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Tribal Leadership Summit and Conferences
Tribal Leader Speaker Series
Chief Phillip Martin
Sponsored by Wells
Fargo New Century Programs
 Just 40 years ago, Mississippi Band of Choctaw tribal
unemployment was 80 percent, 88 percent of households
had
annual incomes under $3,000 and only about two dozen
tribal
members could say they had at least some college. But
Martin noticed that Mississippi was beginning
to attract small industries, and he thought the
Choctaw's
development of their own industries was an attainable
goal.
"I said to the council, 'If we don't create jobs,
we will
always be on welfare and our young people will always be
leaving." The tribal council agreed.
Under the leadership of Chief Martin,
the Mississippi Band
of Choctaw’s 9,000-member tribe remade itself in less
than
two generations into an economic powerhouse whose string
of
self-sustaining businesses generates $450 million a year
and
provides a job for any tribal member who needs one.
Martin,
recently elected to his seventh consecutive term as
tribal
chief, offers a four-word explanation: "We
developed an
economy."
A video tape of Chief Martin's speech
is available. Email
Ann Keller. |
