case study on tribal development

Feature   May 23, 2022

Lessons from and for Indian Country

Joel Chastain MC/MPA 2022 is taking lessons learned from the Chickasaw Nation and Harvard Kennedy School to promote tribal economic development.

Project on Indigenous Governance and Development

Indigenous Governance

In the small city of Ada, Oklahoma, the buildings belonging to the Chickasaw Nation stand out. Ringed with meticulous landscaping, the modern facilities of the Chickasaw Nation reflect the Nation’s economic and community development efforts, which transformed Chickasaw’s tribally-owned businesses into one of the largest private employers in Oklahoma.

“Tribes must be really innovative in how they create revenue to help fund some of their vital social services,” says Joel Chastain MC/MPA 2022, an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation with Pueblo of Laguna and Navajo Nation heritage, who has worked on a variety of Native economic development initiatives. Chastain explains that tribes, unlike most state and local governments across the United States, face the unique challenge of not being able to levy taxes on the people who live within their boundaries.

After graduating from Haskell Indian Nations University, an all-Native American university in Kansas, with his undergraduate degree in business administration and management, Chastain was hired by the Chickasaw Nation Treasury Department. There, as an accountant, he was responsible for helping manage the finances of a variety of the tribe’s businesses. At the Chickasaw Treasury Department, Chastain saw firsthand how the tribe’s economic development efforts were creating a firm fiscal base for the tribe and growing employment opportunities for Chickasaw Nation citizens and its non-tribal neighbors alike.

Yet for all the Chickasaw Nation’s success with its economic development strategies, Chastain understood that the tribe was an outlier in this regard. “I knew what I was experiencing at the Chickasaw Nation was extraordinary,” reflects Chastain.

“Economic development in Indian Country has been an uneven proposition,” says Megan Minoka Hill, Program Director for the Harvard Project on Economic Development (Harvard Project) at the Ash Center. “While many tribal nations have achieved tremendous success, many others still struggle with building the right environment to create a firmer economic base for their citizens.”

A desire to understand why this economic disparity persists in Indian Country led Chastain to the Harvard Project, its co-director Professor Joe Kalt, and the Project’s extensive body of work examining the conditions under which sustained, self-determined political, social, cultural, and economic strengthening can be achieved by Indigenous communities. “In 2014, I finally built up enough courage to email Joe Kalt and asked if I can audit one of his courses,” recalls Chastain.

A few months later, Chastain was on a plane to Boston joining classmates from around the world for the January-term “Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building” taught by Kalt. That January in Cambridge, Chastain dove into case studies on tribal governance and economic development.  By the end of the class, Chastain knew he had to come back to Harvard Kennedy School to learn more.  “I think what hooked me on wanting to come to HKS was that they taught the course using a lot of case studies on North America tribal economic development and what tribes are doing, including best practices. But they were teaching it how some of the main principles could be applied to other developing countries.”

Policy Brief

Self-Government, Taxation, and Tribal Development: The Critical Role of American Indian Nation Business Enterprises

This policy brief analyzes the likely effects of newly Proposed Rules by the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. These Rules would (1) expand the governmental authority of federally recognized American Indian nations to design programs for the general welfare of their citizens, and (2) clarify the federal tax status of tribal government-owned enterprises. The study finds that adoption of the Proposed Rules would greatly strengthen the capacities of tribal governments, to the benefit of tribes and the United States as a whole.

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Tribal Sovereignty in Focus Back-to-School Reading List

Back-to-school recommended reads from the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development include books, articles, and podcasts that highlight Indigenous governance narratives.

Aug 16, 2023

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