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-----
