Author
Article Highlights
- Native nations use data to inform economic development and diversification
- Data help other economic actors invest in Native economies
- New data resources shed light on Native nations’ economic contributions
This article is the third in a series marking the Center for Indian Country Development’s tenth anniversary. See our first article for key insights from the Center’s first decade of economic research, and our second article for examples of economic data innovations taking place across Indian Country.
For an event focused on economics, the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD) 10th Anniversary and Data Summit frequently delved into history.
On October 8–9, leaders from across Indian Country and the Federal Reserve System gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis for a two-day event commemorating CICD’s first decade of economic research in Indian Country. The event also featured the fifth annual convening of the CICD Data Summit, a forum for tribal leaders, economists, policymakers, and economic development practitioners to come together around research and data. More than 250 people registered to attend in person and more than 1,500 tuned in online.
Anniversary milestones invite big-picture reflections, and the 2025 event theme took a broad view: “Braiding the past and future of Native economies.” As participating leaders looked back to the past and ahead to the future, their comments frequently—and perhaps not surprisingly—raised a concept that’s foundational to Indian Country’s ability to self-determine its economic future: the sovereignty of Native nations. Tribal sovereignty refers to tribes’ inherent authority to self-govern as distinct political entities that predate the founding of the United States.
Across sessions focused on everything from tribal public finance to the investment landscape in Indian Country, speakers reinforced the idea that in the modern era, economic data help tribes exercise inherent sovereignty to govern their nations.
While the perspectives shared belong to speakers, they offer insights into Native economies and their relationship to the overall economy. CICD hosts conversations about research and data as part of the Federal Reserve System’s community development function, which provides research and convening power to advance understanding of local economic needs.
Understanding Native nations’ relationship to the federal government
As a starting point, speakers observed that economic data can affect the broader public’s understanding of tribal sovereignty by either masking or reflecting Native nations’ political relationship with the federal government.
“Many datasets treat Native people as just a race,” said Brookings Metro Fellow Robert Maxim (Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe). “But unique among groups in the United States, Native Americans have both a racial identity and a political relationship with the United States as citizens of sovereign nations.”
Referring to the federal government’s trust responsibility to tribes—consisting of long-standing legal obligations established in treaties, laws, and executive orders—Maxim said, “The funding tribes receive is based on that government-to-government relationship.”
Surveys that categorize Native Americans solely in terms of race are incomplete in important ways. For example, enrolled tribal members who identify as members of multiple races might be categorized as “multiracial” rather than American Indian. According to Maxim, asking questions about Native Americans’ tribal affiliations would allow for better population estimates and enhance understanding of Native Americans’ relationship to the federal government.
Recognizing tribal governments’ contributions to the broader economy
Other speakers also addressed the importance of using data to increase understanding of Native nations, including tribes’ economic contributions in local and regional economies and the national economy.
“To be Native is to be an educator,” said Dawson Her Many Horses (Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota), a managing director at Wells Fargo and member of CICD’s Leadership Council. As a Native, educating is important, according to Her Many Horses, and includes raising awareness of tribes’ economic contributions and dispelling myths about the creditworthiness of Native borrowers. “Tribes are playing a huge role in our economy.”
Tralynna Sherrill Scott (Cherokee Nation), chief economist with Cherokee Nation Businesses and a member of CICD’s Leadership Council, provided an example: “Cherokee Nation alone has a $3.14 billion impact in Oklahoma, and we’re one of the largest employers in the state, with about 14,000 employees,” she said. “Decision-makers don’t always realize that.”
In addition to raising awareness of tribes’ overarching economic contributions, data can increase understanding of the distinctiveness of tribal governments.
“Tribes are political entities, and they’re not all the same,” said Melanie Benjamin (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe), who is the former chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the vice president of government relations and engagement for Blue Stone Strategy Partners, and a member of CICD’s Leadership Council. “We’re all subject to federal Indian law, but we have different governmental structures, ethos, and priorities.”
Speakers observed that data can help leaders pinpoint economic solutions that are specific to their context. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari described the economic variation he’s observed in his visits with tribal nations across the Ninth Federal Reserve District—variation that data can help illuminate: “[Tribal economies] are so varied. They just couldn’t be more different in terms of their focus, the resources they have available, even things like what percentage of their members live on the reservation vs. live in urban centers. There’s a richness which creates opportunities, and they can learn from each other. It also creates challenges because there’s no one-size-fits-all solution that’s going to work in every tribe.”
