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Native News
Smoke Signals
ringing banks into Indian Country
By Oscar Johnson
"This is a unique moment in time
to reverse 300 years of deterioration
in our economic well being. How
ever, this opportunity won't last for
ever," insists Indian business advo
cate, Patrick Borunda.
This was the message the Execu
tive Director of the Oregon Native
American Business and Entrepre
neurial Network (ONABEN) gave a
dozen tribal representatives at the
Sovereign Lending workshop in Eu
gene, Oregon. Borunda also had a
message for the scores of banking
officials who sponsored and attended
the event about their role in revers
ing that deterioration.
"(U.S. banks) have been happy to
take the deposits coming from the
revenue of (Native) resources being
harvested; they've been happy to lend
in order to further exploit those re
sources; and they've been willing to
make a profit for the way those lands
have been exploited," said Borunda.
He added, however, "they have been
unwilling to lend to tribes that own
those lands. . . . You've already
reaped the benefits and now it's time
to enable the tribes to reap some of
those benefits as well."
Borunda was the keynote speaker
for the June 2 workshop which was
part of a series of forums spear
headed by the Federal Reserve Bank
of San Francisco (FRBSF) in con
junction with the Affiliated Tribes of
Northwest Indians Economic Devel
opment Corporation. His opening
remarks underscored crucial Native
interests in the financier-dominated
workshop aimed at bringing tribal
and bank officials together to brain
storm on more effective ways to in
crease access to loans and credit in
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Indian Country.
"We recognized there was a lot of
economic opportunity in Indian
Country that wasn't being ad
dressed," said Craig Nolte, Commu
nity Affairs Advisor for FRBSF' s
Seattle branch. He said the forums
began in Washington state last Jan.
and will continue in Oregon, Utah and
Idaho throughout June.
Nolte and fellow financiers hope
the workshops will be springboards
for sub-regional, Nativebanking task
forces that will hash-out and imple
ment new ways to capitalize on such
opportunities. After each all-day
workshop representatives from tribes
and financial institutions are expected
to volunteer for a task force that will
meet regularly at different reserva
tions in their locale.
At the Eugene workshop attendees
discussed obstacles most often inter
fering in tribalbank relations. While
Native representatives cited cultural
differences and a well-founded mis
trust of non-Indian banks, bankers ac
knowledged their own cultural igno
rance but cited high risks associated
with extending loans to Indian bor
rowers. "The banks are saying 'this is how
we do our Indian deals,"' one Native
participant stressed to the conference
room full of bankers. "But the tribes
are saying 'this is not where we place
our Indian dollars.'" ;.
Near the close of the workshop ea
ger financiers volunteered for the lo
cal task force that would put the day's
ideas into play.
Chief among those ideas was a Uni
form Commercial Code with standard
rules for transactions between tribes
and their members with banks.
Bankers argued that in some cases
tribal sovereignty can be too great a
financial risk.
Sovereign rights, such as those pro
hibiting banks from freely repossess
ing vehicles within reservation
boundaries or limiting the resale of
foreclosed mortgaged homes to Na
tive buyers can discourage lending
to Natives who live on reservations.
But formal agreements between banks
and tribes waving such rights could
improve the lending potential in In
dian Country, financiers said.
However, Grand Ronde Small Busi
ness Development Manager, Elaine
Moore, suggests that although closer
tribalbank relations are essential to
the well being of Indian Country, it
is not necessary to rush into such
bank lead solutions. Moore has
worked in accounting and business
in Indian Country for more than two
decades and is also on the board of
directors for ONABEN. She said that
although bank loans will always be
. needed, the days when most tribes
especially the Grand Ronde alliance
were at the mercy of financial in
stitutions are over.
"Now that they see the potential that
tribes like Grand Ronde have, they
want to have more of a partnership
with us. It wasn't like that in the 50's, "
Moore said. "I'm not sure the tribes
realize how well they sit right now."
As Native lobbyists continue to de
cry attacks on the source of the new
found advantages of gaming rev
enues, business experts such as
Borunda and Moore are calling for
more reliable, long term approaches
to economic development than the
fleeting favoritism of fickle financiers.
Stressing the urgent need to invest
in Indian business development in his
opening address, Borunda noted
"we're already seeing the closure of
gaming in British Columbia." The
SBA (Small Business Administration)
Small Business Advocate of the Year
estimates that "gaming won't last for
ever perhaps only two to three
more years."
Moore expressed a wish that could
pose an answer to many of the burn
ing questions and concerns about fi
nancing in Indian Country. The idea
could make everybody happy. Ev
erybody, that is, except non-Indian
bankers.
"Currently, we don't have a loan
program at a tribal level like the
Warm Springs Reservation does,"
Moore said. "My wish is that Grand
Ronde would have its own credit
union or bank. It is one of our long
time goals that I really think we ought
to look into."
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Patrick Borunda, ONABEN Executive
Director articulates the urgent need for
economic development in Indian Coun
try at the Sovereign Lending Confer
ence in Eugene. Photos by Oscar Johnson
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Elaine Moore, Small Business Development Manager explains the concerns that Native Entrepre
neurs have when approaching banks to would-be lenders.