Obama Administration Investment Promotes Job Growth and Mitigates Environmental Risk in Tribal Communities

This year, President Obama hosted the third White House Tribal Nations Conference to hear directly from tribal leaders about their priorities. I had the opportunity to address some of the representatives of federally recognized tribes during a series of briefings and listening sessions hosted by the White House.

The President is committed to strengthening the government-to-government relationship with Indian Country and partnering and investing to find solutions to complex issues and to win the future for Indian Country.

Environmental challenges are affecting tribal economies. The Obama Administration has taken significant steps to mitigate environmental risks and strengthen the capacity of reservations to meet the training and economic needs of their communities.

Native Americans living on reservations experience higher incidences of environmentally-related health issues than other groups, including in the upper Missouri River basin. This includes 19 reservations in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, along the Missouri River system and its tributaries where minerals and wildlife are abundant both in water and on land. Unfortunately, as concerns about the environment have plagued these communities, the response has not been timely or meaningful. These are areas of the country where the norm is economic depression and generational unemployment. In some cases unemployment rates approach 90 percent. The impacts of environmental degradation have contributed to stagnant business growth in these rural communities and severely limited opportunities for workers.

One major problem is the lack of qualified technicians to tackle these environmental issues. According to data from the 2005 Bureau of Indian Affairs Labor Report, approximately 240,000 residents inhabit these tribal areas but only about 140,000 of them are available for the workforce.

Recently, a $1.6 million Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge award was presented to United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, North Dakota, for the Upper Missouri Tribal Environmental Risk Mitigation (UM‐TERM) cluster to help accelerate jobs and business development in natural resources and reduce unemployment in economically distressed tribal areas. The cluster leverages existing resources of Tribal Colleges, the Native American Business Enterprise Center funded by Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), and tribal Planners. The project is expected to provide training and education for 1,045 participants, creating a sustainable network of approximately 120 regional environmental technicians, and 15 new minority‐owned businesses.

Over 200 Leaders Attend White House Hispanic Community Action Summit in Albuquerque

Ed. Note: Cross-posted from the Department of Education.

The wellbeing of Hispanics in America is inextricably tied to the nation’s overall success.

This message was heard loud and clear throughout the day on Saturday, November 12th at the White House Hispanic Community Action Summit held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Over 200 community grassroots and institutional leaders gathered to voice their hopes around addressing the most pressing issues affecting New Mexicans, which included educational improvement, quality health care access, job growth and economic development, and comprehensive immigration reform.

This was not your average federal government meeting. Over a dozen White House Administration officials made themselves available to engage and listen to participants in dynamic community-led open space discussions.  After a morning briefing by the federal officials, the microphone was handed over to participants as they proposed over 20 sessions on the topics most important to the people of New Mexico.  From early childhood education to land grants-to the federal workforce, all topics were on the table as White House officials listened and offered resources around the issues.

Regional Planning – Key to Rural Economic Strength

Ed. note: This blog is cross-posted from USDA.gov.

Both of us grew up in small towns, Kathleen in Greenfield, MA and Bob in Ancram, NY.  From our own experiences, we understand the challenges and the importance of a strong rural economy.

We recently visited Brevard, a town of about 6,000 people in North Carolina’s Transylvania County. While there we held a White House Rural Council meeting at the Transylvania County Library with leadership from the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, the regional economic development commission AdvantageWest, business leaders from Asheville and Brevard, and several local elected officials. We released a report from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, Supporting Sustainable Rural Communities, at Brevard College, which focuses on how the federal government can help rural areas to be economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable.

One theme that was discussed at the Rural Council roundtable was the need for communities to be solution oriented by setting priorities and realistic goals for the direction they want their region to head. In Transylvania County, about 1/6th of the residents used to work in the paper mill business, an industry that is no longer there. So the county is working within the region to figure out how they can build a sustainable community for the future, one that recognizes the great economic value of the water, farmland and forests in Western North Carolina.

Participants asked about how communities can continue economic growth with declining Federal, state and local resources.  We spoke about the need for regional planners to get the right people around the table in order to create a clear vision in the community so that they can make the best use of Federal funding to form partnerships and leverage private sector development. Because ultimately, the economy in Brevard, like the small towns we grew up in, is linked to the rest of the region.