The National Congress of American Indians, or NCAI, convened in New Orleans this week with tribal leaders from all over the country gathering to share knowledge and discuss policy priorities, including many related to tribal economies — everything from credit access to land and energy development was on the agenda. 

One barrier to growing tribal economies is a lack of capital, said Chris James with the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. 

“Historically, a lot of times we have not had access to credit,” he said.

At NCAI this week, James’ organization pushed for changes to make federal farm, business and home loans more attainable in Indian Country. James also wants to see tribally-run enterprises thinking globally. 

“Our Native American businesses are often thinking export is just getting a good outside of our community,” he said, adding that with some federal support, they could be trading internationally. 

Delegates also talked about shoring up tribal food supply chains, per Carly Griffith Hotvedt with the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. 

“If we want to be sovereign and feed our own people, we need to have those means of getting food on the table from a processing perspective,” she said.

Next month, tribal leaders will bring these priorities to the annual White House Tribal Nations Summit.