Meet the U.S EDA Tribal Engagement Coordinator │Carolee Wenderoth

About the Episode

Carolee Wenderoth, the first person to ever occupy an advisory role on Tribal issues as the U.S EDA Tribal Engagement Coordinator, is passionate about building and expanding relationships among all levels of government with American Indians, Indian Tribes, Alaska natives, and other Native communities, as well as national and state economic development corporations. Join Carolee and Kaycee as they explore the ins and outs of her role with the EDA and how she supports Tribal Nations across the United States.

Key Takeaways

• Intentional relationship building and active listening are critical skills when supporting Tribal communities.

• Seek opportunities to strengthen Tribal sovereignty.

• The "Community of Practice" model not only has the potential to build capacity and relationships with targeted communities and local economic development practitioners but also allows the space for creative thinking to tackle community-specific challenges and barriers.

Quotables

"it's a special role dedicated to ensuring that underserved communities like tribal communities have representation as we look at better ways to engage with and make sure that program awareness is available."

"...we have people thinking about economic development and in more creative ways or more diverse ways."

"But it all starts with building relationships with tribal nations to learn about what their goals are, where they are, what their needs are."

"It's having that larger conversation that get people thinking about the entire ecosystem in ways that they may not have thought about it before."

"...because if we both understand what each other's goals are, and we understand what each other's assets are, and what our needs are, collectively, we're going to be able to help each other go a lot farther than if we're working in a siloed approach."

"If nobody starts it, it will never happen."

"Indian country is ready, and they're ready to meet the moment to make those economic development advances and as an economic development organization it would be beneficial to reach out to those tribal nations and and see how they can help advance those economic development dreams and goals."

Resouces & Links

(In order of their mentioning)

• • https://www.eda.gov/funding/funding-opportunities/fiscal-year-2021-2023-eda-planning-and-local-technical-assistance

• • https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/american-rescue-plan/economic-adjustment-assistance

• • https://www.eda.gov/strategic-initiatives/communities-of-practice/Indigenous-Economic-Development-Community-of-Practice

• • https://www.eda.gov/about/economic-development-glossary/edd

• • https://www.eda.gov/news/blog/2022/10/24/tribal-nations-awarded-through-build-back-better-regional-challenge

• • https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/regional-technology-and-innovation-hubs

• • https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/recompete-pilot-program

• • https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/american-rescue-plan/indigenous-communities

• • https://www.eda.gov/about/contact/

• • https://www.eda.gov/news/blog/2022/07/14/spotlight-edas-first-tribal-economic-development-representative-ernest-weston