WINNEBAGO, NE – Ho-Chunk, Inc., the Winnebago tribally owned corporation, is celebrating 30 years of social and economic progress in the tribe’s rural reservation, driven by an award-winning approach that invests proceeds from its national operations into sustainably improving lives.
The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska started Ho-Chunk, Inc. in 1994 to help its people by creating jobs and diversifying the tribe’s economy. Today, Ho-Chunk, Inc. runs a diverse portfolio of businesses with 2,000 employees, and an annual economic impact of $286 million in recent years.
Much of the company’s work is in federal contracting through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) Business Development program. Ho-Chunk, Inc. has also emerged as a leading regional employer and economic driver in the tri-state area of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota.
“The Winnebago Tribe has significantly improved its members’ lives in a generation, and is taking control of its future,” said Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk, Inc., who is an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe. “What is happening today begins to realize the visions of tribal leaders going back generations. But there is still much work to do.”
The company is owned by the Winnebago Tribe, and puts its profits into programs, partnerships and donations. The company’s work in numerous industries – federal contracting, gaming, real estate, construction and more – has created both an economy and middle class on the Winnebago reservation. Ho-Chunk, Inc. has reinvested more than $44 million in dividends into tribal priorities over a three-decade period, where per-capita income of tribal members has grown by 78 percent.
“I have great hope and aspiration for our people, and this generation,” said Aaron LaPointe, CEO of Ho-Chunk Capital, who is an enrolled Winnebago tribal member. “By working together across the community, we are self-determining our future as a people, and redefining what is possible.”
A recent study found, as a result, quality of life in the Winnebago community has significantly increased in less than a generation. Ho-Chunk, Inc.’s award-winning approach has been recognized by the Harvard Kennedy School, and modeled by numerous other tribes on their paths to economic self-sufficiency and social advancement.
- The median income of Native Americans on the Winnebago reservation grew 78 percent from 1990-2022, while Nebraska’s median for all people grew 16 percent.
- The number of middle-class households on the reservation more than doubled in that time, far outpacing the United States, the tri-state region and other Great Plains tribes.
- Native Americans living in poverty on the reservation dropped from about half to a third, but remained three times higher than the United States, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. Source: U.S. Census data
