Unemployment in American Indian communities and Alaska Native villages averages fifty percent. This is double the rate of unemployment experienced at the height of the Great Depression. While this finding is shocking, it is even more astonishing to learn that on some Indian reservations unemployment reaches as high as 75 percent --- three out of four Native Americans are unemployed as compared to the historic national high of one out of four persons during the Great Depression.
In January of 2000, work began on an interagency initiative of fourteen federal agencies to address unemployment in American Indian communities and Alaska native villages. The initiative was entitled Native eDGE for Native economic Development Guidance and Empowerment. The purpose of Native eDGE is to act as a portal for federal and private grants, loans, loan guarantees, and technical assistance for American Indian and Alaska Native organizations and individuals. Native eDGE was launched on April 17, 2000. It has the following components:
Web Site
Native eDGE has a fully interactive web site (http://nativeedge.hud.gov) with access to a user-friendly search engine. The site is designed to allow users to define their interests and the type of assistance they are seeking by searching a database of federal and non-federal resources. This information is obtained by registering a project in the eLab portion of the web site which serves as an electronic filing cabinet for client projects. Once a project is logged into the eLab portion of Native eDGE, an economic development specialist is assigned responsibility for follow-up and assistance. This relationship is maintained as long as the user requests assistance from Native eDGE.
The web site also contains a "Guided Tour" that leads users through the site, a "Partnership Center" with descriptions of federal, educational, and organizational resources along with links to their web pages, a "New(s) page that links to "What’s New" pages of major federal agencies, a "Contacts and Publications" section where contact information can be obtained along with documents and publications, and a detailed "Help" section to assist users with navigation and the attainment of information.
Native eDGE uses a broad definition of economic development that encompasses employment, education, business development, and economic planning components. Under the initial concept for the portal it was assumed that if Native Americans learned more about federal resources then these resources could be used to start economic development projects that create jobs. Accordingly, the original design focused on the creation of a tool that identified federal resources related to economic development. As comment on usage were received it became obvious that the tool had limited application, i.e., it only identified federal resources applicable to economic development projects. Subsequently, the definition of economic development was expanded so that Native eDGE now includes four additional tracts. The Career Development tract includes links to federal and non-federal sites that provide information and guidance on career planning as well as links to sites that list current employment opportunities. The Business Development tract provides links to informational sites on starting a business and sites on resources for contracting and procurement. The Economic Development Planning tract provides links to sites that provide guidance on the preparation of economic development and strategic plans as well as the preparation of competitive grant applications. The Educational Development tract provides links to tribal colleges, educational associations, and major universities with Native American programs.
Publications Clearinghouse
The Clearinghouse provides downloadable informational brochures, pamphlets, and promotional materials on economic development. An electronic library of federal information has been set up and it is being expanded as user requests dictate. This library house's multi-agency publications that are directly related to economic development in tribal communities and each participating agency updates this information on a regular basis. More specific requests (i.e., requests for statutes or regulations governing a program) are forwarded to appropriate federal agencies and links have been added to other useful libraries.
Technical Assistance Call Center
The Native eDGE Call Center has a toll-free number (1-877-807-9013) that tribes, tribal entities, individuals and others can use to obtain back-up support for the web site. The range of eligible users has been expanded to include federal economic development practitioners, non-profits, private lenders, and private businesses seeking to establish enterprises that employ Native Americans. The Call Center staff uses a developed "script" to ask a series of questions about the inquiry, the caller, and any proposed projects or programs. The answers to these questions are used for a database search to identify both federal and non-federal resources that can be used for a particular project. The Call Center staff members also provide basic information on these resources and refer clients to appropriate federal agencies for detailed technical questions, provision of local technical assistance, or contact information. The referral list has been expanded from the original 14 federal agencies to include over 170 federal programmatic contacts, almost 60 educational contacts, and approximately 40 technical assistance organizations.
Native eDGEstaff members also provide information concerning technical assistance products or services provided by federal agencies, educational institutions, employment organizations, non-profit entities, and others. In addition, economic development specialists work with eDGE users to facilitate the advancement of projects from the concept stage to actual operation. This is accomplished through regular contact and follow-up with users of the eDGE Call Center or web site.
During its first ten months of operation approximately 5000,000 hits were registered to the web site, over 6,100 economic development and business publications were ordered and approximately 350 economic development projects were registered. The on-going mission of Native eDGE is to facilitate the attainment of sustainable economic development within American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The primary goal is to accomplish this mission through the provision of information and guidance that empowers Native Americans, tribes, and tribal entities in their pursuit of self-sufficiency and self-determination. A major objective leading to the goal is the promotion of collaborative efforts between federal agencies, lenders, foundations, and the private market to find innovative solutions to recurrent economic development problems such as unemployment.
For more information, contact James Floyd at (202) 708-0614 ext. 7106 or e-mail at James_B._Floyd@hud.gov.