The loan will fund debt consolidation and infrastructure, including a building to house the Indian Health Service Clinic, road construction, sewer and water projects, and other utilities.
In 2009 the MHA Nation was approved for a loan for up to $30 million for several economic development and community infrastructure projects. The 2011 loan will refinance the 2009 loan and provide funding for additional projects.
The 2009 loan refinanced outstanding tribal debt to decrease debt service, improve the tribal operating budget, and retire all casino revenue secured debt. The loan funded new working capital needs to retain and create tribal government jobs as well as provide funding to support government operations for two years. It also financed new housing projects to address Tribal members need for adequate housing and clinic employee housing and paid for a portion of the cost to construct a new health clinic as well as reimburse the Tribe for payment of an arbitration claim.
The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara live on the Fort Berthold Reservation along the Missouri River in North Dakota. About one-third of the enrollment of about 12,000 lives on the 988,000-acre reservation. Only about half of reservation land is owned by Native Americans or the tribe as a whole. The largest communities of the reservation are the cities of New Town and Parshall. The tribe operates 4 Bears Casino and Lodge built in 1993 in New Town as an economic enterprise and job source for tribal members. Four Bears Bridge, which opened in 2005, provides access across the Missouri River. The SMSC has previously donated $1.5 million to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation for housing.
Already in fiscal year 2011 the SMSC has announced more than $14 million in grants , with grants of $1 million each going to the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Indians (Minnesota), the Crow Tribe of Indians of Montana, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe (South Dakota), the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe (South Dakota), the Omaha Tribe (Nebraska), the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (South Dakota), Spirit Lake Tribe (North Dakota), the White Earth Nation (Minnesota), and Yankton Sioux Tribe (South Dakota). A grant for $312,000 was also awarded to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana.
The SMSC has also made a total of more than $396 million in loans to other tribes for economic development projects. Over the past 15 years, the SMSC has donated more than $215.7 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes and Native American organizations.
About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need.
Since 1996 the SMSC paid more than $7.5 million for shared local road construction projects and an additional $5 million for road projects on the reservation. The SMSC has also paid $12.7 million to local governments for services and another $5 million for other projects.
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Mazopiya, Playworks, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, Shakopee Dakota Convenience Stores, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities.
This press release and other information may be downloaded from the SMSC website.
