And now:Sonja Keohane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: After hearing the comments regarding Pine Ridge and what could be done there to help increase employment and create jobs and although what works for one community does not always work for another, I thought this was an interesting article. Am including a few "snipped" paragraphs: <http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/990720_reg10.html> Blackfeet revivial Tribal bank credited with breathing new life into reservation BROWNING (AP) - Business people in this reservation hub town say their community is coming back to life and the Blackfeet National Bank, a 12-year-old, locally controlled financial institution, is coaxing the revival. There's an air of optimism in Browning's business circles as more shops are open than in recent years and people are spending more money in town. <SNIP> BNB has its own local board of directors, on which no elected officials may sit. The Blackfeet Tribe owns 94 percent of the business. It specializes in small business, residential real estate and consumer lending in Glacier and Pondera counties, although most of its clients reside in the immediate Browning area. <SNIP> "A lot of times in our community what we tend to forget is our greatest resource is our human resource," Kipp said. "If we don't invest in our people, we'll never make it." That's exactly why the bank sometimes approves loans under circumstances that other banks might consider too risky, said Sheridan Erickson, president and chief executive of BNB. For instance, BNB might approve a loan for a client with questionable credit history when other banks would flatly deny the request. Instead of looking for reasons to deny loan requests, BNB aggressively looks for ways to approve them, he said. ------end of excerpts-----