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Tribes plan and implement BD/ED initiatives using a variety of offices and programs that often reflect federal funding sources and policy. This chapter describes tribal BD/ED planning and the kinds of BD/ED activities that tribes and Native corporations conduct. Examples of tribal BD/ED ventures demonstrate how tribes operationalize their plans and make use of federal programs and initiatives that promote BD/ED. Assessment of the success of tribal BD/ED efforts has been limited to date, but tribal enterprises do produce some financial information that can be incorporated in future planning.
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In all the tribes participating in this study, responsibility for BD/ED is spread across different tribal offices and programs, and BD/ED planning activities are often poorly coordinated. This diffusion and associated lack of coordination reflects in part the fragmentation in federal funding sources for tribal BD/ED. However, two federal initiatives (PL 102-477 and the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community [EZ/EC] program) may help or encourage tribes to coordinate and manage federal BD/ED funding better.
Some tribes, especially larger ones, may have several offices, divisions, or departments responsible for BD/ED planning and other activities. For example, most of the tribes in the study have separate offices or programs for economic development, small business development, workforce development, and/or TANF. In addition, responsibility for BD/ED is shared by the legislative branch (for example, a Tribal Council) and the executive branch (for example, a tribal chairman). This organizational structure is influenced by the sources of federal assistance. The tribal department of economic development tends to receive funds from the Economic Development Administration in the Commerce Department, the BIA, and USDA rural development programs. The tribal small business development program tends to receive funds from the SBA and from the Minority Business Development Administration in the Commerce Department. The tribal workforce development program tends to receive funds from DOL and DHHS (Administration for Native Americans and Administration for Children and Families). Tribal officials said that receiving funds from different federal departments and from different programs within departments, each with its own rules, regulations, and requirements, makes it difficult to plan and coordinate BD/ED activities.
Responding to the problems associated with multiple funding sources, the federal government has developed initiatives to support tribal efforts to better coordinate and manage federal funding in accordance with tribal goals and objectives. One of these federal initiatives is the Indian Employment, Training, and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992 (PL 102-477), which authorizes tribes to integrate employment, training, and related services funded by the departments of Education, Interior, and Health and Human Services. Tribes participating in the program ("477 tribes") submit a single set of reports to the BIA, and within statutory limits, they can reprogram federal grant funds in accordance with the goals and objectives of their 477 program.(1) Title XI of the "Indian Employment, Training, and Related Services Demonstration Act Amendments of 2000" permits DHHS to waive statutory provisions of TANF and to approve tribal 477 plans to use up to 25 percent of 477 project funds for creating employment opportunities and related training (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2002).(2) Three tribes in the study (Citizen Potawatomi, Colville, and Three Affiliated Tribes) participate in the 477 program. Officials at these tribes were enthusiastic about the flexibility of the program, saying that the 477 program was especially valuable to their BD/ED plans and activities.
For each of the tribes in the study, BD/ED planning has undergone significant changes in recent years in response to tribal priorities and to federal initiatives that support Indian self-determination and self-governance. Prior to the passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (ISDEAA), much of the planning was managed or performed by BIA staff. Legislation supporting tribal self-determination and self-governance has enabled the tribes in the study gradually to take over responsibility for and control of BD/ED activities as well as many other programs and initiatives. Most of the tribes in the study (and both Native corporations) ranked BD/ED among their highest priorities and devote staff and financial resources to setting and achieving BD/ED goals.
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The tribes/Native corporations in the study have developed a wide range of BD/ED activities, generally building their efforts on their natural resources and other favorable conditions such as a location near tourism/recreation attractions (national parks and monuments, hunting, fishing, and skiing). The tribes participating in the study developed businesses in the service sector (gaming, tourism, banking, information technology, retail sales), construction, manufacturing, and natural resource exploitation (mining, forest products, farming).
Gaming. All but one of the tribes in the study operate gaming facilities (only Navajo Nation does not).(3) The scale of these gaming operations and their importance to tribes has ranged from substantial (more than $50 million a year) to modest (less than $1 million a year). Gaming profits have transformed the economies of some tribes (Gila River, Cheyenne River Sioux); for other tribes (Citizen Potawatomi, Colville, Three Affiliated Tribes, Turtle Mountain Chippewa), gaming has produced significant profits that have boosted, but not transformed, their economies. Interestingly, because the tribe had already approached full employment and was operating many successful businesses, Mississippi Choctaw's large and profitable gaming operations have produced less dramatic effects than otherwise would have occurred.
