Here is a round up of business news briefs from around Indian Country.
Federal contracting
• A subsidiary of Alaska Native-owned Akima is one of eight federal contractors selected to participate in a potential $14 billion contract to provide aircraft maintenance services to the U.S. Air Force. Under the 10-year deal, Akima Logistics Services will compete with the other contractors on individual task orders from the military branch. The maintenance services could include any platform outside of rotary wing, tiltrotor or unmanned aircraft, and will be performed at various Air Force locations, according to a statement. “We are proud to continue our support of vital Air Force missions and eager to provide effective, efficient, and innovative solutions,” Scott Rauer, president of Akima’s Facilities Solutions Group, said in a statement. Herndon, Va.-based Akima is an enterprise of NANA Regional Corporation Inc., which is owned by 14,300 Iñupiat shareholders with roots in a 38,000-square-mile section of northwest Alaska, much of which is located above the Arctic Circle. Akima employs more than 7,500 people across its various subsidiaries.
Finance
• Nixyaawii Community Financial Services has disbursed $250,000 in grants to 38 small businesses in an effort to help them deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report in the Eastern Oregonian. The grants were funded by CARES Act money allocated by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Recipients received from $5,000-$10,000 each. Nixyáawii is an emerging Native community development financial institution (CDFI) launched by CTUIR.
Arts/Culture
• The Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, Conn. received nearly $23,000 in grant funding from Connecticut Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Executive Director Christopher Combs told the Wilton Bulletin that the Institute will use the funding to bolster its virtual programming aimed at educators, as well as new programs and activities “that tell the story of Native American people in Connecticut and beyond.” The Institute was one of 54 organizations to receive the funding, which was made possible via an allocation of CARES Act money from the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development and the Connecticut Office of the Arts.
Economic Development
• Siyeh Communications, a nonprofit utility corporation operated by the Blackfeet Nation, acquired the Browning, Mont. telephone and internet exchange from 3 Rivers Communications, according to a report in the Cut Bank Pioneer Press. Negotiations for the acquisition started in 2016, leading to a signed purchase agreement in December 2019 and a year-long regulatory approval process. “This purchase is a major step in the exercise of the Blackfeet Tribe’s sovereign rights,” Tribal Chairman Tim Davis said in the report. “It gives the Tribe a level of control necessary to prioritize and develop modern telecommunications technology on the Blackfeet Reservation, especially during a pandemic.”