Tribal governments leveraging data as a tool of sovereignty
As sovereign nations with rights to self-govern as affirmed in the U.S. Constitution, treaties, and federal law, Native nations make a wide range of economic decisions for their communities. A few examples shared during the anniversary and data event include shaping economic development priorities, identifying enterprise opportunities, and mapping supply to demand in their communities. Speakers provided examples of tribal leaders using economic data to bolster decision-making in these areas.
“Data is one of our sharpest and best tools to protect modern tribal sovereignty—starting with the sovereign nations themselves,” said Maranda Compton (Delaware Tribe of Indians), founder and president of Lepwe Inc. and a past CICD policy/legal fellow. “You want to put up a new hotel tower at your casino? You need data. You want to develop better housing? You need data.”
Scott described how the Cherokee Nation uses data to diversify its economy. “We’re always looking to get into more and other businesses and industries,” she said. “When we start that process, we’re looking at both qualitative and quantitative data.”
According to Scott, that includes working with publicly available data to identify market needs and with tribal data to understand how an opportunity maps to the tribe’s labor force, capital, resources, cultural values, and strategic advantages. “It’s a huge set of data to consider when you’re looking to diversify,” she said. “You start broad and funnel it down.”
Cory Blankenship (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), executive director of NAFOA and a member of CICD’s Leadership Council, has also seen how data can help tribes use public finance tools to advance infrastructure projects in their communities. Examples include tribes using data to strengthen their applications for New Markets Tax Credits and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and to evaluate the success and impact of those endeavors.
“These credits are an opportunity for tribal nations to leverage outside investment in their communities by offering a tax credit to those investors. But accessing these tools requires data to understand market conditions, demonstrate community need, and prove financial viability,” Blankenship said. “Tribes have an entrepreneurial spirit where they’re able to piece these various funding mechanisms together in order to fund a larger, more robust project. Data gives us the credibility and precision we need to compete for these resources and deliver transformative infrastructure for our communities.”
In many ways, tribes are leveraging economic data to advance their highest priorities. As an example, Amber Schulz-Oliver (Yakama/Wasco), executive director of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) and a member of CICD’s Leadership Council, described tribes working with data to make strategic decisions about their natural resources—decisions that can enhance tribes’ self-sufficiency. “Tribal enterprises that are buying dams or developing power grids and other utilities are using economic data to exercise sovereignty in the ways that are most important to our communities,” she said.
Empowering external investment in tribal economies
Speakers also discussed ways data can drive external investment in tribal communities—investment that can, in turn, enhance the resources available to tribal governments to serve their people.
“Corporations and investors use data to make decisions about how to allocate resources,” Her Many Horses said. “They ask questions like, ‘Where do we want to put people? Where do we want to open up a branch?’”
He cited the example of investors working with annual gross revenue data published by the National Indian Gaming Commission to make decisions about financing tribal casino projects. “As a former gaming banker, I can tell you that our team used that data as part of our business plan,” he said.
As another example, Casey Pearlman (Inupiaq), executive director of the ATNI Economic Development Corporation (EDC), described how her organization works with data to support tribes’ participation in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a program designed to support small businesses and entrepreneurs through capital and technical assistance. “ATNI EDC is managing a consortium of 36 tribal nations that are working with us to administer their SSBCI allocations on their behalf,” she said. “In a lot of ways, the program was written as an incentive for lenders to participate in Indian Country on deals they otherwise might not have—and with tribes that have limited financial relationships and services.”
ATNI EDC uses data to have conversations with participating tribes about their capital needs and strategic goals. “Using data as a tool to drive self-determination of the participating tribes has been a big goal of ours,” Pearlman said. “Data itself becomes a tool of conversation, of trust-building, of visioning.”
By increasing understanding of the economic strengths and opportunities in tribal communities, data may also generate excitement about the potential to partner with Indian Country. “Native nations are not antiquated. We’re not a relic of the past. We’re modern,” Compton said. “Indian Country is an opportunity to work with a sovereign government to develop an economic partnership. And how do you approach an opportunity? It’s not with hesitation. It’s with excitement. It’s with curiosity.”
