community
leaders and business people," she said.

Mini-bank directors must understand the responsibilities of a bank board of
directors, prepare a basic business plan, undergo teller training,
understand basic banking principles and practices, and know how to operate
computer equipment and software, among other things.

The driving force behind the mini banks and other programs for financial
literacy is Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet tribe member who serves as director
of the Native American Community Development Corp. The corporation focuses
on six areas critical to the successful development of Indian communities: a
housing intermediary to assist tribes in obtaining low-income housing
mortgages; financial literacy; small-business lending; an Indian land
financial institution; assistance to Indian farmers and ranchers; and
innovative retail banking in remote reservations.

The revolving loan fund program, another important aspect of the Blackfeet
Reservation Development Fund, is working to develop small businesses on the
reservation. 

"The key is education. The mini banks are a model we can use throughout
Indian country to educate tribes," said Millard Lowry Jr., a member of the
task force and the Lumbee tribe from Laurinburg, N.C.

"I think it is a good place for the church to put our money," agreed Ann
Saunkeah, a Cherokee from Tulsa, Okla., representing the Native American
Comprehensive Plan on the task force. The comprehensive plan is a program of
the United Methodist Church.

Task force members also heard from Joe Durglo with the Salish and Kootenai
Holding Company on the Flathead reservation in Polson.

S&K Holding Co. has revolving loan programs that have helped establish the
Flathead Sticker Co., a company that provides labels for the lumber
industry; Flathead Botanicals, which harvests morel mushrooms and the herb
St. John's Wort; S&K Technologies, which produces technical manuals in
digital format; and other businesses associated with wood products.

"We call it a bundle of livelihoods," Durglo said, explaining that many
Native Americans do not like the Western concept of an 8-to-5 job. The
Flathead reservation also receives income from the lease of its land to the
Kerr Dam, and it owns a resort. The Salish, Kootenai and Pend d' Oreille
tribes compose the Flathead reservation and are also interested in
establishing a bank.

The tribes' biggest need is technical assistance, Durglo and members of the
Blackfeet reservation told task force members. 

Native Americans are producing high-quality products, but they need to learn
how to market and manage their money, said Andrea Main, a member of the Gros
Ventre nation and representative of the Montana Native American Development
and Finance Initiative on the task force.

"The church's idea of ministries needs to be expanded to include things like
technical assistance," said Thom White Wolf Fassett, a Seneca from Hector,
N.Y., and former top executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society. Developing ministries for Native Americans is not just about
establishing churches, he said. "The level of intolerance is extraordinary."

One place technical assistance may come from is the committee on Native
American ministries in each annual conference, suggested Lowry. 

The task force worked on finalizing its goals and discussed what should go
into the first draft of their report.

In other business, the task force:

7	Heard a presentation from Lowry on the Healing Lodge, a Native
American interfaith ministry he is working with in Pembroke, N.C. Five
denominations and 128 churches are involved in this nonprofit organization,
whose purpose is to improve the Lumbee community. The program offers
culturally sensitive help for Indians, he said.
7	Heard public policy updates from Mark Harrison, staff member of the
Board of Church and Society.
7	Tentatively planned its next meeting for early January in
Albuquerque, N.M.

The task force is an outgrowth of the Consultation on Native Americans and
Gambling held in Oklahoma City in December 1996. It is sponsored by the
Board of Church and Society. 

# # #

*Gilbert is a news writer in United Methodist News Service's Nashville,
Tenn., office.

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United Methodist News Service
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