Fact Sheet         

Economic Development by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
As of October 2007

• The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe owns and operates Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley, as well as other businesses on and off the Mille Lacs Reservation.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band uses its business revenues to:
  • invest in government services, health care, education, law enforcement, economic development, cultural preservation, infrastructure, land acquisition, and other benefits to Band members
  • build long-term savings and investments
  • invest in community infrastructure, economic development, and other benefits for the entire region
    
    
• Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley directly employ nearly 3,000 people.
  
  
• The Band’s tribal government employs approximately 650 people on a full-time basis. This includes 130 people who are employed at the Band’s Nay Ah Shing Schools.

• The Mille Lacs Band has built many public buildings and facilities, including:
  • Two schools, one of which houses a child care center and a Head Start Program
  • A school bus facility
  • Three ceremonial buildings
  • Cultural immersion grounds near Rutledge
  • Two powwow and celebration grounds
  • Two health care clinics and a third health care facility inside a community center
  • Three culturally sensitive assisted living facilities for Band Elders
  • Four community centers
  • A government center (to be fully remodeled in 2007)
  • An office building for the Band’s Corporate Commission
  • A new charter school in McGregor (District II) built in 2007 called Minisinaakwaang Leadership Academy
    
    
• The Mille Lacs Band has renovated many other public buildings and facilities, including:
  • A charter school called Pine Grove Leadership Academy on new Band property near Lake Lena (District III) in 2007
  • A Department of Natural Resources facility
    

• The Mille Lacs Band has improved infrastructure that benefits the reservation and surrounding communities, including:
  • A 200,000-gallon and a 300,000-gallon water tower
  • A water treatment plant
  • Building, paving and repair of reservation roads (all Band roads and driveways were paved in 2005/2006)
    
    
• The Band has purchased new vehicles for snow removal, trash pickup, public building maintenance, and transporting Band Elders and youth.
  
  
• ML Wastewater Management, Inc., a nonprofit corporation owned by the Mille Lacs Band’s Corporate Commission, has built a new regional wastewater treatment plant and is partnering with the Garrison Kathio West Mille Lacs Lake Sanitary District to provide wastewater treatment services to the West Mille Lacs Lake region.

• More than 200 new homes have been built and many existing homes have been renovated since 1991 as part of the following initiatives:
  • The Band has built more than 40 houses on the Bugg Hill Development on the Mille Lacs Reservation.
  • The Band has built single-family and multi-family homes near Wahkon, in Minneapolis, and in Hinckley, Minnesota.
  • A number of Mille Lacs Band Elders’ homes have been renovated, including the addition of central air conditioning and garages to numerous homes.
  • Several homes have been renovated for Band families with handicapped members.
  • The Band has provided transitional housing to Band members.
    
    
• The Band manages or provides housing maintenance services to approximately 525 homes on or near the reservation. The Band also offers home loan programs, home improvement grants, and affordable housing programs to Band members.

