Task 2: Conduct a series of Welfare-to-Work briefings for tribal officials. NTDA will schedule a series of five briefings on a regional basis to offer tribal human services and economic development officials a unique exposure to both the challenges and opportunities presented by the welfare reform process. These sessions will call on the expertise of specialists in a number of fields that are related to the topic. In some cases, speakers will include federal officials who can explain how various programs will be implemented. Other speakers will include tribal officials who have had experience in using one or more federal programs to promote private investment of reservations. The workshops also will be designated to gather feedback from attendees on issues they regard as barriers to smooth transition to private sectororiented reservation economies. The information gathered during this process will be relayed to federal agencies that offer Welfare-to-Work and/or economic development support. Task 3: Develop a final report on the year-long Welfare-to-Work transition effort. The data yielded by this undertaking will be compiled and summarized as a policy memorandum that will be prented to the U.S. Department of He..th and Human Services and to other agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that have an interest in Indian economic development matters. The report will be posted on NTDA's Web Site and NTDA officials will be available to discuss the outcomes detailed in the report for the benefit of federal and tribal officials. 10) SPECIAL Coordination between 11) PERSON DAYS PLANNED 25 person days each for NTDA and Trade Services ו 7 5) 2) ANA Goal: Governance & During the third budget period of March 1, 2000 to February 28, 2001, the NTDA will conduct research relating to the patterns of use of tax-exempt private-activity bond financing tools to illuminate practices at the federal, state, and local level that effect the availability of this common financing mechanism for American Indians/Alaskan Natives, present finding to NTDA member tribes, and increase the use of tax-exempt private-activity bond financing tools in Indian Country. Results or Benefits Expected: The research will generate preliminary findings on financing of American Indians/Alaskan Natives villages and tribes, individuals, and small Native owned businesses located in Indian Country. Through these findings, NTDA and other tribes can formulate recommendations to correct any deficiencies found on the current use of tax-exempt private-activity bond financing. It is expected that the findings may lead to new legislation or changes in the current structure of financing business ventures through tax-exempt private activity bond financing. The long-range benefits expected will not be accomplished in the immediate future. Instead, the benefits expected will occur once the legislation is amended and implemented in order for American Indian/Alaskan Natives are given the full opportunity to participate in the use of tax-exempt private-activity bond financing that should occur before the end of our funding period. Criteria for Evaluating Results or Benefits Expected: The Criteria to be used to evaluate the results will include: Quality of the research conducted. ●Sampling of states that have a large percentage on Native Americans residing in their states. •Use of the research report by NTDA and other tribes. ●NTDA follow up work on research with member tribes. ⚫Changes in Private-Activity Bond financing. ●Implementation of changes in Private-Activity Bond financing that will benefit Native Americans. ●Finally, the final evaluation to be used will be the use of Private-Activity bonding in Indian Country as we enter the new century. V. RESULTS OR BENEFITS EXPECTED This section deals specifically with Section B, Program Narrative, Objective Work Plan of the proposal and is meant as a summary of the expected results or benefits of the proposed objectives identified by NTDA. The first objective identified by this proposal is the continuation and expansion of current NTDA activities with the expectation that this will serve to enhance our ability to deliver a quality service to our member tribes. Further, we anticipate the addition of fifteen new member tribes per year for the duration of the grant period. By continuing our current activities and expanding our outreach efforts, we are providing more tribes with the opportunity to participate in one of the most innovative and effective means to enhance tribal economies. The ultimate result of this objective will be the ability of NTDA to further advance the capacity of tribal governments to address those political issues that are truly essential in the areas of governance and economic development. The second objective was the coordination and facilitation of one international and two national trade shows per year to showcase Indian produced goods and services to both public and private sector investors and customers. The shows will provide our resource poor tribes the opportunity to showcase their reservation produced products, while at the same time providing potential investors/customers with the information necessary to access the tribes. The benefits will be in the form of increased trade and commerce for our member tribes, either intertribally, nationally or internationally. The third objective was updating the research and providing a series of briefings to tribes as to the potential benefits associated with establishing an Empowerment Zone (EZ) on Indian reservations. NTDA believes that once tribes are made fully aware of what the EZ designation means as far as economic development is concerned, that tribes will pursue legislation with Indian specific language to advance our chances of receiving the full benefits of such a designation. Finally, NTDA believes that this objective will directly trigger legislation that will create the formation of EZs on a number of Indian reservations or Alaskan Native villages in the country. The fourth objective deals with the creation of a resource guide tailored for the use by Indian Country on the welfare reform initiative, including resources available to tribes as a means to offset the probable negative impacts of this legislation. In addition, NTDA will hold a series of welfare to work briefings throughout the country as well as developing a report based on these briefings. The results of this objective will be the ability of tribal governments to develop tribal specific social programs tailored to the needs of their own tribe, while at the same time partnering with other agencies to curb the expected affects to tribes on welfare reform. The final objective that NTDA has identified as an important issue to tribes is the research needed relating to the use of tax-exempt private activity bonds as financing tools for American Indian/Alaskan Native communities. The research will generate preliminary findings on financing of American Indian/Alaskan Native villages and tribes, individuals, and small Native owned businesses located in Indian Country. Through these findings, NTDA and tribes can formulate recommendations to correct any deficiencies found on the current use of this type of financing. It is expected that new legislation will be the result of these findings with American Indians Alaska Native entities being given the opportunity to access this resource before the end of this funding |