Southeast Alaska’s regional tribal government is developing its business side.
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Peterson said funding cuts threaten its programs. He said about nine-tenths of the council’s money comes from federal sources. And most of the rest comes from the state.
“That’s just not sustainable. That’s not sufficient,” Peterson said. “So, we’re working on alternative sources of revenue.”
The Central Council has about 30,000 tribal members in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in the Lower 48.
Addressing the organization’s recent Tribal Assembly in Juneau, Peterson said it needs to maintain its social-service, justice and training efforts. But that’s not all.
“We want to not just preserve programs that we have, but expand and grow,” Peterson said. “If we’re going to do that, we need that economic self-sufficiency, that economic sovereignty,” he said.
That effort is being spearheaded by Tlingit-Haida’s Tribal Business Corp.
CEO Richard Rinehart said there’s growth because the organization purchased the government-services business KIRA last summer. Rinehart said its main customer is the U.S. Department of Defense.
“We are running power plants, water systems, water-treatment plants. We have dozens of electricians, dozens of plumbers and a couple dozen carpenters,” Rinehart said. “We do vehicle maintenance, grounds maintenance. We do complete base operations services.”
KIRA has offices in the Bahamas, as well as Colorado and several other states.
Founder Carlos Garcia, who continues to be its president, said the company has about 600 employees. He said it’s expanding, because tribal ownership allows it to bid for contracts under the 8(a) disadvantaged-business program.
“We’re going to need good employees, both Native and non-Native,” Garcia said. “And I see in this room many, many people from all over the areas you represent that can help us.”
Garcia asked the hundred or so Tribal Assembly delegates to point potential applicants to the company’s job openings. But he said KIRA is a business purchased to make money for the Central Council, not an employment program.
Ed Schoenfeld is Regional News Director for CoastAlaska, a consortium of public radio stations in Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell.
He primarily covers Southeast Alaska regional topics, including the state ferry system, transboundary mining, the Tongass National Forest and Native corporations and issues.
He has also worked as a manager, editor and reporter for the Juneau Empire newspaper and Juneau public radio station KTOO. He’s also reported for commercial station KINY in Juneau and public stations KPFA in Berkley, WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and WUHY in Philadelphia. He’s lived in Alaska since 1979 and is a contributor to Alaska Public Radio Network newscasts, the Northwest (Public Radio) News Network and National Native News. He is a board member of the Alaska Press Club. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, he lives in Douglas.
