Tribes aim to spread wealth among all, but that can be a challenge

Jana Hollingsworth Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, May 25, 2008

Though poverty is still an issue on American Indian reservations, tribes today are in a better position to address the problem than ever before.

Casino revenue, though not as plentiful as many believe, has given tribes the ability to pour resources into communities, said Duane Champagne, a sociology and American Indian studies professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Gaming communities have gyms, health benefits and access to education,” he said. “Those are things people have been deprived of for a long time.”

Champagne, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota, researches and writes about social and cultural change in both historical and contemporary American Indian communities. He said the main goal of most tribal councils, the governing bodies of reservations, is to distribute wealth among all members.

“At least in principle … they want all boats to rise together, in a sense, rather than having some do quite well while many others do quite poorly,” he said.

That’s the point of a per-capita distribution, a monthly or yearly payment from business revenue to each member of a tribe or band. For Fond du Lac, the per-capita is $400 a month. While that amount is seen as a supplement to some, many members live on it. That especially happens among extended families that double and triple up in homes and get by with their combined payments, Champagne said.

The amount isn’t much to live on and doesn’t allow for financial independence, especially when compared to rare situations like the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community, which distributes more than$1 million annually in casino and other business revenue to adult members.

There is a danger of members becoming dependent on their tribal councils, Champagne said, and that’s why reservations need to develop an economic base. Fond du Lac is in the midst of that, not only with its casinos but also with businesses including a gas station and burgeoning logging operation.

But people need to fill those jobs. When the chance to work at casinos or other reservation business ventures is turned down, Champagne said, it might be because the jobs are low-paying or the needed education isn’t there.

Low high school graduation rates are prevalent near Indian reservations, Champagne said. “And you can’t run a casino or manage money with an eighth-grade education,” he said.

On Fond du Lac, some elders worry that 18-year-olds aren’t responsible enough to deal with the large sum of money they receive from the Band. Per-capita payments for minors are put into an account, earning interest, and when they turn 18 they can receive as much as $40,000 to $50,000. They often spend it quickly or irresponsibly — a problem that could be addressed by changing how the lump-sum payments are made, Champagne said.

As for members’ reliance on monthly per-capita payments, some tribes have created incentives to lower the unemployment rate and raise the graduation rate. To receive a payment, members are required to have a job, be in pursuit of a degree or have a high school diploma, Champagne said.

“They require people to be actively improving themselves,” he said. At the same time, tribes don’t want to cut off all means of support, “so the community needs to be behind it.”

“In general, I think people want to work,” he said. “Most people don’t want to be in a dependent situation and, frankly, it doesn’t give you much of a life.”

Instilling a work ethic and the importance of education into younger generations is one way to begin fixing the problem of poverty.

“The health of the community and continuity of tribal sovereignty,” Champagne said, “ultimately depends on having leadership and ability among young people.”

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