Where the Red Road &
the White Road Meet:
Self-Employment & Work Incentives in Browning, Montana
By Charles Momberg, Jr., Director
Blackfeet Opportunities, Inc.
Native Americans have strong cultural values that guide the way we accomplish things and that make it hard for people to understand that we do things differently than they do. We respect the ideas and assistance from the outside, but outside ideas seem to always overshadow our ways and our native systems. People need to respect our native systems in order for us to work together. We understand that we need to work with the outside world, but we are not going to change our values to accomplish what is expected.
When Blackfeet Opportunities, Inc. (BOI) and the Rural Institute first partnered under the auspices of the Montana Consumer Controlled Careers (MC3) grant, we all realized we had a lot to learn. I feel the Rural Institute respects our values, or they are willing to learn. We are already successful because we are understanding each other. The fact that the partnership has borne fruit is testimony to what can be accomplished when people take time to really listen to one another, and are willing to modify their usual way of doing things to accommodate local culture and community values.
BOI, which serves people with developmental disabilities for all of Glacier County, is located in Browning, Montana, the tribal government center of the Blackfeet Nation . Like most of Montana's Indian reservations, we experience an almost 80% unemployment rate. Also, like most of Montana's reservations, we are very rural. Our nation has fewer than 7000 people spread out over 1.5 million acres of land in a sparsely populated part of Montana that borders both Glacier National Park to our west and Canada to our north. Many goods and services that most Americans take for granted are available in their communities, simply don't exist here. Traveling great distances to secure those goods and services can be both expensive and time consuming, but this is our only option unless we go without. We have to travel hours just to buy a computer disc, fax an important paper, or purchase clothing or major appliances.
Our high unemployment rate means jobs are scarce, and there are often many people applying for the few jobs that are open from time to time. All of the people served by BOI have some sort of income in the form of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), small land lease payments, or pension income from their parents. Since many of the people looking for a job on our reservation have no other source of income, most of our consumers and their families who have at least "survival income" are reluctant to compete against people with no income at all for the precious few jobs available. This isn't related to some people's prejudice that persons with disabilities shouldn't take jobs away from so-called "able-bodied" people. Having or not having a disability plays no part here. What is important is that some of us have at least some income, while others have none at all. In our culture, we place little importance on having more than our neighbor. Rather, we would prefer that each of us has at least something—enough to get by on. It is impossible to enjoy the food on our table when we know our neighbor is hungry. Even if we have only a slice of bread left, when someone comes to our home, we divide that slice of bread and give our guest half. The goal is to have no one hungry and everyone able to enjoy the food before them.
Strangely enough, this combination of the factors of ruralness and high unemployment makes the reservation a perfect place to launch self-employment efforts for persons with disabilities. The concept of individuals becoming self-employed under the umbrella of BOI has many advantages for people personally and for the community as a whole. These new efforts can help grow the Browning economy, fill some of the gaps in the availability of goods and services, provide people with disabilities with extra money, and allow them to use their gifts and talents doing things they love. The Blackfeet people are strong, self-supporting, hard working people with much dignity and pride. Through the efforts of the Rural Institute, in partnership with BOI, we are helping people with disabilities also become self-supporting, which brings them feelings of pride and dignity. With that dignity and pride comes respect for all. The Blackfeet culture is built on respect for all living things.
A few of the people we assist will be working in partnership with one another, blending their abilities and interests to produce one product. Some examples of the self-employment efforts we are undertaking include:
- one person with artistic ability partnering with another person who has marketing ability to produce Blackfeet Nation oriented postcards and greeting cards, which currently do not exist
- one or two people acquiring a shredding machine and shredding sensitive documents at the banks, hospitals, government offices, etc. and then disposing of the shredded paper through our recycling center;
- a woman who has done beadwork and other handwork for many years producing traditional dance costumes and tipi lamps and hopefully partnering with others to sew and sell canvas wall tents, which are very popular in Montana.
When anyone from the outside comes to "help" on a reservation, it takes a great deal of time to establish trusting relationships, and to understand and work with our cultural differences. This trust and understanding over time is essential if we are to partner in efforts that will truly have a positive and lasting effect. Trust can not be forced or rushed, which is quite understandable when reviewing the lessons we have learned as we consider the history of relationships between Indians and non-Indians. We are hoping to extend our participation in the MC3 grant for a second year. This will allow us to continue to build on the relationship of trust and understanding we have begun with the Rural Institute, and to expand Blackfeet Nation self-employment efforts by collaborating with the Glacier County Welfare to Work program. We look forward to continued assistance to move our businesses forward, and become knowledgeable about writing business plans. Finally, we are in the process of establishing a Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation program here in Browning, and technical assistance from the Rural Institute, added to our own expertise, will help us learn to make the best use of all the limited resources available.
Finally, it is important to know that our efforts so far have not been solitary. They have only been accomplished by blending the people and financial resources from the Rural Institute, Social Security Plans for Achieving Self Support (PASS plans), Job Training Partnership Act/Work Investment Act (JTPA/WIA), Vocational Rehabilitation, Tribal Discounts, and eventually Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation. By linking with similar partners in their communities, Indians and others who live in sparsely populated areas with extremely high unemployment rates may also want to consider expanding jobs for persons with disabilities (and others) by creating new businesses in their community as we are doing