Income levels for American Indians who live on reservations remain the lowest in the United States. Image from Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will start a Center for Indian Country Development this year.

Bank president Narayana Kocherlakota announced the initiative in a speech on Friday. He said the center will help tribes across the nation achieve their economic development goals.

"In 1970, the per capita income of Indians on reservations was, in units of 2009 dollars, not far above $5,000 per year," Kocherlakota said in his speech. "This was about half to two-thirds of the income of Blacks, Hispanics, and nonreservation Indians and about a third of the income of Whites."

"The per capita income of reservation Indians did not reach $10,000 per year until Census 2000 and is still not far above that low threshold," Kocherlakota added. "Even now, poverty rates on reservations are nearly triple the national rate, and over 40 percent of children on reservations live in poverty."

Kocherlakota expects to launch the center by the middle of this year. A Leadership Council of 10 to 12 experts in Indian Country will help advise and assist the center, he said.

Sue Woodrow, who has been working on tribal economic development issues for the bank, will serve as co-director of the center. A second co-director is being hired, Kocherlakota said.

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Mpls Fed plans center on Indian reservation development (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 4/4)