Tourism and Recreation. Each of the tribes in the study had some type of tourism/recreation operation. In about half the instances, these operations were tightly bundled with gaming, and in about half, tourism operations were only loosely connected to tribal gaming. For example, both Choctaw and Gila River are constructing "four-star" hotels with conference centers, restaurants, golf courses, and other attractions to complement their gaming operations. Three Affiliated Tribes is coordinating tourism-related activities with its gaming operations, including a new cultural interpretation center — a $12 million investment.
Not all tribal tourism activities are associated with gaming. Navajo Nation draws tourists to national monuments and other scenic attractions on the reservation; Cheyenne River Sioux, Colville, and Three Affiliated Tribes operate campgrounds and marinas on their reservations. Citizen Potawatomi operates a golf course and bowling facility, but unlike Choctaw and Gila River, the Potawatomi golf course is not closely tied to its more modest gaming operation. Doyon Tourism, Inc., owned by the Doyon Corporation, operates a roadhouse, Denali River Cabins, and Kantishna Wilderness Trails.
Information Technology. One of the Alaska Native corporations and three of the tribes in the study have established high levels of development in the information technology sector. In each case, development was stimulated by advances in other sectors. For example, at Gila River, the need for telephone service, the growth and development of three casinos, and construction of hotels created the need for sophisticated telecommunication and computing resources. Leveraging these needs, the tribe developed Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. (GRTI), which has installed fiber optic cable to support high-speed, high-bandwidth Internet access and other services to businesses and residences on the reservation. In addition, GRTI is a minority owner in Gila River Cellular General Partnership, which provides cellular access to rural areas in Arizona.
Both the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and the Mississippi Choctaw tribe acquired information technology companies as part of their economic expansion and diversification activities. Bristol Bay created Vista International in 1998 and acquired SpecPro, Inc. in 2001. Vista International was started to provide IT support for the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Services, and its clients include the Department of Defense and each military service. SpecPro provides system engineering and other services to federal agencies and private-sector clients in 13 states and participates in the SBA 8(a) program. Mississippi Choctaw recently acquired Applied Geo Technologies, Inc., which provides digital mapping, aerial and satellite imagery production services.
Construction. Both Alaska Native regional corporations and two of the tribes in the study have developed a strong presence in the construction sector. The Colville tribe has several companies engaged in construction projects that include building of roads and highways; building of septic systems; and shoreline stabilization, conducted for federal agencies by a company that participates in the SBA 8(a) program. Much of Three Affiliated Tribes' current BD/ED centers on construction, including a gravel processing plant, road construction and improvement, an oil refinery, expansion of tribal housing, enhancement of the Fort Berthold rural water system, and expansion related to Four Bears Casino (including apartments, a lagoon bed with a boat ramp, an amphitheater, and expanded RV parking) and a community center (including a gymnasium).
Environmental engineering and construction has been one of the most profitable investments made by Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) through its wholly owned subsidiary Bristol Environmental & Engineering Services Corporation (BEESC). The major resources of the BBNC region include commercial fishing (the Bristol Bay area has one of the world's greatest salmon and herring fisheries) and hunting. However, BBNC derives the bulk of its revenues from asset management (the corporation is an investor in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds), and earnings of wholly owned environmental engineering and information technology firms. Nevertheless, the status of the natural resources of its region does affect BBNC. When the Bristol Bay fisheries were prosperous, many BBNC shareholders opposed oil and gas exploration, fearing damage to the fisheries, and the corporation eschewed investment in it. However, in recent years, a dramatic decline in the fisheries has occurred. Since the decline in Bristol Bay fisheries, BBNC shareholders have expressed support for oil and gas exploration, and the corporation is working with the State of Alaska to sell leases to extract the subsurface oil and gas.
