LSBE is honored to have Karen Diver, senior advisor to the president for Native American affairs at the University of Minnesota, come to speak at next week’s Distinguished Speaker event. The event is free and open to the public. More information about Ms. Diver, the event, and to register can be found on LSBE’s website.
In preparation for Ms. Diver’s talk, we at the BBER wanted to provide some information on the American Indian population in our region, how that population has changed over the past decade, and what economic development initiatives are taking place regionally to help improve the lives of American Indian communities locally.
According to estimates from the 2020 census, the population of the Duluth-Superior MSA (which includes St. Louis and Carlton counties in Minnesota and Douglas County in Wisconsin) was 291,638. This was an increase of roughly 12,000 residents since the last census in 2010. Of those 290,000 residents, roughly 15,000 reported their race as American Indian or Alaska Native, either as their only race or in combination with another racial category.
American Indians represent the largest racial/ethnic minority in the region. Of the population, 5.2% reported some type of American Indian heritage, either “American Indian and Alaska Native alone” or “two or more races” with one being American Indian and Alaska Native.
Since 2010, the American Indian population in the Duluth-Superior MSA has grown by roughly 35%, increasing from 11,252 to 15,214. By comparison, the growth of the overall population in the region was only 4%. Most of the growth in the American Indian population was due to growth in the number of individuals identifying as having “two or more races,” with one being American Indian.
In terms of tribal groupings, the American Community Survey reported that, in 2019, roughly 70% of the American Indian population in the Duluth-Superior MSA identified as part of the Chippewa or Ojibwe tribes, while 3.3% identified as Sioux or Dakota. Roughly 1% were Cherokee or Navajo, and the remaining population (26%) did not report any tribal affiliation.
While the poverty rate among American Indian populations is much higher than the rest of the population, the rate has been decreasing. In 2019, 35.4% of the American Indian population in the Duluth MSA was below the poverty line (n=2,149). This is a lower rate than that of 2012, when 42.5% of the American Indian population was below the poverty line (n=3,017). By comparison, the poverty rate for all residents of the Duluth MSA in 2019 was 13.2% and 15.2% in 2012.
Similarly, while educational attainment among American Indians tends to be lower than the population overall, that rate has been increasing in recent years. In 2019, 13.9% of the American Indian population had earned bachelor’s degree or higher. But in 2015, only 9.7% of the American Indian population had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The BBER recently compiled a directory of all economic development agencies in the region for one of its projects. Of the 33 agencies included in the report that do provide some type of economic development service, four are affiliated with local tribes. These are the Cook County/Grand Marais Economic Development Authority, which serves Cook County and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation; the Fond du Lac Planning Division, which serves the Fond du Lac Reservation; the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; and Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, which is a for-profit tribal corporation of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (MLBO) whose mission is to improve the quality of life of Mille Lacs Band members.
These organizations note a variety of projects and initiatives aimed at improving the lives of their communities. For example, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has plans to use American Rescue Plan funding to build a multi-purpose cultural center and roundhouse in Miskwaabekong for community use. The Fond du Lac Planning Division lists food sovereignty and fiber communications initiatives along with two major transportation projects among its current projects. The division also reports that it anticipates the results of an economic impact assessment of the Fond du Lac Band itself to be released this month. Meanwhile, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures plans to break ground on a proposed 30-unit housing complex within the next month. The housing development is one of many investments for the company, which operates five separate lines of businesses in gaming, hospitality, marketing and technology, investing, and government contracting.