• To ensure the safety and security of all its members, the Mille Lacs Band has a Tribal Police Department that employs 19 full-time peace officers and four civilian staff members. The Police Department is proactive in its community policing efforts; the department sponsors several programs including a neighborhood watch group, a mentorship program, canine registration, and a child passenger safety seat program. Tribal Police also actively participate in Nay Ah Shing Schools’ Boys of Summer program. In addition, the Tribal Police Department has assigned two of its officers to the North Central Drug Task Force, and has a fully trained Emergency Response Team.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band offers an Early Education Program that consists of Early Head Start for children ages newborn to three, Head Start for children ages three to five, and child care at the beginning and end of each day for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. The Band also operates the K-12 Nay Ah Shing Schools. The Ojibwe Language and Culture Program is part of the curriculum for all Early Education and Nay Ah Shing School students, which helps ensure that they are educated about the Band’s native language and traditional culture and values. In fall 2007, two new charter schools opened on the Mille Lacs Reservation; Minisinaakwaang Leadership Academy is located in McGregor and Pine Grove Leadership Academy is located near Lake Lena.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band manages a scholarship program that helps Band members afford higher education and training. Educational and career programs are helping guide Band members into key management jobs in all of the Band’s business enterprises. The Band also has partnerships with Central Lakes College, Fond du Lac Community College, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State University, Alexandria Technical College, and The College of St. Scholastica to offer college courses on the reservation to Band members, community members, and employees.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band operates a Workforce Education and Development Center to centralize the programs and services that help Band members who are looking for work or who need financial assistance. Band members can learn about educational opportunities, search for employment, and find the resources they need to care for their families. In 2005, the Band opened an office in Minneapolis to provide similar services to Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Band members living in Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band has three clinic locations to make high-quality health care services more accessible to everyone in the community. The Ne-Ia-Shing Clinic, located near Onamia, and the Aazhoomog Clinic near Hinckley, provide a broad range of health and dental services. The Band also offers clinic services at its East Lake Community Center near McGregor.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band owns a nonprofit tribal health insurance program called Circle of Health to ensure that all Band members have access to good medical care. Circle of Health assists Band members with premiums, co-pays and deductibles on covered services. The program is eligible to all Band members and supplements their primary insurance. Circle of Health is headquartered in Onamia.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band offers a strong base of family services such as a foster care program, an anger intervention group, and child welfare services. It also provides community support services such as emergency assistance, and chemical dependency services including group support programs to prevent alcoholism among adolescents.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band operates the Mille Lacs area’s first shelter for battered women – Indian and non-Indian – and their children.
  
  
• The Mille Lacs Band has a Community Youth Services (CYS) initiative that provides prevention/intervention education to youth in each of the reservation’s districts, including cultural programs, life skills, and recreational activities.

• The Mille Lacs Band’s Corporate Commission oversees the Band’s gaming enterprises and supervises the Band’s investments to provide a sound economic future for the Band.
  
  
• Business investments include:
  • Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley
  • Grand Casino Mille Lacs Hotel
  • Grand Casino Mille Lacs Events & Convention Center
  • Restaurants at Grand Casino Mille Lacs
    • Grand Northern Grill
    • Grand Buffet
    • The Woodlands Steakhouse
    • Plums Snack Bar
  • Grand Casino Hinckley Hotel
  • Grand Casino Hinckley Events & Convention Center
  • Restaurants at Grand Casino Hinckley
    • Grand Grill Americana
    • Grand Buffet
    • The Winds Steakhouse
    • Cherries Snack Bar
    • Silver Sevens Lounge
  • Grand Casino Hinckley Amphitheater
  • Grand Casino Hinckley RV Resort
  • Grand Hinckley Inn
  • Grand Northern Inn
  • Grand National Golf Course
  • Eddy’s Resort
  • Grand Makwa Cinema
  • MLB Marathon gas station and convenience store
  • East Lake Marathon gas station, convenience store, and laundromat
  • Crossroads Marathon gas station, convenience store, and laundromat
  • A Subway restaurant franchise
  • ML Wastewater Management, Inc.
  • Grand Market
  • Grand Ventures Travel, Inc.
  • Candy Cupboard
    
    
• The Mille Lacs Band owns and operates Woodlands National Bank, with assets exceeding $100 million. The bank has offices in Onamia, Hinckley, Cloquet, and Sturgeon Lake and a branch inside Grand Market.
  
  
• The Corporate Commission’s Small Business Development Program provides technical assistance, business management training, and low-interest loans to Band members who want to operate their own businesses.    Since the inception of the Small Business Development Program in 1996, the Corporate Commission has provided 70 loans to 60 Band members, totaling approximately $1.97 million.  Forty-eight percent of those businesses are still in operation, which compares favorably to the national average showing 50 percent of all businesses still in operation after their first year, and only 5 percent after their fifth year.    The Small Business Development Program offers extensive services and training to help Band member entrepreneurs develop the skills and knowledge they need to become successful business owners.