A tribal ranch, a flower and coffee shop and high-tech electronics manufacturing are three reservation businesses highlighted in the 2012 Native News Honors Project, the 21st annual edition. Students at The University of Montana School of Journalism created a series of eight news stories, with videos and photos, about Montana tribal businesses called “Open for Business.”
The project is introduced in a few paragraphs: “Unemployment rates are alarmingly high throughout Indian Country, and Montana is no exception. …
“Mainstream news coverage of reservations across the country often focuses solely on economic struggle, but rarely offers insight into what’s being done to fix it. This coverage fails to recognize that where there are challenges, there are also solutions.
“Many on Montana’s reservations are creating jobs and businesses, not just for themselves, but for their tribe. Their persistence and creativity has led to opportunity on reservations, allowing tribal members to work in the community they cherish and on the land they grew up with.
“This year, The University of Montana School of Journalism’s Native News Honors Project explores stories of this path to success, and what it takes to make it work on the reservation. The path has been different for each of Montana’s first people.”
Read the eight stories here.