WINNEBAGO — Economic conditions on the Winnebago Reservation have shown marked improvement over the last three decades, according to a report released earlier this month.
Since 1990, the median income of Native Americans on the Winnebago Reservation grew by 78 percent, according to the , the tribe’s economic development arm; the number of middle-class households more than doubled during that period.
“The Winnebago Tribe’s secret sauce is setting up multiple institutions to drive the growth at every level of our community,†said Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc.
“We intentionally have developed a middle class on our reservation,†he added. “We are, in fact, building a middle class, in really what was the poorest place in Nebraska. And this is nothing short of an economic miracle, and it’s a testament to the Winnebago Tribe exercising its rights to develop itself, and its sovereignty. When the state and the federal government get out of our way, it gives us a chance to be successful.â€
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But the 80-page report, prepared by the Taylor Policy Group, an independent consultancy, showed that, while indices of economic well-being have greatly improved on the Winnebago Reservation over the past 30 years, residents remain substantially poorer than the U.S. median.
Still, in some areas, Winnebago has seen more positive trends than the state of Nebraska or the country as a whole. The rate of homeownership, for instance, increased nearly 5 percent on the reservation between 2000 and 2020, while the overall homeownership rate in the United States and in Nebraska fell.
“You could consider it a multi-front war against poverty and brain-drain,†Jonathan Taylor, the author of the study, said.
Among other findings in the report:
Between 1989 and 2020, Winnebago’s percentage of persons living in poverty decreased from 43.9 percent to 30.6 percent; despite the improvement, this is well above the U.S. average (12.8 perce
- nt) and Thurston County overall (21.2 percent);
- During that same time period, the inflation-adjusted median household income on the reservation rose from $32,700 to $58,200. This is lower than the U.S. median household income of $73,500 — but the inflation-adjusted U.S. median income barely budged over that 31-year period, giving the reservation a significantly larger jump in median incomes by comparison;
- Between 1990 and 2020, the Winnebago unemployment rate declined from 20.4 percent to 15.5 percent. This was better than other Great Plains reservations in the aggregate, which declined from 29.6 percent to 17.4 percent unemployment, though it remained significantly higher than the U.S. median and each state of the tri-state area;
Over that period, the reservation’s labor force participation rate — the percentage of adults engaged in the workforce — rose from 57.9 percent to 62.1 percent. The overall U.S. labor force participation was 65.3 percent in 2020 (a decline of about 2 percent compared to 1990) and Nebraska overall had a labor force participation rate of 69.3 percent, among the highest in the country;
* Female labor force participation on the reservation is particularly strong, going from 55.2 percent in 1990 to 63.8 percent in 2020; this is higher than the U.S. average of 58.6 percent and only 1 percent below Nebraska’s overall female labor force participation. The Winnebago male labor force participation rate declined, though not by as great a percentage as in the United States overall during that time;
* The percentage of Winnebago homes that are owner-occupied advanced from 39.7 percent in 2000 to 44.5 percent in 2020; by comparison, the U.S. percentage of owner-occupied homes actually dropped during that period, from 66.2 percent to 64.4 percent. The percentage of owner-occupied homes in Nebraska dropped from 67.4 percent to 66.2 percent;
* The percentage of adults over 25 with a bachelor’s degree or higher roughly quadrupled, from 3.5 percent in 2000 to 14 percent in 2020; in the United States overall, 32.9 percent of adults have at least a bachelor’s degree.
Catching up with the rest of the U.S.
Goosing the Winnebago economy is “a tall order,†as the report noted: “Every year that the Winnebago economy does not grow faster than Nebraska’s or the United States’, the faster it has to grow in the future to catch up. The challenge is to outpace some of the most dynamic economies on the planet. Meantime, the Winnebago economy is in a remote, rural location.â€
But with so many positive trends, it’s possible that someday the tribe’s residents could reach income parity with the state of Nebraska and the country, Morgan said. Within a decade, he said, there’s no reason the tribe couldn’t surpass the median household income of the surrounding states.
“The median income of the tribe started way behind, but we have grown at a rate much faster than the rest of the state, and America, and I see no reason why we can’t catch them in the next 10 years,†Morgan said.
The Winnebago Tribe’s fortunes have been tied in part to the fortunes of Ho-Chunk Inc., which was formed in 1994: In 2022, Ho-Chunk Inc. paid the tribe a more than $5 million dividend.
Morgan credited the WinnaVegas casino near Sloan, Iowa, with kickstarting the Ho-Chunk’s share of the prosperity.
“That’s what funded Ho-Chunk Inc., and that’s what led to the development of the government, which has spawned lots of other entities, like the hospital, and the college, so they’re all related, right?†Morgan said. “Ho-Chunk Inc., is part of the story, is a big part of the story. But it’s really a story about the tribe, and its long-term decision making.â€
Functioning in a dysfunctional system
The Winnebago Tribe’s successes came in spite of headwinds and setbacks at the federal level; relative per-capita federal tribal spending has slumped since the 1970s.
“And a lot of the laws are designed to be repressive. And so the system really is hard for tribes to break out of,†Morgan said.
“We still function, in a dysfunctional and exploitative legal system. It’s just that we’ve been, structurally, able to rise above it, with a little bit of luck thrown in there, too,†he added.
Employees of Ho-Chunk and the tribe’s entities were quoted in the report expressing satisfaction with their jobs, saying that the tribal employers were more sensitive to their needs as individuals.
“Bosses are extra cool. Other places crack the whip,†Ira Rave, a machine operator at Ho-Chunk’s Rock River Manufacturing, was quoted as saying in the report. “Here, there is more understanding. They are parents, too, and they understand when things come up.â€
“We’re good to all of our employees,†Morgan said.
$1 billion projected revenues
Ho-Chunk itself, generator of $382 million in revenues as of last year, makes the vast majority of its revenues from government contracting. Smaller slices of its revenues come from gaming, construction and other lines.
That’s expected to change radically in the years to come: By 2027 or 2028, thanks to anticipated massive growth in Ho-Chunk’s gambling revenues, the company could approach $1 billion in annual revenues, Morgan said. Ho-Chunk was instrumental in the legalization of casino gaming in Nebraska in 2020, and it’s made major bets on casinos in Omaha and Lincoln. Ho-Chunk also owns the Atokad Park racetrack in South Sioux City, where a casino is expected someday.
“It means that we can design and implement our own destiny,†Morgan said of the impact of the projected $1 billion annual revenues on the tribe. “And we haven’t been able to do that for hundreds of years. In a modern society, money is the driver and the power.â€