American Indian Report - September/October 2008 - (Page 15)

The Strategic Plan — Having One and Sticking to It No one can argue that one of the keys to long-term economic development success is a well-researched and thought out strategic plan. While some tribes have one, some do not, and many that do may not be sticking to it long enough to see their visions through. Roughly 40 tribes have or are working on a U.S. Economic Development Administration-funded plan. Known as Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS), the EDA provides funding to tribes to develop and implement them. The CEDS has a slew of requirements. For example, a tribe must appoint a planning committee, responsible for developing, revising or replacing the plan. What goes in the plan is pretty much set in stone. A CEDS, for instance, must contain a background on the tribe’s economic development situation and an analysis of its challenges and opportunities, goals and objectives, a plan of action, identify investment priorities and funding sources and performance measures. Although CEDS requirements are stringent and developing one is challenging and time-consuming, the end result for a tribe is an economic development vision. A CEDS also gives a tribe access to other EDA funding programs, such as its Public Works and Economic Development Program. It cannot apply without a completed CEDS. Pedro Garza, regional director of EDA’s Austin Regional Office, covering Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico, said the biggest challenge for tribes that want to develop a CEDS is that they do not have the professional capacity to do one. Some get around that by hiring a consultant, an expense an EDA planning grant will help pay for. Garza believes that tribes can really benefit from the CEDS. “When you go through the process, you buy into development. You buy into the need for a strategy. You mobilize resources. You identify movers, leaders. The process itself, if done properly, energizes and gets people behind a purpose, behind a vision.” Besides completing the CEDS, EDA requires that tribes update their plans, preferably no more than every five years. It discourages changing them more frequently than that because the CEDS should be a long-term vision. But changing plans, or doing away with them altogether, is a regular occurrence, due mainly to instability within tribal governments. In the Pacific Northwest, Michael Burton, director of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians’ Economic Development Corporation and ATNI Revolving Loan Fund, said a lot of tribes have a CEDS, or something like it, and many have the capacity and will to develop them on their own. Burton knows, however, how quickly these plans are changed or done away with and replaced. It is a widespread problem, he said, particularly with tribes that have constant turnover in their administrations and tribal councils. “I think you can look at a tribe’s economic development successes and make a very well-informed guess as to whether or not they have a very stable tribal council and administration or is subject to frequent changes,” Barton said. Changing direction too often, though, can hinder economic growth. “I see the number one barrier to economic development being the inability to stick with a vision and implement it,” Burton said. September/October 2008 15 American Indian Report http://www.eda.gov/ http://www.eda.gov/ http://www.eda.gov/ImageCache/EDAPublic/documents/pdfdocs2006/ceds_5fflyer_5fwht_5fbackround_2epdf/v1/ceds_5fflyer_5fwht_5fbackround.pdf http://www.eda.gov/ImageCache/EDAPublic/documents/pdfdocs2006/ceds_5fflyer_5fwht_5fbackround_2epdf/v1/ceds_5fflyer_5fwht_5fbackround.pdf http://www.atnitribes.org/

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American Indian Report - September 2008 Contents Notes from Indian Country Language Learning Gets More High-Tech Native American Music Awards Celebrates 10th Anniversary Hoop Dancing's Best to Compete for World Champ Title in Phoenix Congress: Activity on the Hill Device Monitors Sobriety for Pueblo Planning for Economic Development Negotiated Rulemaking to Impact NAHASDA�Reauthorization Cherokee Takes Big Step Toward Health Care Vision Preparing a Vision for the Future Grants: NAHMI - Strengthening Native American Families Blogroll

American Indian Report - September/October 2008

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