Of course, there are the local banks, but they have frozen business loans as tight as a drum. There is always the Small Business Administration, an agency that got a ton of money through the Stimulus grants program. But don’t count on the SBA either. In order to get a loan through them there are a lot of criteria to be met. For instance, what can you put up for collateral? If you want to borrow $50,000, you must be able to cover that loan with $50,000 in collateral.

It is hard to put up your trust land up as collateral to any bank or to SBA so your options are pretty limited.

We’ve seen some would-be business people write to their Congressional representatives (Senators and Congress woman) expecting that if they shake this tree money may fall out, but your Congressional reps have little resources to help Native American entrepreneurs. Helping Native Americans start a business is very low on their list of priorities.

Native Americans in South Dakota survive mainly on “earmarks,” those tidbits of money that your elected representative begs for every year. And then they send out press releases when they do secure an earmark shouting out how much money they got for a certain project, and usually none of it is geared to help a Lakota man or woman start their own business.

Why don’t our senators and our lone representative try to introduce legislation that is not an “earmark” but is indeed an annual allocation set up to enhance health, education and small businesses? An “earmark” is like getting the last of the crumbs after the cake has been served. And, believe it or not, Native Americans are plain sick and tired of trying to survive on the crumbs known as “earmarks.”

There are those who complain when we write about the need for funds on Indian reservations for small businesses and the ones who complain the loudest have never lived on an Indian reservation and they do not know all of the obstacles an Indian business person faces. We have had several successful business people on the Pine Ridge Reservation such as Karlene Hunter of Kyle, and before his death, business people like Francis Shangreaux to name a couple. Lil’ Angels in Kyle is a perfect example of a successful Lakota-owned business.

Our Congressional representatives know what is needed to improve life on the reservation: JOBS! Small businesses provide jobs and are at the center of all the jobs in America. Our Congress has been reminded for the past 30 years or more that the most important thing they can do to help the people of the Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Yankton, Flandreau, and Sisseton-Wahpeton reservations is to find a way to provide jobs. It is not a military secret. And yet, year after year our Congressional reps bring us these tiny tidbits they call “earmarks” that totally overlook the most basic need on our reservations: JOBS!

Directly below this editorial are the names and addresses of your Congressional reps. Write them, call them, email them, but let them know what it is you want from them and please stress: JOBS!