History of the American Indian Opportunity Industrial Center

Thank you for taking an interest in the Aboriginal Initiative Opportunity Center's possibilities for Alberta. The idea and the formula are proven ones and have worked for millions of oppressed people around the world. Reverend Leon H. Sullivan, author of the Sullivan principles (see revised copy for Edmonton) and founder of the Opportunities Industrial Centers of America had the vision and leadership to form a national network of comprehensive employment skill training centers serving the world. The first one was established in Philadelphia in response to the needs of the poor and disadvantaged segments of the community, who faced barriers of discrimination and lack of opportunity to acquire necessary training skills to overcoming artificial barriers to employment. The OIC network serves disadvantaged and unskilled Americans of all races. It has expanded to over eighty urban and rural centers across the United States and is now in many countries around the world. OIC operates a network of thirty (30) Projects in thirteen (13) African countries, as well as projects in England, Poland, Russia, the Philippines, Belize, and Central America. In addition, there are American Indian OICs in Minneapolis, Bemidji, Minnesota, on the Mille Lacs Ojibwe Reservation, the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, and they are in the process of opening American Indian OICs on the Oglala Lakota Nation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and an AIOIC in Fontana, California.

American Indian OICs were started in 1979 at the Request of Clyde Bellecourt, one of the founders of the American Indian Movement. He went to Philadelphia and met with Dr. Leon H. Sullivan and told him of the American Indian Movement which had made demands upon major Minneapolis employers to hire American Indians. Some agreed to hire them, but more than 75% could not retain their jobs due to poor preparation and work habits. Dr. Sullivan agreed to help and he showed Clyde and the others with him how they could succeed where others had failed. The American Indian OIC in Minneapolis was able to turn the job retention rates around, with 75% of the Indians keeping their jobs.

The Minneapolis AIOIC was the first Indian-controlled OIC, with an Indian majority on its 13-member board. Since 1979, Minneapolis AIOIC has served over 25,000 people. Today its job training programs include database specialist, receptionist, data-entry worker, file clerk, word processing, desktop publishing, retail sales, administrative assistant, bookkeeper clerk, blackjack dealer, casino management, and small business management. It provides adult basic education and GED preparation as well as work orientation, readiness, and placement program for youth as well as adults. Its economic development program has started three businesses: A child care center, a micrographics company, and an Indian craft store. Minneapolis AIOIC also developed Project Grow, a community gardens project that aims to address nutritional and health education issues (especially the high diabetes rate of Indians) as well as economic development. Begun in 1991 in Minneapolis, Project Grow is now also active on the Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Mille Lacs, Red Lake, and White Earth Indian reservations in Minnesota.

Between 1986 and 1991, national OICA and the Minneapolis OIC held a number of discussions on how to expand AIOICs to other urban and reservation Indian communities. Based on the success of the Minnesota programs, Indians in other communities wanted to start similar programs. Between 1989 and 1991, three more American Indian OICs were established in Minnesota: the Anishinabe OIC on the Mille Lac Indian Reservation, on the Fond du Lac Reservation, and the Bemidji Area OIC serving Minnesota’s three largest Indian Reservations-Leech Lake, Red Lake, and White Earth.

AIOICs and Indian self-determination. These discussions and developments led to a June 1991 resolution by the OICA Board of Directors. “The American Indian Development Initiative”, committing OICA to the development of American Indian OICs on a national basis. The American Indian Development Program is designed to assist American Indians “to create a pathway for” …local community-based Indian self-determination and Education Assistance Act, Public Law 93-639 (1975), the OICs American Indian Development Program seeks “to promote and facilitate Indian participation, control, and self-governance in the development of education and training which seeks to develop human capital and potential through the creation of opportunities for the poor, disadvantaged, and local grassroots people who are organized and trained to assume control and management of their own local OIC program.”

As with other OICs, these objectives are pursued primarily through local employment training programs, job development, placement, and counseling services, and special human service programs that support job readiness and retention. Building on this foundation of personal development and job training, OICA provides technical assistance to American Indian OICs in the planning and development of long-term economic development and community revitalization projects.