Manufacturing and Industrial Parks. One of the Alaska Native corporations (Bristol Bay) and four of the tribes in the study have established high levels of development in the manufacturing sector. Located in east-central Mississippi, the Choctaw tribe began its modern BD/ED initiatives in 1969 using federal funds and a local bond issue to develop an industrial park. The tribe was able to induce two private-sector firms (General Motors and American Greeting Cards) to build manufacturing facilities in its park. Other study tribes (Gila River and Cheyenne River Sioux), aware of the success of the Choctaw, have built industrial parks. Three Affiliated Tribes, working with Northrop Grumman, Inc., has a plant that manufactures aircraft parts on the Ft. Berthold Reservation. The tribes also operate two building construction companies (Ft. Berthold Development Corporation and Twin Buttes Custom Homes, Inc.).
Mississippi Choctaw has one of the most successful tribal BD/ED programs, and the tribe's initial modern BD/ED efforts focused on manufacturing. Tribal officials attribute much of their success to their manufacturing operations, which include separate companies making automobile loudspeakers and wiring harnesses and a custom plastic molding manufacturer (Table 3.1).
| Company | Annual Sales | Workforce | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choctaw Electronics Enterprise | $40 million | 225 | Automobile loudspeaker manufacturing, joint venture with Harmon Becker International; plants in the USA and Mexico |
| Choctaw Manufacturing Enterprise | $20 million | 370 | Automotive wiring harness assembly |
| First American Plastic Molding Enterprise | $10 million | 220 | Joint venture with Quad, Inc., with plants in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas |
Resource Utilization and Management. Each of the study tribes and Native corporations extracts or harvests and sells minerals, crude oil, or forest/agricultural products. Four of the tribes/Native corporations have businesses that sell timber and forest products and/or operate sawmills. For example, Colville, with 700,000 acres of forests, initially sold raw lumber, subsequently acquired a sawmill, and now manufactures a variety of forest products. Mississippi Choctaw, Navajo Nation, and Doyon, Ltd. harvest timber and sell forest products.
One tribe and one Alaska Native corporation have major mineral extraction activities. Navajo Nation mines coal and uranium, often through leases to private-sector companies. Navajo Nation is a major supplier to coal-fired electricity generators in the Southwest. Doyon, Ltd. owns Doyon Drilling, Inc. (DDI), which provides services to oil and gas extraction companies and operates five rigs on the North Slope of Alaska. Its equipment includes some of the most technologically advanced land drilling rigs in the world. Three Affiliated Tribes is building an oil refinery on its lands. In recent years, the Colville tribe, with funding and technical assistance from the Energy Department Green Tag Program for renewable energy production and from the USDA, implemented an innovative co-generation plant that burns sawdust, a byproduct from nearby sawmills, to generate steam. The Colville plant uses steam-driven turbines to generate electrical power.
Farming and ranching are important businesses for each of the tribes in the study. In most cases, these are done by individual tribal members on allotted lands or using permits issued by the tribe. However, in some cases, the tribe owns the businesses. For example, Citizen Potawatomi recently purchased a farm to grow vegetables, which the tribe sells in its supermarket.
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Every tribe/Native corporation in the study benefited from one or more federal programs promoting BD/ED; however, no single program/initiative was especially beneficial to all tribes in the study. Which program was the most valuable depended on the unique needs, circumstances, and characteristics of the tribe/Native corporation. The programs/initiatives that were most helpful to the tribes in the study are gaming, USDA rural development in combination with the EZ/EC program, and the SBA 8(a) and HUBZone programs.
Gaming. Unlike other federal initiatives, the federal government has not provided financial support for Indian gaming. Rather, federal legislation provided the legal foundation for the growth of this industry. While gaming is generally regulated by states, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (PL 100-497) authorizes and regulates gaming in Indian country.
Gaming has transformed some tribal economies and has provided a stimulus to others. Despite some significant successes, most tribes do not participate in gaming operations, and, despite significant investments, some tribal gaming operations have been unsuccessful and have closed. Others have produced only modest profits. Still, as of 2001, 201 of 561 then federally recognized tribes operated Class II or Class III gaming.(4) Total revenues for these operations were $12.7 billion (National Indian Gaming Association 2003).
