Assn, on American Indian Affairs Starts Native Business Credit Fund
Fund to Help Natives
Start Small Businesses
In an effort to stimulate village
economic development, the Asso
ciation on American Indian Affairs
has established an Alaska Native
Business Credit Fund to help na
tives finance small businesses.
The fund will advance short-term
credit or guarantee commercial
loans not in excess of $2,000 for any
one individual or enterprise. It was
started with an initial deposit of
$3,000. of which $1,500 to $1,700 was
earmarked for Mis. Katherine Pe
ter. of Ft. Yukon, to expand her
bakery business.
Howard Rock, editor of the Tun
dra Times, has been named admin
istrator of the fund to be handled
through the Alaska State Bank in
Fairbanks. He will work with the
informal assistance of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs projects development
-Officers.
The fund has been designed so
®s to be simple to administer and
especially adapted to the particular
Heeds and aptitudes of the villagers.
It will be of necessity a high-risk
Venture if, viewed strictly as a credit
operation. The A.A.I.A. hopes that
What is learned from this exper
ience will be helpful in formulating
recommendations to the BIA and to
commercial sources of credit in
Alaska.
The fund was established with the
realization that most native vil
lages are greatly dependent on a
subsistence economy.
Cash income from all sources is
extremely limited. Primary sources
are wage work, trapping, craftwork,
and public assistance. In the village
of Fort Yukon, with an Indian pop
ulation of 700, only 12 persons have
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steady, year-around employment.
In the village of Minto. with an
Indian population of 200. only one
person, the manager of the Native
Store has year-around employment;
only five have summer work away
from the village. Two disabled men
received public assistance. A few
of the women make birch-bark
i baskets in their spare time.
The Indian trappers trade furs
for credit at the Native Store. Since
the Minto Native Store absorbs
most of the cash in the village, its
gross annual sales of $10-12.000 offer
a rough index of the total cash
economy.
While there is an increasing flow
of cash in villages and villagers arc
eager to create businesses, a native
finds it almost impossible to accum
mulate enough capital to make the
initial capital investment and lacks
the collateral and credit rating to
secure a commercial loan.
While the federal government has
accepted as its responsibility a broad
credit program designed to encour
age native economic development,
this program does not operate ef
fectively in Alaska. The BIA Credit
Officer in Juneau states that no
loans are made to individuals in
Alaska and in any case its formal
requirements for eligibility.
“If the native villagers of Alaska
are to continue making a relatively
smooth transition to a substantially
cash economy, they must be able to
engage in appropriate business,"
said William Byler, executive di
rector of the A.A.I.A.
“Unless a workable credit pro
gram is established to meet their
needs, these business opportunities
will go unrealized or pass by de
fault to non-natives and lead to in
creasing economic dependency. The
flight of cash from the villages will
go unchecked.”
Although the Alaska Native Busi
ness Credit Fund has been started
with $3,000 from the Laverne Madi
gan Memorial Fund, it is planned
that additional moneys will be so
licited from private donors and
foundations to raise the fund to
$10,000 by the end of the first year
of operation, or enough to finance
eight to twelve projects annually.
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Ft. Yukon Woman
To Expand Her
Bakery Business
“Where there’s a will, there's a
way.”
This quotation is particularly ap
! plicable to an enterprising 45-year
| old Athabascan woman, Mi s. Kath
erine Peter, of Ft. Yukon. For soon
j Mrs. Peter will get the chance to
j expand a small bakery business she
started a year ago in her home.
Her opportunity will come about j
as a result of a loan of approxi
mately $1,700 from the Alaska State j
Rank in Fairbanks, guaranteed by
funds in the recently established
Alaska Native Business Credit Fund
of the Association of American In
[ dian Affairs.
j Each day for the past year Mrs.
| Peter has been baking two batches
| or 24 loaves of bread, 100 cupcakes,
50 cinnamon rolls, and about 6 pies.
Although she lacks adequate equip
ment and she buys her supplies in
small quantities, she has been able
to sell her products in competition
with bread air-freighted from Fair
banks.
With her forthcoming loan, Mrs.
Peter will be able to buy supplies
in bulk and equipment making it
easier and cheaper to turn out bak
ery products. She wants to expand
production by making at least 30
loaves of bread per day. 200 cup
cakes, 100 cinnamon rolls, and 20
pies.