To implement the program, the OICA Board of Directors approved the formation and structure of an American Indian Advisory Committee composed of a two-thirds American Indian majority and empowered it to assume all program oversight responsibilities for the American Indian Development Program. Vernon Bellecourt was hired as a National Field Service Coordinator for OICA of America’s Indian Development Program to develop American Indian OICs on reservations and in urban Indian communities across America. American Indian OICs have recently been established in Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth. Interest groups have formed to organize them in San Diego, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Detroit, Sioux City, South Dakota, Great Falls, Montana, and among the Poach Creek Band in Alabama. The American Indian Development Program is also developing a partnership between the Indian supporters of the Zapatista National Liberation Army in Chiapas, Mexico and the Land O’ Lakes Cooperative in Minnesota to develop cooperatives in Chiapas to process and market Indian farmers and their coffee crops.

Corporations serve in an advisory and supportive capacity to OIC’s national and local boards and their programs, providing technical assistance, equipment, funding, and consultation on program development. Corporations serve on two support groups. The National Technical Advisory Council (NTAC) is comprised of chief executive officers from some of the nation’s leading corporations and help shape program development. The National Technical Advisory Council is comprised of middle and upper level executive loan programs, where experienced corporate executives are loaned to assist OIC with technical development tasks. Among the major corporations serving on NIAC and NTAC, including Allied-Signal, Chevron, GE, GM, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Miller Brewing, Pepsi Cola, and Sears.

Within the basic OIC program model, each local OIC program is adapted to meet the needs of its local community. OICs adapt each local program to be the intersecton of the needs of the local labor market and the needs of poor and disadvantaged communities. By establishing new A.I.O.C.s, significant progress will be made on these key objectives:

1. Improved marketable skills, career development skills, employment opportunities, and long-term economic security of Native people and their families;
2. Creation and development of Native-run organizations with the capacity to request and administer available education, training, and career development resources;
3. Improved economic development capacity, employer/community connections, transportation, health status, home ownership, child development, and education in the communities served;
4. To increase the employment of Native people as a result of improved preparation;
5. To decrease public assistance dependency of Native people, positively impacting the economy;
6. To improve the quality of life of Native people by helping them to transfer the philosophy of self-help into increased economic security;
7. To increase employability and skills of Native people, including academic, occupational, and personal skills;
8. To decrease employment barriers;
9. To increase the number of Native people working in the private sector, and their retention in employment.

In order to accomplish these objectives, service components, tailored to meet the needs of the local community include: Recruiting/Counseling, Supportive Services, Feeder Program, Skills Training, Job Development, Special, Programs, and Evaluation of Measurable Objectives. Organizational development procedures for A.I.O.C. require involvement of citizens, public and private sector representatives, including First Nation people, in strategic and investment planning. Each local community also makes a commitment to work with employers and develop job markets for graduates.

Detailed workplans and budgets have been developed to support the creation of these community-based, Native programs and the delivery of proven services to more people and organizations. Expereienced leaders and partner organizations will provide training and technical assistance to Native communities and area businesses as they form interest groups, facilitate needs assessments, and develop A.I.O.C. affiliates.

Expansion of “Project Grow” and Other Effective Model Programs:

Once groups have the capacity to invest and administer community development resources, expansion of other model programs becomes much easier. Models available for immediate adaptation and expansion include Project Grow, a community health improvement project piloted and refined at AIOC in Minneapolis. Several Project Grow sites in Minnesota and other states are now in the early stages of development. Such efforts, as well as the expansion of AIOC will complement other economic development, and infrastructure initiatives are already in place in first nation communities.

By building on successful efforts to empower Native people, including practices developed over many years in our communities, this plan provides a realistic means to promote the success of new partnerships. By implementing proven community development practices, we will all increase the effectiveness of our resource investments and develop new income streams.

VERNON AND CLYDE BELLECOURT--FOUNDERS OF AMERICAN INDIAN O.I.C.S-- PHONE NUMBER IS AT THE PEACE MAKER CENTER (612) 724-8090