Developing new data resources that inform governance
Speakers shared new data resources available to tribes in their economic decision-making. Examples include an updated data book from Harvard University’s Project on Indigenous Governance and Development and Native Economic Trends, an interactive data tool from CICD that enables users to explore change over time for selected Native geographies and a multitude of socioeconomic indicators.
“Resources like these make it increasingly possible to visualize economic trends not just for Indian Country as a whole, but for individual Native geographies—and to really assess how those conditions are changing over time,” said Minneapolis Fed Senior Vice President Alene Tchourumoff.
The event also marked the national launch of the Survey of Native Nations, which is a collaboration between CICD and tribal governments to improve the public finance data available for Indian Country. The initiative provides tribal governments with benchmark revenue and expenditure data similar to those that have long been available to state and local governments through U.S. Census Bureau tools. Participating tribes designate a survey respondent and choose which revenue and expenditure data they want to report in the secure survey portal. CICD then provides the tribe with a confidential report showing their data in comparison to aggregate, anonymized data for all participating tribes across the country as well as benchmark data for selected local and state governments in their region. CICD also works with the survey responses to provide research insights on tribal treasuries—research insights based on tribal data.
“The best data on Indian Country is from Indian Country,” said CICD Director Casey Lozar (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes).
Gerald Gray (Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians), chairman of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, spoke about his tribe’s experience participating in the Survey of Native Nations pilots. “When you’re talking about local economies, state economies, the federal economy, everything we do is reliant on data,” he said. “A favorite question from legislators is, ‘Where’s the data?’ And it really helps to show, for example, how much money is flowing off of the reservation.”
One way the Little Shell Tribe plans to use its Survey of Native Nations data is to explore the impact of federal recognition on the tribe’s access to external funding. The first phase of the survey pilot collected data from fiscal year 2019, when Little Shell was a state-recognized tribe. The second phase gathered data from fiscal year 2022, after the tribe had received federal recognition.
“We’re the newest federally recognized tribe—number 574,” Gray said. “When we were a state-recognized tribe, we were getting small state grants to help out. But then we became restored to federal recognition and received CARES Act money and American Rescue Plan Act money. When we received our latest Survey of Native Nations report, we could really see the change from where we were at before recognition, which was really exciting.”
Two regional Native organizations—ATNI and the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET)—have worked with CICD to offer the survey to their members. USET Executive Director Kitcki Carroll (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma) described two distinct ways tribal governments use public finance data: “There’s data used from the context of justifying the federal government’s fulfillment of promises and obligations. For example, if you want more money for roads, then you have to show what your need is,” he said. “And then there’s the other part of data use, which is about our governing officials. I want to stress that this is a survey of nations, of government structures—not clubs. When we talk about data, what we should be talking about … is our tribal decision-makers, our elected officials, our governance structures … having the data to make decisions that are about their communities, their nations. And that’s what sovereignty is about.”
Schulz-Oliver of ATNI reinforced the importance of data in informing both tribal decision-making and the distribution of resources to tribes—and cautioned that one doesn’t negate the other. “Tribes increasing their self-sufficiency … does not mean that the U.S. government gets out of its trust responsibility,” she said. “That’s a concern I see—making sure that tribes are empowered to be self-sufficient while still holding the U.S. government accountable.”
Braiding the past, the future, and the “richness of now”
Across the two-day event, the conversation never strayed far from history. Even in sharing modern-day examples of economic data use, speakers observed that data’s relevance to tribal governance is as foundational as treaties between tribes and the U.S. government.
“When we look at the whole concept of data, one of our strongest and first types of documents is our treaties,” Benjamin said. “For the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, during my tenure we always reminded people that we were a treaty tribe—that we had those responsibilities to our people.”
As Compton put it, “Non-Native entities gather information about how many Native American people there are. Tribes, when they gather that information, say, ‘How many citizens of this particular tribe do we have? How many people within our tribe use our treaty rights? How many citizens do we have that live within or outside of the reservation boundaries?’”
In Maxim’s words, “In both the short and long run, good data is critical to tribal sovereignty.”
As they looked to the past and future, speakers also discussed the importance of data in the present. In a fireside chat with Kashkari, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (MN) observed that by modernizing views of tribal economies, data support “understanding the richness of now.”
Quotes have been edited with speakers’ permission.
