Cultural Corridor
Native American Economic and Cultural Corridor
The American Indian Cultural and Economic Corridor Project’s goal is to increase the Minneapolis American Indian community’s capacity to seize 21st century entrepreneurial opportunities through the development of an American Indian cultural and economic corridor. The project is designed to present permanent and sustainable solutions to the intergenerational poverty and lack of economic opportunity that have plagued the Minneapolis Indian community since its formation in the 1950’s.
The Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) is our main partner in this project. NACDI is an intermediary community development organization configured as an alliance of the major Indian nonprofits, several Indian businesses, postsecondary institutions, and Hennepin County founded in 2006. It is the first organization of its kind in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. NACDI’s mission is to partner with the American Indian community to build and execute 21st century community development strategies and its purpose is to develop a new community infrastructure that will build community capacity and assets within high growth economic sectors including Land and Housing, Technology and Media, and Health and Wellness.
The project objectives are:
Objective 1: By the end of the twelfth month/second year of the project, a minimum of 400 Indian community members will have been engaged in a community-driven process to develop a Master Plan/blueprint for a physical and virtual American Indian cultural and economic corridor
Objective 2: By the end of the twelfth month/third year of the project, 150 Indian youth will have completed 400 hrs. of technology, media, and entrepreneurial training in preparation for implementation of the Master Plan
Objective 3: In the third year of the project, a minimum of 3 cooperative enterprise development opportunities for Indian youth and adults will be identified and explored as a result of the Master Planning process