The following descriptions show how gaming has transformed the economy of one of the tribes in the study (Gila River) and further stimulated the already strong economy of Mississippi Choctaw. The Gila River reservation, which covers nearly 600 square miles, is close to Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa, Arizona. Before 1993, when the tribe negotiated a gaming compact with the State of Arizona, the tribe's primary economic activities were associated with farming. The unemployment rate of tribal members was greater than 50 percent, and informants said that many families lived in poverty. In 1993, the tribe constructed its first gaming facility with the aid of loans from local banks. The operation was a success, often drawing more customers than could be accommodated, and generating substantial profits. The tribe quickly paid off the original loans, expanded and improved the facility, and opened two more. The operation of these three facilities dramatically improved the tribal economy, providing nearly 2,000 jobs, 60 percent of which are filled by tribal members. Using the profits generated by its gaming operations, the tribe has diversified its investments by building a championship golf course (and contracting with an experienced manager to operate it); a 500-room resort and spa (managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.); an equestrian facility; and two industrial parks.
The Mississippi Choctaw Tribe also operates successful gaming facilities and, like Gila River, is using the profits generated to expand its economy. However, unlike Gila River (and most other tribes), prior to implementing major gaming operations, the Choctaw had already developed a strong and diversified economy that includes manufacturing facilities (Chata Enterprise, Chata Electronics Enterprise) and operation of an industrial park. Before it implemented gaming, the tribe had become one of the largest employers in the region. The Choctaw have used the profits of their gaming operations to finance the development of:
The tribe is investing in the development of new ventures on the reservation, in other locations in Mississippi, and abroad, as well as acquiring existing businesses. Responding to competitive pressures, in 1998, a key client of Chata Enterprise (the Ford Motor Company), planned to switch to a manufacturer of automotive wiring harnesses located in Mexico. Rather than abandoning this business activity, Chata opened an automotive wiring harness facility in Guyamas, Mexico. Subsequently, two other tribal companies (Choctaw Electronics and First American Plastics) also opened facilities in Mexico. The tribe's decision to expand into Mexico has paved the way for the tribe's emergence as a competitor in international manufacturing markets. In its reservation, the tribe is working to replace low-skill, low-paying manufacturing jobs that moved to Mexico with higher-skill, higher-wage work in the technology sector.
USDA Rural Development Programs and EZ/EC. Informants at four of the tribes in the study (Colville, Citizen Potawatomi, Gila River, and Navajo) said the USDA rural development programs have been among the most beneficial of all federal programs to their BD/ED initiatives. USDA designated both Colville and Navajo as ECs.
The Navajo Nation and Colville Tribe offer examples of how rural economic development programs and EZ/EC designation can leverage resources for BD/ED. Along with their EC partners, these tribes were able to leverage funds from a broad range of federal, state, local, and tribal government sources as well as some private sector funding (Table 3.2).
The Four Corners Enterprise Community is located in parts of three states: northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. This area, which includes the northern portion of Navajo Nation, involves 22 Navajo Nation Chapter Houses (communities) and the Hopi and Ute tribes.
As of May 2003, Four Corners received more than $29 million in federal, state, local government, tribal government, and private funding for a broad range of development initiatives:
| Amount ($) | ||
| Funding Source | Four Corners | Five Star |
|---|---|---|
| USDA EZ/EC | 1,321,100 | 423,501 |
| Other USDA | 3,190,116 | 11,257,405 |
| DHHS | 110,000 | 2,472,572 |
| HUD | 975,000 | 1,792,000 |
| Interior | 7,118,200 | 405,000 |
| DOT | 183,333 | 0 |
| EDA | 0 | 137,676 |
| EPA | 1,227,477 | 350,000 |
| FEMA | 77,504 | |
| Education | 2,500 | |
| State | 7,681,950 | 3,008,586 |
| Local/Regional | 592,500 | 560,156 |
| Private Sector | 460,100 | 701,487 |
| Non-profit | 123,500 | 596,007 |
| Tribal | 6,063,036 | 5,685,834 |
| Other | 0 | 210,404 |
| TOTAL | 29,046,312 | 27,680,632 |
| Sources: USDA-OCD Benchmark Management System. | ||
The Colville Tribe joined with the Spokane Tribe and four counties in the state of Washington (Pend Oreille, Stevens, Okanogan, and Ferry) to form the Five Star Enterprise Community (Five Star). The Tri-county area includes the Spokane Reservation, located in Stevens County, and the Colville Indian Reservation, one of the largest reservations in the state. Okanogan and Ferry counties bisect the reservation near its center. Historically, this region has been a resource-based economy (logging, wood products, and agricultural fields). Jobs and revenues from these long-time economic pillars have diminished without being replaced by other industries. Diversification of the economy to move out of the "boom-bust" cycles of resource-based industries is a key component of the strategic plan. Today, these communities have gone beyond their boundaries to engage in economic partnerships that will invigorate the Tri-county region.
