Tribal ED Success Story

While all that glitters is not gold, casinos have helped many Indian tribes build wealth they would not otherwise have.

The dire poverty that made the Choctaws stand out even in traditionally poor Mississippi has vanished in barely a generation, replaced by two shimmering casinos, two golf courses, a water park and a string of self-sustaining businesses that have made the tribe a model for others to follow.

Here are the details.

The Mississippi Choctaw tribe is now ranked by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development among the most successful of the nation's 559 federally recognized tribes.

So how did the 9,000-member tribe emerge from poverty to generate $450 million a year - and do it within one generation?

Chief Phillip Martin, the 77-year-old democratically elected head of the Choctaw Tribal Council since 1979, says simply, but proudly: "We developed an economy."

That's an understatement.

More specifically, what the tribe did was invest in businesses that created jobs for its members, got more savvy at attracting federal aid and then used the money from both sources to improve its lot and to gain a political voice.

Just 40 years ago, tribal unemployment was 80 percent; 88 percent of households had annual incomes under $3,000 and only about two dozen tribal members could say they had at least some college.

But by 2001, tribal median household income was $25,000 and more than 400 were enrolled in college. Most of the tribe's civilian labor force works for tribal-owned enterprises or government services - such as the tribe's health care center.

The Choctaw reservation - mostly in Neshoba County about 70 miles northeast of Jackson - has nearly doubled in size to 35,000 acres. Tribal members, drawn by better living conditions and by jobs, began returning to the reservation, tripling tribal membership to 9,000.

It's not clear exactly how long the casino miracle will last. What is certain though is that successful tribes have not stopped at building and milking a casino as a cash cow. They have used the casino as an engine to build an economic base. That's the answer.

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