Coalition Forms to Support Native Participation in Federal Government's Business Program

Contact: Native 8(a) Works

Ph: (907) 602-5210

info@native8works.com

(Anchorage, Alaska – July 13, 2009) Today, a diverse group of Native American tribes, organizations and businesses launched a coalition to educate Congress about successful Native participation in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) Business Development Program. 
 
The group, Native 8(a) Works, launched a new Web site (www.native8aworks.com) and subsequent national education effort including Web ads and daily interactive E-blasts. This campaign will set the record straight and function as a reminder of the trust relationship between the United States and its indigenous peoples.

"Our great country was built on the lands of and promises made to America's Native people. We cannot sit passively by while some in Congress misrepresent Native participation in the 8(a) program," Tex Hall, chairman of the Inter Tribal Economic Alliance and a tribal member from North Dakota, said. "There are 37 states across the nation where tribes and Native community corporations are participating, or have the potential to participate. We stand united in opposition to any effort to change one of the only programs with the federal government that encourages tribal and community corporation inclusion in business and commerce in this country."  

Native Enterprise participation in the 8(a) program has had a major impact on the Native American community and the national economy. It fosters American jobs in nearly every state in the country, while providing great value and support to the federal government at competitive rates that serve the best interests of U.S. taxpayers. Unlike other 8(a) businesses that support one or two private owners, Native Enterprises support entire communities, offering hope to thousands of America's indigenous people looking to improve their lives.

“We are deeply disturbed that press releases from Washington, D.C.-based sources have not accurately represented the benefits to the federal government that have resulted from Native American involvement in the SBA's 8(a) program,” NANA Development Corp. President Helvi Sandvik said. “Native American-owned companies deliver exceptional value to the government. We have increased our capabilities over the years – this is what Congress intended. Through our business efforts we employ Americans all across this country, benefiting the communities in which we work and contributing to the overall economy."

Profits generated through the 8(a) program are not distributed to capital investors like other business corporations, but rather directed back to the social, cultural, educational and economic endeavors of tribal and Native communities. As an example, Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs), created by Congress in 1971, assist roughly 20 percent of Alaska's entire population and provide educational opportunities, internships, dividends and cultural preservation.

"We have worked hard - we did what Congress asked us to do by forming these businesses, and we have worked for many years to make them successful. The original Congressional mandate was 'Go forth and prosper,' and some of us have done exactly that. For many Native-owned companies, this is the one program that is finally beginning to make a difference. Yet just when we are beginning down a positive path, it is being suggested that new barriers should be created. It doesn't make sense," Sandvik said.

According to Hall, the contracting preferences tribal businesses maintain “embody the special trust relationship with the United States. Our coalition intends to set the record straight and remind Congress that the Native 8(a) program works. It is a successful approach to economic development and our full participation in the commerce of America."
Native enterprise contracting represents a fraction of the total contracting picture. In fact, only 1.3 percent of all federal contracting dollars spent last year collectively went to Native businesses.  

"We've had enough of special interests misrepresenting the value we provide the federal government," Hall said. "We will ensure the facts regarding our contribution, our history and our relationship with the federal government are fairly and appropriately represented on Capitol Hill."
  
The success of the Native 8(a) program is just starting to generate measurable results. An increasing number of Native Americans are going to college and giving back to their communities. But more work must be done to level the economic playing field. Today, Native American poverty and unemployment rates are nearly twice the national average. The incomes of Alaska Natives are roughly half of other Alaskans.

"The Native 8(a) program is very different from the minority 8(a) program created for individual sole proprietor owners," Robin Puanani Danner, president of the non-profit Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, said. "The Native 8(a) program connects American business ingenuity of providing goods and services and returning net profits to tribes and community challenges rather than individual capital investors. It's probably one of the best models of social enterprise, grounded in Native cultural values and the unique federal relationship with the first peoples of this land."

"Will our government disregard its special relationship with tribes or will it send a message that it supports tribal business for the greater good and the strength of the federal contracting system?” Hall asked. “We hope the government makes the right choice."   
For information, visit www.native8aworks.com.