The Five Star Enterprise Community has received over $27 million in federal and state funding to achieve a broad range of development activities:
SBA 8(a) and HUBZone Programs. The SBA 8(a) and HUBZone programs have been important to some, but not all, tribes and Alaska Native corporations. The programs have provided important BD/ED stimulus for four of the tribes (Cheyenne River Sioux, Colville, Mississippi Choctaw, Three Affiliated) and one of the Alaska Native corporations (BBNC) in the study. The 8(a) and HUBZone programs permit and encourage all federal agencies to set aside procurements of goods and services for small businesses that participate in the programs. Generally, procurements with a value of $1 million or more are competed among three or more 8(a) firms; however, this requirement is waived, by statute, for firms owned and operated by tribes or Alaska Native corporations. By statute, every Indian reservation is located in a HUBZone, and almost every tribally owned company that participates in the 8(a) program also participates in the HUBZone program. The following are examples of tribal businesses that have used these programs to secure federal contracts, partner with larger companies, create jobs for tribal members, and generate revenues for business expansion and infrastructure improvements.
BBNC operates BEESC, an Alaska-based company that provides environmental, civil engineering, and construction services (average annual sales, $17 million); and CCI, Inc., an Alaska-based company that provides construction and environmental services to government and oil field clients with 50 employees (annual sales, over $5 million). BEESC has facilities in Anchorage, Alaska; Marysville, Washington; and San Antonio, Texas. CCI has facilities in Anchorage and Prudhoe Bay and in Seattle, Washington. While these firms are profitable for BBNC, they do not provide employment opportunities for shareholders who wish to continue to live in their Native villages, remote from BEESC and CCI facilities.
Colville Confederated Tribes owns Colville Tribal Enterprise Corporation (CTEC), which has a wholly owned subsidiary that provides complete construction services, including design/build, commercial and industrial, roads improvement, heavy construction, water, sewer, pipeline, communications, and base housing maintenance. CTEC has a workforce of 90 employees and average annual sales of over $14 million.
Mississippi Choctaw owns Applied Geo Technologies, Inc. (AGT), a digital mapping service. AGT was formed with the express purpose of bringing high-technology opportunities to the tribe, and it is the only tribal business that is authorized to pursue federal contract work. AGT provides digital mapping, aerial and satellite imagery production, geodetic and photogram metric engineering, digitizing, and conversion services to federal, state, and local governments and commercial businesses.
Three Affiliated Tribes owns Mandaree Enterprise Corporation (MEC), a full-service information technology and electronic manufacturing corporation. MEC was founded in 1990 by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations of Three Affiliated Tribes, with the vision of providing the IT industry with product diversity and flexibility. MEC's annual sales exceed $4 million, and it employs about 200. Working with Northrop Grumman, MEC creates and repairs circuit boards for the U.S. Air Force, specifically in the F-14 Tomcat, B-2 Bomber, E-3 Sentry, OH-8D Warrior Helicopter, and BQM-74E Target programs.
The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe owns Lakota Technologies, Inc., which provides a broad range of IT services to federal agencies and other clients, including data processing and conversion, computer programming, computer facilities management, and call center/help desk and telephone services. The company has 70 employees and average annual sales in excess of $1 million.
Each of these tribal 8(a)/HUBZone companies employs tribal members, members of other tribes or Native villages, and non-Indians/non-Natives. The number and proportions of tribal members employed fluctuates over time and varies depending on factors such as the location of the business facilities (the greater the distance of the facilities from the reservation, the lower the proportion of tribal employees), and the nature of the work performed ("high tech" businesses tend to employ a lower proportion of tribal members than manufacturing or service sector firms primarily due to the relatively low levels of highly skilled and trained workers residing on reservations). The proportion of tribal members employed by these businesses at the time of the study ranged from highs at the reservation-based Lakota Technologies and MEC (about 60% of the workforce at each company were tribal members) to lows at facilities distant from the reservation — less than 5 percent of the employees at the BEESC facility in San Antonio Texas and the CCI facility in Seattle, Washington were members of Native villages in the Bristol Bay and Tanana Chiefs regions respectively.
