Native American Tribes, entrepreneurs, businesses, lending companies, and government departments come together each spring in Las Vegas, Nev. to attend the Reservation Economic Summit. This is an opportunity to talk about best practices and celebrate wins across Indian Country. The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED) hosted this year’s 2025 Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2025) with the motto Beyond Boundaries, March 10-13. I wanted to briefly talk about some sessions, people, and programs that made an impression on me at this year’s conference.
Art & tourism as catalysts for Indigenous economic resilience & growth
This panel discussion focused on the idea that sometimes some Tribes start with only an ability to make money through tourism and arts & crafts. Sometimes that’s all a Tribal nation has. This grassroots idea acknowledges the entrepreneurs who hand craft items to sell piece-by-piece. I know of at least one young entrepreneur descendant that we have here at the Southern Ute Tribe who sets up her table at Hozhoni Days, at the high school, and for Tribal events. Revenue isn’t promised; some days are good for sales, and some are not.
The RES 2025 panel acknowledged the pressure of people who travel to areas, set up their booths or tables, and spend the weekend or the duration of the event chasing a vendor fee. Sales are hard enough to make, but having excessively high fees can be the difference between someone choosing to set up and those who don’t. My suggestion is that we need to amplify the idea of the Santa Fe Indian Market all over the country. There should be a predictable selling circuit that a vendor can travel week after week, similar to the powwow circuit. The focus of the vendor circuit should be to have minimal fees to encourage vendors to show up and to make as much money as possible. The hope is that this focus will increase higher attendance and vendors wanting to return year after year. Pricing needs to be reasonable but also needs to be stern. We, as Native people, should not be willing to wholesale our items and then find out later that someone else sold it for a higher price.
Native youth leading with vision
United National Indian Tribal Youth is a national council comprised of Native American youth councils and/or individual Tribal members who are interested in, or currently participating in, leadership roles. The panel selected to speak was made up of representatives from various Tribes and each spoke very confidently and with enthusiasm for projects that they have championed on their own reservations.
One project that stuck with me was where a young high school lady had conflict within her own community about not being “Indian enough.” She saw ridicule from the non-native people toward Indians, but she also saw negative comments and perception coming from within the Tribe toward the “mixed blood” citizens. She put together a workshop to address the concern and was surprised when the result was a room full of people who shared the sentiment. A second workshop was added and then a third. This confirmed the suspicion that this problem is big and within the discussion of the room, we find that it echoes across many Tribes.
Here, on the Southern Ute Reservation, we have the Sunshine Cloud Smith Youth Advisory Council (SCSYAC) which has just recently found a new breath with new members and is up and running. I have passed along information about UNITY: United National Indian Tribal Youth and other materials from RES 2025 to the youth council in their regular meeting held, Wednesday, March 19. These materials provide an opportunity for participation for our young membership who serve on the SCSYAC and even for those who do not.
First Nations Experience
FNX is a 24/7 television network that provides Native American content through the internet. To access, simply type in FNX.org into your browser and click on “live stream”. The official launch of the smartphone app will be on May 1, at the Agua Caliente Resort, Rancho Mirage, Calif.
During RES 2025, it was encouraged to have participation from all Tribal nations. This can be in the form of content creation, media submission, production and job creation, and interest in the field. This session was high energy, and the future looks promising to promote Native American issues, events, programming, and awareness. This material was also given to our SCSYAC in hopes that they might be the ones to help drive this channel to our youth. I highly encourage anyone to take a look at this website. It highlights the Native culture and is a positive outlet for all ages.
Utilizing technology to combat security concerns, human trafficking, and MMIR
Native American communities are seeing increasing concern and instances of missing people, runaways, and human trafficking. Two companies that were highlighted in the conference are taking a stand with Tribes in terms of software, digital solutions, and interagency cooperation. These companies are Swift Creek and Proximus. Muskogee Creek has partnered with Clear Creek in various ways that has led to efficient recovery and trafficking awareness. Native casinos can serve as pick up and exchange areas for criminal activity. This session highlighted deficiencies that may currently exist on reservations and reservation casinos. In many instances there is an absence of awareness that crime may even be taking place. Tribes focus on their membership and citizens and may not know that outside individuals, narcotics, and such are being exchanged roadside, in parking lots, and in hotel rooms. Both companies are reaching out to Native Tribes to showcase their results and offer solutions.
These four breakout sessions are a small sample of some of the great things being done in Indian Country. It is always beneficial to communicate with our membership some of the ideas and inspirations that exist. Just recently, Tribal Council formalized the creation of Economic Development as a department of the Permanent Fund. The goal is to bring on-reservation wins and opportunities.