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A Kiva.org for Native American Entrepreneurs?

March 25, 2009 7:00 am by Britt Bravo in Career
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"Our tribal colleges and universities teach sustainability in everything they do, proving American Indians have long been ahead of the curve. This is what we call 'Thinking Indian.' As our nation grapples with its problems, American Indians are uniquely situated to lead with finding solutions." -- Rick Williams, President & CEO of the American Indian College Fund on his blog, In a Good Way.

Flipping through the Sunday New York Times earlier this month, I noticed a public service announcement (left) for the American Indian College Fund, with the slogan, "Think Indian: To think Indian is to save a plant that can save a people."

For whatever reason, it started my thinking that there needs to be a Kiva.org like program for American Indian, Alaskan Native and Hawaiian Native entrepreneurs. Kiva.org facilitates ordinary people, like you and me, making loans online to entrepreneurs in the "developing" world. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2007 poverty rate of people who reported they were American Indian and Alaska Native, and no other race, was 25.3%.

As far as I know, nothing like it exists, although it could, now that Kiva has opened its API so that developers can build their own tools to fund entrepreneurs. Plus, according to a March 23rd article on CNNMoney.com, Micro-loans for Americans?, Kiva is going to be experimenting with loans to entrepreneurs living in the United States.

In April, PBS will air a new mini-series, We Shall Remain, about U.S. history from the Native American perspective. The series' site has lots of information on it, including a Native Now: Enterprise page with links and videos. One of the video clips highlights the success of the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation micro-loan program. I'm sure there are similar programs out there that could use a Kiva.org like tool to help get more loans out to their entrepreneurs.

Whaddya think? Good idea? Bad idea? Is there someone out there already doing it? Do you know anyone who would want to build it?

You can see images from the other "Think Indian" ads on In a Good Way, the blog of Rick Williams, President & CEO of the American Indian College Fund.

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Britt Bravo, also blogs at Have Fun * Do Good and is a Big Vision Consultant

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Britt Bravo
Britt Bravo 5 pts

Hi Blindedbyblonde,

The quote at the top, '"Our tribal colleges and universities teach sustainability in everything they do, proving American Indians have long been ahead of the curve," was taken from the blog of Rick Williams, President & CEO of the American Indian College Fund.  I took it to mean not that Native Americans are doing well or being treated justly, but that the culture promotes ideas like seven generation sustainability ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_generation_sust... ).

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blindedbyblonde
blindedbyblonde 5 pts

The tribal council, not the local or federal government, has
jurisdiction over reservations. Different reservations have different
systems of government, which may or may not replicate the forms of
government found outside the reservation. Some Indian reservations were
laid out by the federal government; others were outlined by the states.

 In 1979, the Seminole tribe in Florida ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida ) opened a high-stakes bingo ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_%28US%29 )
operation on its reservation in Florida. The state attempted to close
the operation down but was stopped in the courts. In the 1980s, the
case of California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians established the right of reservations to operate other forms of gambling operations. In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Gaming_Regulat... )
which recognized the right of Native American tribes to establish
gambling and gaming facilities on their reservations as long as the
states in which they are located have some form of legalized gambling.
Today, many Native American casinos are used as tourist ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism ) attractions to draw visitors and revenue to reservations.

 Life qualities in some reservations are comparable to the quality of life in the developing world ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_world ). For example, Shannon County, South Dakota ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_County,_South_Dakota ), home of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Indian_Res... ), is routinely described as one of the poorest counties in the nation.

If you think Indian.. than you must think impovrished Indian communities, that have been hurt by their gambling enterprises. If you think they are ahead of the curve, visit one of their reservations. 

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