02/07/2024

CoP participants' locations and their EDA grant experience

The Indigenous Economic Development Community of Practice is a dedicated space for tribal and Native economic development practitioners to share knowledge, build capacity, and identify best practices.

Over 90 people attended the session from across the country, including from Alaska and Hawaii. Participants came from tribal enterprises, tribal planning departments, Native CDFIs, state and federal agencies, academia, regional tribal associations, and more. Attendees reported a range of experience with EDA grants.

During the session, we showcased two economic development projects in the form of spotlight presentations from tribal and Native communities.

Rob Czypinski presented the Red Cliff Fish Company, a tribal enterprise of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. A project rooted in deep ancestral and cultural heritage, strong tribal administrative buy-in and skilled staff have allowed this iteration of the company to succeed. The success of the project has fostered new partnerships with tribal elder food programs and commercial wholesalers while fostering a bridge to new generations.

Tyler Goddard presented the FourPoints Health Facility of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah. With more than 900 members spread across 6 counties and 200 miles of space, the Tribe pooled funding from 3 grants to expand the formerly 4,000 sq/ft facility into a new health center totaling 23,000 sq/ft that generates more than $6 million in revenue per year. Tyler pointed out that it is an ongoing challenge to integrate existing health records technology into new systems.

To view the presentation slides and results from the interactive activities, see the slides.

For more information and the upcoming session, please check out our CoP website.