Here is a round up of business news from around Indian Country.
Funding
• The seven state-recognized American Indian tribes in North Carolina, along with four urban tribal organizations, are the beneficiaries of a $10 million appropriation in the state budget aimed at supporting tribal programs and helping tribes recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, Sappony and Waccamaw-Siouan tribes will each receive $715,285, with another pool of $4 million distributed among the tribes on a per capita basis. As well, the Cumberland County Association for Indian People, Guilford Native American Association, Metrolina Native American Association, and Triangle Native American Society will each receive $250,000. As part of the distribution, the North Carolina Department of Administration’s Commission of Indian Affairs was given a $73,000 appropriation to support further research on the effect of the pandemic on the state’s tribes.
• The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan was awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support personnel expenses related to the response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The assistance is targeted at arts workers and artists with the aim of supporting the tribe’s artistic activities and traditions. Of the total $1.35 million in this round of NEA grants in Michigan, the Grand Traverse Band was the only tribe to receive funding.
Federal 8(a) contracting
• Alaska Native-owned Goldbelt Security LLC, which is headquartered in Newport News, Va., was awarded a $51.6 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for delivery of of over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits. The American Rescue Plan Act-funded contract is part of the Biden administration’s effort to deliver 500 million no-cost at-home tests to help combat the spread of the omicron variant. Golbelt Security CEO McHugh Pierre told KINY radio that the company expects to deliver a total of 15.5 million kits. The company is a subsidiary of Goldbelt Inc., an Alaska Native urban corporation that benefits 3,900 Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian shareholders and their descendants in the Juneau area of southeast Alaska.
Economic development
• The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in central Oregon purchased an additional 16.66 percent stake in the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project, bringing the tribe to 49.99 percent ownership of the operation, which it owns with Portland General Electric. The three-dam complex on the Deschutes River was finished in 1964 with the tribe coming on as a partner in 2001, according to a report in Hydro Review. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under a long-term agreement, the utility will purchase power from the tribally owned share of the project through 2040. The two parties also have worked together in recent years to reintroduce culturally important salmon and steelhead to the Deschutes River. According to a report in the Madras Pioneer, the new agreement will provide greater economic benefit to the tribe, which derives up to half of its income from the dam operations. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs has an option to increase its ownership stake to 51 percent in 2036, according to the report.
Finance
• Little Canada, Minn.-based Indian Land Capital Co. announced last month that it raised more than $11.3 million in investments in 2021, a record for the organization. ILCC is a nonprofit Native community development financial institution (CDFI) that formed in 2005 to provide alternative loan products for tribal communities to use to acquire land. Among the funders were Associated Bank, the U.S. Department of the Treasury CDFI Fund, CNote Group, Opportunity Finance Network, Oweesta Corp., Sunrise Bank and Tamalpais Fund. In a statement, ILCC CEO Rjay Brunkow, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, said the fundraising marked a “big step forward in our efforts to raise as much capital as we possibly can on an annual basis, but there is a lot of work still to be done.”
Hospitality
• The tribally owned Sweetgrass Golf Course near Harris in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was recognized as the National Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association. The course is owned and operated by the Hannahville Indian Community as part of its Island Resort & Casino, which recently opened a new $33 million expansion. “We were all just speechless,” Dave Douglas, director of golf at Sweetgrass, told the Escanaba Daily Press. “We are very honored to win that award.”
• Choctaw Casinos & Resorts has inked a four-year deal to serve as the presenting sponsor of the inaugural ClubCorp Classic, a PGA Tour Champions event scheduled for April 19-24 at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas. The event will feature PGA Tour champions playing with sports and entertainment celebrities as part of separate competitions, plus an amateur match. As presenting sponsor, Choctaw Casinos & Resorts will offer fan enhancements, on- and off-site promotional activities and charitable efforts benefitting local organizations. Choctaw Casinos & Resorts, which offers gaming, hotel and resort properties throughout southeastern Oklahoma, is owned and operated by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. “We are thrilled to partner with the ClubCorp Classic and the PGA TOUR Champions as both organizations share a culture centered around respect, innovation and entertainment,” Janie Dillard, senior executive officer for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, said in a statement. “We look forward to connecting with both fans and players in fun and unique ways to not only help grow the event but to maximize the charitable impact for the community.”
