Two Alaska Native villages in Southeast joined forces in September to form an unprecedented corporation and to test their technological skills.
The Craig Community Association and Organized Village of Kasaan, two of the four federally recognized Native villages on Prince of Wales Island, have combined efforts and resources with Washington-based n-Link Corp. to create of the Prince of Wales Tribal Enterprise Consortium LLC. POWTEC, as the consortium is known, is the first such entity in the state, said Millie Stevens, the president of Craig. She added that it was also a perfect fit for the two villages.
"Craig and Kasaan work quite well together," Stevens said. "It was such a golden opportunity for us."
The corporation has two faces, one for each village, she said. Craig will provide information technology systems to contractors, while Kasaan will be in charge of environmental engineering.
POWTEC had yet to begin operation on more than $20 million in federal contracts already in place, Stevens said. She cited an incomplete business designation as the reason for the delay; but said she expected that the designation would be finished and that the corporation would begin its contracted work by the end of the month. In the meantime, the IT face of the corporation is recruiting Alaska Natives from the island into the company's workforce, and the environmental side has been keeping busy by offering consultation to indigenous groups through the state.
Elijah Donat, the environmental services manager within POWTEC's Engineering Division, said his group has provided analyses, watershed consultation, ecological education and professional training to Native organizations throughout Southeast.
POWTEC offers its environmental consultation to Native villages at a not-for-profit rate, Donat said. It's a special arrangement that allows the corporation to donate time and expertise to Native groups, and it's part of the reason, he said, he decided to join the corporation.
"This was the only Native-owned corporation that I know of which is actually owned by the tribe," he said. "It's a way of supporting them (Native organizations). It's been really beneficial to a lot of Alaska Natives."
Richard Peterson, the president of the Village of Kasaan, said aiding indigenous cultures is a major part of the corporation's mission.
"We all have our separate backgrounds and interests, but we work very closely together out of our concerns for our Island and for our people," he said.
The power of 8(a)
Lawrence Spottedbird, the vice president of business development for POWTEC and a representative of n-Link Corp., said he was assigned to work on economic development for the entire island. Information Technology promised to be a very economically viable opportunity for any remote area, he said, while the island had the capacity to host environmental studies.
"This is a very lucrative model for Native corporations," he said. "And an 8(a) designation will give POWTEC access to those lucrative contracts."
Stevens noted that the designation will allow POWTEC enhanced access to federal contracts both in-state and in the Lower 48.
According to the Small Business Administration's Web site, a qualified 8(a) company "must be a small business, must be unconditionally owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who are of good character and citizens of the United States, and must demonstrate potential for success."
Stevens said the three member corporations are each female-owned, and the two villages are also minority-owned. That, she said, means the corporation has an advantage over other minority- or female-owned, disadvantaged corporations.
"With the federal government, when they have one corporation under contract that is minority owned, they get a point," she said. "We have five points, so we are already way ahead, that way."
The only problem to date, she said, has actually been getting the designation through the system.
"It's a very unique concept, and it's taking a long time to get through," she said, "The SBA has never had two federally-recognized tribes join forces."
Stevens said the corporation has long-term goals that include expansion on, and the stabilization of, the industries that currently shape Prince of Wales Island.
"We plan on changing the economy of our Island," she said. "We're going to take seasonal-work people and make them into computer people. We're very excited about our opportunity, it's a win-win situation."
