The Wind River Business Growth Lab project will launch a business accelerator and resource center that empowers entrepreneurs to achieve economic independence. - Wind River Development Fund is seeking a 3-year, $900,000 grant for our “Wind River Business Growth Lab” project through the Economic Advancement Grants for Local Empowerment (EAGLE) Project Area 5: Indigenous Designs to Empower and Advance Self-Determination (IDEAS). The "Wind River Business Growth Lab" project will serve the Wind River Indian Reservation, a 2.2 million acre Native community in Wyoming. Populated by two tribes - the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe - Wind River is home to over 25,000 people, approximately 30% of whom are Native American. A historic lack of investment and lack of access to capital has contributed to stagnant growth characterized by limited business development or employment opportunities. Targeted examination of Fort Washakie and Ethete, the two main population centers on the Reservation, reveal severe levels of economic distress experienced by community members. Per capita income is just over $17,000, and the poverty rate is approaching 30%. With a lagging private sector, over 70% of the workforce in these two communities is employed by government entities. Community members are in need of capital, support, and resources that empower them to create their own jobs and increase economic resiliency on Wind River. Wind River Development Fund, a Native community development financial institution established in 2001, promotes self-sufficiency, self-determination, and an enhanced quality of life for the Reservation community. For the last several years, Wind River Development Fund has been building an ecosystem that supports business development and promotes targeted high-growth industries. The nonprofit organization is collaborating with multiple community partners to invest over $40 million into the Reservation and anticipates significant levels of business growth and job creation. In this pivotal moment in Wind River's history, the "Wind River Business Growth Lab" project aligns with and complements these initiatives by preparing community members to seize upcoming economic opportunities. More specifically, the project will help mitigate common barriers entrepreneurs face, empowering community members to start or expand businesses, and ultimately unleashing prosperity on Wind River. The overarching goal of the project is to launch the Wind River Business Growth Lab, a business accelerator and resource center where local entrepreneurs can access support for the design and implementation of self-determined pathways to economic independence and prosperity. Wind River Development Fund will achieve this goal through two objectives over the course of the project: • The Wind River Business Growth Lab will provide services to 225 entrepreneurs, 180 (or 80%) of whom will report positive impacts on either: 1) the launch of a business, or 2) current business operations, as measured through Wind River Development Fund’s holistic business impact tracking tool. • Fifty Wind River Business Growth Lab participants will progress through a minimum of one phase on the business development continuum developed by Wind River Development Fund; of those, 25 will successfully launch a new or expand an existing business. Using Wind River Development Fund's Indigenous Sovereignty Framework as the basis for design, the "Wind River Business Growth Lab" project will build out local infrastructure for a business accelerator, which will be comprised of 2,400 square feet of space in the Frank B. Wise Business Complex in Fort Washakie. The space, will feature private work areas, a dedicated conference room, collaborative work areas, and a range of technology supports, and will be a key strategy for expanding entrepreneurial services on the Reservation. Either through a self-guided menu of a la carte services or structured, intensive business challenges, project participants will benefit from new resources, expanded professional networks, increased business skills, and access to business capital.
