| 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
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