Ben Barnes, Chief
Shawnee Tribe
Golden Mesa Casino – Guymon, OK
goldenmesa.com / shawnee-nsn.gov
BENEFITS OF GAMING: Even with the economic downturn during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, revenues from our Golden Mesa Casino in the panhandle region have enabled us to revive and expand our higher education awards. Through this program, we grant financial assistance to Shawnee citizens seeking post-secondary education or technical and vocational training. Several years ago, we were forced to shelve this program because our original funding source dried up. Since reinstating and expanding the program less than two years ago, we have awarded over $1.5 million to 422 Shawnee learners through the program.
Gaming revenue has also given the Shawnee Tribe means to implement a dozen additional citizen services and programs, such as burial assistance, elder care assistance, school clothing and extracurricular activities assistance, and a workforce entry and reentry support program.
GOALS & INITIATIVES: We are committed to the sustainability of our citizen service programs. We’ll continue developing and adding to the initial programs the team has developed, but we never want to be in the position where we must cut back a program that citizens have come to count on ever again. Our team intentionally rolls out programs with conservative benefits so the program can become more robust over time. Beyond that, a significant portion of our gaming revenue is held in investments, and another is dedicated to growing our business enterprises for the same reasons. We never want our citizens or future citizens to go without.
LEGISLATIVE: In 2020, we had to sue the federal government after the U.S. Treasury erroneously used a formula that set our tribal population at zero, which resulted in us receiving no CARES Act funding. Our tribe wasn’t the only one impacted by this error. Other tribal leaders and I couldn’t decide which error hurt us more – the lack of funding to remediate the adverse effects of the pandemic or the perpetuation of the idea that Shawnee people no longer exist. Issues surrounding tribal sovereignty and our ability to assert our sovereignty and rights are always of particular concern to me. Having a fund that we can draw on in times of emergency is critical to us, and I’m grateful that our business development team supports that.
At the local level, we are banding together with other tribal nations to assert our sovereignty and government-to-government relationship with the State of Oklahoma on tobacco compacts, gaming, and how the state and tribal tag systems and public safety offices work together.