Concern about the employment of large numbers or proportions of persons who are not tribal members by tribally-owned enterprises seemed to vary as a function of the levels of unemployment and poverty on the reservation, the nature of the work to be performed, the location of the business, and values related to work, profit, and the accumulation of wealth. Officials at the Mississippi Choctaw and Citizen Potawatomi tribes, which enjoy relatively low levels of unemployment, said that objection to the employment of non-tribal members is rare. The Choctaw take pride in being one of the largest employers in the state of Mississippi. On the other hand, officials at both the Alaska Native corporations, BBNC and Doyon, Ltd., said that their shareholders and Native village officials advocate the expansion of employment opportunities in the villages. At each study site, tribal officials said that work and productivity are central values. In some cases, work and productivity are valued in association with the ability to function independently, without the need to depend on welfare for survival. In other cases, work and productivity are valued in association with the ability to contribute to one's family, clan, and the tribe. Often, work and productivity were valued in both ways - in association with the ability to function independently and with the ability to contribute to family, clan, and tribe.
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Discussions with tribal officials and reviews of available reports of tribal enterprises indicate that few tribes have integrated formal monitoring and assessment with their planning and management of tribal BD/ED. Measuring the success of individual business efforts differs from assessing progress in achieving tribal BD/ED goals and objectives, but both types of analysis are needed for continuous improvement of tribal initiatives.
It is easier to assess the performance of a business than that of overall BD/ED planning and activities. As with most business, the performance of individual tribal businesses is measured in terms of return on investment, profitability, sales growth, and worker productivity. While this information may be available in annual reports or other documents, its use is generally limited to individual business owners/managers and investors. At the tribal level, each of the tribes/Native corporations produces annual financial statements prepared by independent certified public accountants. Such financial statements, which are required of all recipients of federal funds, provide detailed information on the investments of the tribe/Native corporation, and the expected and actual expenses, revenues, profits, and losses for each line of investment. However, none of the tribes used comprehensive measures of BD/ED success, such as the gross domestic product output generated through production by labor and property that is physically located within the confines of the reservation (or other political entity), the number of persons employed by tribal enterprises or tribally supported business, the wages paid by such businesses and enterprises, or the return on investments made by the tribe.
Process measures were more commonly used by tribes/Native corporations to monitor BD/ED planning activities. Tribes/Native corporations tracked adherence to schedules and percent completion of specified tasks such as conducting community meetings to describe plans and obtain feedback, conducting market surveys, developing staffing plans, and estimating start-up costs, facilities, materials, and equipment needed. For example, both Colville and Three Affiliated Tribes have implemented a five-year planning process, and planning efforts are evaluated with respect to adherence to schedules. In some cases (such as Mississippi Choctaw, Gila River) growth of the tribal economy has been so great and fast that there has been little time or perceived need to measure the quality of planning and implementation. Nevertheless, rapid growth without detailed planning can create problems and waste resources. One tribe addressed the housing shortage on the reservation by constructing over 100 residential homes per year — a threefold increase. However, because of a lapse in planning, some houses did not get utility hookups for several months.
Since the expansion of tribal BD/ED activity has occurred mostly in the past 10 years, it is not surprising that measurement and evaluation are not fully developed and used for planning purposes. Some tribes have developed formal planning processes, and others have identified the need for improved monitoring and planning based on experience to date.
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(1) Section 14(a)(1) of PL 102-477 requires that program funds "shall be administered in such a manner so as to allow for a determination that funds from specific programs … are spent on allowable activities authorized under such programs." However, the federal agency providing the funds has "the authority to waive any statutory requirement, regulation, or policy or procedure promulgated by that agency."
(2) The percentage of 477 funds that may be used for "the creation of employment opportunities" is the greater of (1) the unemployment rate in the tribe's service area (up to a maximum of 25%), or (2) 10%.
(3) Since the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 does not authorize Alaska regional Native corporations to operate gaming facilities, neither BBNC nor Doyon, Ltd. has gaming operations.
(4) As of March 1, 2004, there were 565 federally recognized tribes.
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