The Wisconsin Indigenous Economic Development Corporation announced it will conduct an economic impact study of non-gaming tribal entities and Indigenous small businesses in Wisconsin.
The goal is to assess and showcase the contributions of those businesses and use the data to foster economic development policies that support tribal communities.
According to a release, “We know the knowledge, talent, and skills of indigenous populations are broad and deep, and businesses are one way these attributes are expressed in the community. Anecdotally, we also know there are native-owned enterprises that are not registered with their tribe or the state, not marketing themselves, not securing financing to grow, and are not receiving technical assistance. This means they are effectively below the radar of statistical reporting and therefore invisible to policymakers.”
In the course of the project, WIEDC will create a database of non-gaming tribal enterprises and indigenous-owned small businesses. Tribes will be able to use this database for their own internal purposes, to target programs and resources for Indigenous-owned businesses, as well as for tribal external marketing, development, funding, and policy initiatives.
Dennis Zack of Tribal Sun Soap said he would like to see tribes consider indigenous vendor preference policies that would help small businesses such as his gain access to markets. He sells many of his products through tribal-owned enterprises including Northstar Mohican Casino Resort.
“It would create a lot of opportunities.” Zack said.
WIEDC has engaged Becker Professional Services to undertake this study. In addition to the survey, which will initially be shared electronically, BPS will conduct in-person visits at each reservation in the months of April and May. WIEDC and BPS will connect with leaders from each community to schedule this site visit and discuss ideas to engage the community. The nal report and database created through this data collection process will be delivered by July 31.
WIEDC is engaging strategic partners and the support of tribal leadership in spreading the word about this project. Learn more here.
