Tribal Resilience & Innovative Business Centers

Families are forced to decide between wages and tradition. Indigenous people want to go home. They leave, going out to gather degrees and education, but have little to no employment opportunities when they come back. To look at the solution we need to listen and look at the problem. Many native communities have little infrastructure, and few employment opportunities, this creates a cyclical problem within the community. As a tribal member and as a council member for my tribe I have seen and understand that we need to look at the community as a whole. We need people to work, but have no steady employment, which means we have no young people to help, without the young people there is no one to listen and pass on the knowledge from our elders. Many tribes rely on grants to keep their communities going. Most of the money allotted to tribes is based on community size. With fewer people we have less money, which means we cannot properly take care of the properties we have as they age. This creates less infrastructure. A couple statistics to think about:

+573 Federally Recognized Tribes with 325 reservations across the lower 48 states

+Poverty rate for families living on Rez is 36% compared to the U.S. national average of 9.2 

+Lack of employment opportunities, rural communities offer little to no job advancement

+Medium household income is $35,310 compared to $51,371 for the United States

+Native Americans and Alaska Natives make up 2% of the population

In addition to the above statistics did you know that the total small businesses in the United States it is a staggering 33.2 Million, while less then 30,000 are Native American owned. 

Tribal Resilience & Innovative Business Centers, supports an innovative and creative solution for each unique tribe and its location. Creating a space for tribal and non-tribal entities to collaborate and initiate businesses based off community centric efforts. The basis of our solution must be measured by non-traditional/non-linear means, a common thread that was used across Turtle Island. “How does it impact the community” becomes the bottom line.  Learning, educating, and creating common tribal businesses entities. 

Tribal Resilience & Innovative Business Centers will have a multiplying effect in the communities it serves. TRIB centers will not only allow for workspaces and a return to tribal communities but mentoring and a supportive environment for innovators. 

The model benefits any community it partners with. The businesses that are created will have a reach outside the community as others will choose to  adopt the innovative style. We believe in community engagement surveys, and participation.  WE know that each community is different and our goal is listen. 

We want Indigenous people to be able to be self sustaining. It is part of the sovereign rights. Business creation and innovation from a Indigenous worldview has ben lacking. What we need to be successful in that is mentorship and ongoing support. Our voices deserve to be amplified with those who truly care. These strategies strengthen our self-actualization. 

The team currently consists of Jeffrey Gourd and Megan Gourd. Jeffrey a member of the Cherokee Nation, has a Masters in Business Admin with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. He has a previous corporate background,advanced training in negotiations, is certified in commercial real estate and has worked with non-profits.  Jeffrey has training in both broadband initiatives and business incubator space creation.

Megan Gourd has been working toward her degree in Social Entrepreneurship and will graduate in Fall 2022, she then plans to peruse a Masters in Urban Planning and Sustainable smart cities, she is a licensed real estate agent in the state of Missouri and has over 10 years experience in non-profits. She currently is a council member for her tribe, the Gidutikad Band of Northern Paiute and a board member for the Southwest Missouri Indian Center in Springfield, MO. Both Jeffery and Megan won the 2nd place New Idea Competition Challenge sponsored by Northeastern State University in 2009. Both have a Permaculture design certification, from the Restoring and Reclaiming Indigenous Agriculture Program. Megan has a certificate in Regenerative Architecture & Ecological design as well. 

Both Megan and Jeff have met and worked with a variety of talented indigenous and non-indigenous individuals. Through networking and workshops a team will continue to be built, it will place integrity and compassion for native people and their needs first. Innovators and listeners will be added based on experience and work done for indigenous causes. 

Tribal Resilience & Innovative Business Centers need to continue networking with other like minded individuals. Really it is about getting heard and listened to. We lack the clout or creditability to be heard. Being a part of SOLVE puts our idea out for people who want to help with this initiative. Funding is always important, but building a strong team comes first. Having worked in non-profits we understand that passion does not always lead to solutions, many people join but leave when difficulties arise, are in it only for the title or just plain don't know how to work on a team! We need people who want to be innovators, who understand the collective mindset that indigenous communities once thrived on and want to put tribal people and communities on the map!

Jeffrey was born in Tahlequah, Ok, of the Bird Clan and lived on almost every part of the Trail of Tears and now back in Tahlequah. Living in various communities such as Knoxville, Nashville, Cape Girardeau/Jackson, and finally Branson before arriving back only to realize our communities are still in dire need of business, community and culture revitalization. He went to Haskell Indian Nations University,  studied tribal laws and discussed other tribes living conditions. Both Jeff and Megan volunteered time to assist on a documentary in college on the impact of dams on the Missouri River (Mine Shoshe). After working for the Cherokee Nation he realized that the people in the Native communities are still not being served by the tribal governments. Having firsthand experience of this in smaller tribes, with Megan serving as Vice Chair for her tribal council. A number of projects, grants and businesses are not created due to lack of Native American owned entities to fulfill the requested grants. With family in the East and Western band of Cherokees and Megan being Blackfeet and Northern Paiute, we represent both large and small nations. Our children are a mix of all three tribes and will carry our decisions for the next 7 generations. 

Our policy is to have no policy. Diversity is inclusion of all. Our emphasis will to be women lead minority, but inclusion for all.

 Since the initiative has a bottom line that represents community health and wellbeing it is not as focused on generating income from the participants. To be successful means to takes into account how the business impacts the location and the people above profits.  TRIB Centers can leverage funding that has been set aside for the native communities.

The business will utilize federal funding to help offset the majority of the costs, many grants are available to tribal entities. Many tribes do not take advantage of these grants because they do not know how or lack the staffing required to operate. Depending on the tribes resources each location can have the opportunity to rent or allow tribal members to use for free the workstations available. Some locations will have the income from other operations to pay for some of the staffing, other locations will need to be totally reliant on grants to fund the positions. If the locations is deemed suitable there will be an opportunity to have on site storage or hosting facilities. This will offer a small amount to offset costs. There have also been a large increase in infrastructure grants available to tribes to help bring broadband to the reservations. If applicable locations will have a central broadband tower and give internet for free to tribal members, while supplying surrounding areas. This will generate income for the tribes, and the percentage can be determined to maintain each location. 

The long term will be to operate with an IPO model. Each business that originates within a TRIB Center will have one Stock. 

The amount of funding received is currently zero, as our idea is only in conception phase. The cost of equipment we hope to greatly reduce by partnering with tech companies. The workshops for specialized training in tech, UX, Coding, project management, indigenous knowledge based instruction we expect to receive for little to no cost. There are organizations such as NDN collective, Illuminative, Oweesta, Sister Sky, Inc. and Native Learning Center, who have their own non-profit status and grants for bringing training to indigenous communities. TRIBE Centers will partner with these organizations to bring ongoing educational training. Some of the grants that can be used for buildings and business are Native American Business Development Institute (NABDI,) Administration for Native Americans (ANA,)

Grants to Support the Development of Rural Community Facilities (USDA,)

Native American Business Development Institute Feasibility Study Program (DOI,) Indian Loan Guaranty, Insurance, and Interest Subsidy, Rural Broadband

Loans & Loan Guarantees (USDA,) and NEA “Our Town” Grant Program. This is a partial list of possible grants that can be utilized to build and maintain the TRIBE locations. 

Any initial awarded money will go toward feasibility studies and consultant/grant writing fees.