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Somethings have improved (the Tribal Community College system), and some things haven't or have gotten worse (Indian Health Service). The DoD money that helped

Somethings have improved (the Tribal Community College system), and some things haven't or have gotten worse (Indian Health Service). The DoD money that helped build some industry dried up with the defense cuts in the 90's and never came back. Also, it probably doesn't help that certain institutions of higher learning don't recruit from the tribal schools and then give scholarships meant for Native Americans to non-natives (proof of tribal enrollment is quite easy to get). Also, some of the federal districts will not bring charges against non-natives who commit robbery on the reservation, and at the same time will not do the due diligence in investigating native-on-native crimes. Enforcing the rules, continued support of the expansion of tribal colleges, understanding state money rarely gets to tribes regardless of what the bill says, and actually funding the healthcare might be a nice step forward. Please note, whatever your opinion on the PPACA, it excludes tribes (yes, I read the whole bill). Also, understanding that no bank is going to loan money for housing on a reservation and doing something at the federal level might be a nice thing. There are some amazing bright spots, but the northern plains is a bit far from them.

coredog64 11y ago
AFAIK, banks can't loan for reservation housing because enrolled members don't own the land, they have a long term lease.
- protomyth 11y ago
  No, the tribal members do own the land, its just unlikely that a bank could ever foreclose because of the tribes involvement and how tribal land works. Non-tribal members get leases. The federal land rules are archaic and work against the tribal members.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    Have some of the wealthier tribes fixed this problem for themselves? If they can't create a tribally-funded financial arrangement that makes a bank happy, couldn't the tribe just do the lending? Of course, not every tribe has a casino, but if those that do had innovated in this area, we'd have a better idea of the best direction for federal funding.
    - protomyth 11y ago
      Even tribes with casinos aren't rich[1][2], and yes the tribes that have cash generally give enough to their members to build the houses without loans or do some short term loans. Some have their own banks / credit unions. Sadly, a lot of the plains tribes are not in that situation. 1) most tribes were sent away from cities which makes casinos problematic, but it didn't hurt on the natural resource front for some 2) I still think the tribal pact with North Dakota that you cannot directly pay members (imagine a business that couldn't pay its owner) is the purest form of evil

coredog64 11y ago

AFAIK, banks can't loan for reservation housing because enrolled members don't own the land, they have a long term lease.

protomyth 11y ago
No, the tribal members do own the land, its just unlikely that a bank could ever foreclose because of the tribes involvement and how tribal land works. Non-tribal members get leases. The federal land rules are archaic and work against the tribal members.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  Have some of the wealthier tribes fixed this problem for themselves? If they can't create a tribally-funded financial arrangement that makes a bank happy, couldn't the tribe just do the lending? Of course, not every tribe has a casino, but if those that do had innovated in this area, we'd have a better idea of the best direction for federal funding.
  - protomyth 11y ago
    Even tribes with casinos aren't rich[1][2], and yes the tribes that have cash generally give enough to their members to build the houses without loans or do some short term loans. Some have their own banks / credit unions. Sadly, a lot of the plains tribes are not in that situation. 1) most tribes were sent away from cities which makes casinos problematic, but it didn't hurt on the natural resource front for some 2) I still think the tribal pact with North Dakota that you cannot directly pay members (imagine a business that couldn't pay its owner) is the purest form of evil