1 / 9

Challenges to Development on the Navajo Nation

Challenges to Development on the Navajo Nation. What I Did. Intern at Tuba City Regional Business Development Office Serves 16 chapters of Navajo Nation Helps facilitate small business development -Administers small and micro loan program ($500-$250,000)

selia
Download Presentation

Challenges to Development on the Navajo Nation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Challenges to Development on the Navajo Nation

  2. What I Did • Intern at Tuba City Regional Business Development Office • Serves 16 chapters of Navajo Nation • Helps facilitate small business development -Administers small and micro loan program ($500-$250,000) -Provides technical assistance with local community planning, business site leasing, and business site development -Offers training programs for entrepreneurs

  3. The State of the Navajo Economy • 48% unemployment (U.S.: ~6.1%) • 42% below the poverty line (U.S.: 12.5%) • Median Household Income: $27,389 (U.S.: $44,473) • Government and government-related jobs are the biggest sources of employment on reservation

  4. Barriers to Development • Infrastructure • Credit • Education • Land status (business site leasing process)

  5. Business-Site Leasing • No private land • All reservation land is land held in trust by the U.S. government for the Navajo Nation • Grazing permits • Bureaucratic process (next slide)

  6. The Process

  7. What’s Changing • Shonto Chapter has recently been granted the right to perform their own BSL’s • First of 110 chapters (long way to go)

  8. My Impressions • There is hope; land ripe for renewable energy projects and gaming should bring in revenue (along with obvious downsides) • Cycle of dependence is difficult to break • “Change” is a four-letter word in Navajo • Without private land, it is extremely difficult to have a vibrant economy • Economic development vs. preserving tradition

More Related