By Lee Egerstrom
You won’t find economics in the catalog of courses offered by Red Lake Nation College (RLNC) But the community college is giving Native Minnesotans and all Minnesotans an understanding of principles of economics and community building.
The same is happening at the Minneapolis American Indian Center (MAIC). It applies to various other projects in the works around the state and especially in the Twin Cities metro area.
At ceremonies in April celebrating the re-opening of the MAIC after extensive remodeling and expansion, and completion of construction at the Red Lake Nation College urban campus in Minneapolis, local construction companies, business vendors and professional service providers were also saluted.
Officials at both events (see accompanying article) stressed how their projects engaged Minnesota companies and laborers and especially Native Minnesotans the center and college serve.
It’s a matter of trust, said RLNC President Dan King. That’s a trust built on knowing each other and sharing common goals and objectives, he said.
Both projects were large capital investments in community development. The end result is to provide better service to community. The planning, building and equipping of the projects, meanwhile, supported Minnesota and Native businesses over the past two years.
The MAIC plowed back more than $32 million into the community with a mix of local contributions and city, state and federal dollars to support the two-year construction project. It doubles MAIC space for hosting events, shops, and for offices and rooms for groups that support the Minneapolis and metro Native community.
RLNC’s urban project of more than $16 million mostly went to Minnesota and Red Lake businesses. Through them, as the economy twists and turns, it went on to Native and other Minnesota laborers and service providers.
The objective was to build America’s first tribal community college campus off reservation in a major urban center. It is where about half of Red Lake Nation members currently live. In doing so, the investments support Native-owned and other Minnesota businesses that further expand the shared Minnesota gross domestic product – the shared “economic pie.”
A lot of the groundwork for such projects get started with Sam Olbekson, chief executive and founder of Full Circle Indigenous Planning and Design. A White Earth Nation member, Olbekson served as design architect and master planner for MAIC and as design architect for the Red Lake campus project.
Mary LaGarde, MAIC executive director, said Olbekson is nearby when any major planning is underway. He is currently engaged with a project building a high school for Indigenous students in St. Paul. And he also now serves as president of the MAIC’s board of directors.
Cuningham Group, another Minneapolis architect office linked with architects across the country and abroad, worked the MAIC project with architecture and interior design services and also did landscape architecture.
Firm Ground Architects, a Minneapolis-based firm that also provides a vast assortment of design services, was the project manager and architect for the Red Lake urban campus at 900 S. 3rd St., in the shadow of U.S. Bank Stadium.
While a few people and firms, such as Olbekson, worked both projects, MAIC and Red Lake Nation College had different teams of consultants.
The team for MAIC involved several local engineering companies. They included:
Edina-based Emanuelson-Podas Inc., provided mechanical and electrical engineering services; St. Paul-based Reigstad Associates, structural engineering; and Brooklyn Center-based BKBM Engineers, civil engineering.
Other consultants, Olbekson said, included:
Hopkins-based Robert Rippe & Associates, a consultant on food service design, for kitchen design at the new Gatherings Café; the Kvernstoen Ronholm and Associates firm for acoustics; Intertek Testing Services, an international firm with St. Paul and other metro area offices, for various testing oversight; Bloomington-based Landmark Environmental LLC, providing services regarding environmental conditions; St. Paul-based Pigeon Consulting that supports clients with historical designations and tax credit questions, and Eagan-based Milestone Real Estate Partners as owner’s representative. It, coincidentally, is currently providing similar services for the Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi project in St. Paul.
Any institution or center providing services for children on up to senior citizens has special furnishing needs. Plymouth-based Intereum Inc. provided services and found furniture to support technology and operational needs at the center.
Fundraising consultants were Crowley, White, Helmer & Sevig, Inc., a firm serving nonprofits based in St. Paul.
Putting all these talents and services together was the role of Loeffler Construction & Consulting, the Native-owned Lakeville firm that does major construction projects for Indigenous clients across the Upper Midwest.
White Earth member Tammy Loeffler, founder and former chief executive, and her husband George, the current CEO, started the company in their home basement in 2010. The company has now completed more than $350 million worth of projects in 20 states, especially serving Native communities.
Loeffler Construction was the lead builder of the RLNC Minneapolis campus site as well. Elsewhere in Minneapolis, it is building Mimo-bimaadiziwin (“the good life”) for the Red Lake Nation. That mixed development will have housing units, a health care clinic and the Red Lake Nation’s urban embassy to serve it people living in the metro area.
Economists call this “ground up,” or “percolate up” development; not the “trickle down” economics that often are just crumbs that fall down through cracks in the system.
Red Lake Nation College tribal leaders at the opening celebration spoke of how the Minneapolis campus will perpetuate Red Lake and Indigenous culture and values for their young people living in the Twin Cities. Several talked about how this investment helps the here and now.
Two of the latter were present as vendors. One was Ryan King, owner of R&R Enterprises and a Red Lake member, whose White Bear Lake firm painted classrooms, college corridors and meeting rooms.
Another example of how the project invests in the present came when several speakers cited the beautiful floors and woodwork in the campus building.
That work was performed by John Boyd, another Red Lake member. His team from Bear Claw Hardwood Floors, a Northeast Minneapolis based company, did the flooring.
After working as a craftsman in that business for more than 20 years, Boyd told the gathering that he started his own business in 2020. That was tough timing. Business opportunities were shrinking as the COVID pandemic had people reluctant to bring workers into their homes and businesses.
He was emotional in thanking RLNC for generating work for his firm. It is an example of how community investments do maintain the present and support and carry forward opportunities for the future.
To learn more about RLNC, see: https://www.rlnc.edu
To learn more about MAIC, see: https://www.maicnet.org