Mrs. Peter has since childhood
been interested in cooking and bak
ing. Her parents died when she was
small and she was reared by Ezias
Loola, chief of Ft. Yukon, and his
wife. She has been employed, as
a hospital waitress, as a cook at a
church rectory and restaurant, and
has been employed in private
homes.
“One day a little over a year ago
I thought to myself, why shouldn’t
I stay home and start a business
rather than leave the children un
attended,” Mrs. Peter told Tundra
Times.
“The word went around fast and
people started coming to my home
to buy bread. These people told
others. Soon there were a lot of peo
ple coming regularly.”
Mrs. Peters operates on a strictly
cash basis. Each loaf of bread costs
,56 cents. 55 cents for the bread and
a penny tax. In addition to making
her products by hand, she does her
own bookkeeping and is praised by
officials by always turning her tax
reports in promptly.
With her loan, Mrs. Peter will be
able to buy a year’s supply of sta
ples at greatly reduced prices, a
small hotel model stove with a 36
inch oven, propane, plastic bags. etc.
Later, she hopes to purchase a 25
lb. electric mixer.
Assisting Mrs. Peter in her busi
ness are a daughter and a sister,
Mrs. Louise Peter. Mrs. Peter’s 13
year-old son, Walter, is her delivery
boy.
The Tundra Times will avidly fol
low the progress of Mrs. Peters’ Ft.
Yukon bakery.
HAPPY BUSINESSWOMAN—Mrs. Katherine Peter, of Ft. Yukon,
beams broadly as she is handed a telegram from Miss Helga Tansy,
bookkeeper of Tundra Times, informing her that the Association on
American Indian Affairs has started the Alaska Native Business
Credit Fund and funds have been earmarked to guarantee a $1700
loan for her. Mrs. Peter will use the loan to buy equipment and
supplies to expand her bakery business at Ft. Yukon. At center,
looking on pleasingly is BIA Projects Officer, Frank Anderson.
—Tundra Times Photo
Pt. Hope Getting
Colorful Facelift
Stimulated by construction of a
new school building. Point Hopers,
in turn, are going into a building
boom. New houses are springing up
everywhere in the village and the
builders are doing it in a most
COLORFUL manner.
According to information receiv
ed, income from construction of
the new Point Hope school is mak
ing it possible for other construction
in the village.
Kirk Oviuk has most of the ma
terials to begin his new house. John
Tingook completed his and painted
it green. John Oktollik’s new house i
is white, Elijah Attungana’s is blue
green. Othneil Oomittuk’s house is
bright red.
The following men are in the pro
cess of completing their establish
ments and there is a growing in- j
terest as to what color they will ;
decide to put on them.
Allen Rock is to paint his new j
lodge and coffee shop soon. Mark j
Kinneaveak has a small new house ■
and is, as yet unpainted. John Ku- |
banyi’s new house by Dan Lis
bourne's is also not painted.
Joe Frankson and Raymond
Frankson are thinking about start
ing a business and may move into
a building that was once used as the
Pt. Hope Lodge. The white paint
on it is old and pealing. It is not
known whether they plan to paint
it if they move or what color it
will be.
The outlook at Point Hope is as
bright as the rainbow.
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Trapping Supplies
We buy raw furs and seal skins
P.O. Box 845
Anchorage, Alaska
__■
Gruening...
(Continued from Page 11
life agents stationed in Alaska —
subordinate officials — who took it
! upon themselves to arrest Eskimos
in 1961. when this had never been
done during the 45 years that the
Migratory Bird Treaty had been in
J effect. But the correction for what
: I consider their mistaken zeal lies
j with the Secretary of the Interior.
I You also sav:
‘‘And Senator Ernest Gruening of
Alaska has pressed the U. S. Com
missioner of Fish and Wildlife to
make the same assurance to Alaska
Eskimos and Indians."
It is not correct that I pressed
the U S. Commissioner of Fish and
Wildlife to take the same action
that the Canadians had done, but I
have repeatedly pressed the Secre
tary of the Interior to do so. The
Secretary of the Interior has the
ultimate and final authority on
these matters, and he is the one
responsible for whatever action i3
taken or not taken by the depart
ment of the Interior and its sub
ordinate agency, the Fish and Wild
life Service. , j
Cordially yours,
Ernest Gruening, U.S.S.
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