A Lawrence resident is a leader in the national movement to promote new forms of American Indian economic development.

Marilyn Bread, director of Haskell Indian Nations University’s Center for Tribal Entrepreneurial Studies, is president of the 1-year-old American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Kansas.

“We’re a player, along with a lot of other people, who are trying to assist the tribes in having a voice when it comes to business issues,” Bread said. “We’re trying to be the voice that speaks for the common Indian entrepreneur.”

Bread is actively working to make that voice louder. She said that 20 states now have an American Indian Chamber of Commerce, but she said there is no national Indian chamber of commerce that ties all the groups together.

Bread is part of a group of other state chambers that is working to create a national organization and open an office in Washington, D.C., so that it can keep a close eye on legislative issues that affect American Indian businesses.

“We think we could be an important partner in bettering Indian Country,” Bread said.

A national group would be better positioned to address the broader issues that are facing American Indian entrepreneurs across the country, Bread said.

“Indians have had difficulty obtaining seed money from conventional lending institutions,” Bread said. “There is a lack of understanding on both parts. The Indian entrepreneurs don’t understand how the business plan works and how detailed it has to be. And the nonIndian lenders have been apprehensive about how the government interests and regulations may play out on Indian lands.”

Bread said the main goal of a national chamber would be working with Congress to create more favorable and simpler legislation that deals with tribes. Bread cited debates about how much authority states have to tax Indian enterprises as an example of needed legislative reform.

“I think our biggest challenge, as it always has been, is adverse legislation that hinders or hampers us,” Bread said. “The complexity of the laws is part of the problem too. That is why it is not as easy to set up a business as it should be because there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the laws.”

Bread, though, is a believer in the idea that American Indian tribes need to begin looking beyond casinos when it comes to economic development. Changes in the casino industry or changes in the regulations governing American Indian casinos may make the businesses less lucrative in the future, she said.

“I think most of the tribal leadership in their collective wisdom have always known the days of gaming revenue were short-lived,” Bread said. “They have spoken of it as an opportunity rather than an end-all. We always have hoped it would open other doors to economic development.”

Bread said the economic development opportunities probably would vary from tribe to tribe. But she said tribes with casinos could look to develop other tourism-related businesses, such as resorts and golf courses, that could diversify their gaming operations.

She said many tribes also may be in a good position to enter the utility business by developing natural resources, like water rights, that are on their lands.

Bread said she was optimistic the national chamber of commerce would be in place by early next year.