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Serving Our Community

The Mille Lacs Band tribal government taxes its casinos at 100 percent and uses the revenues to improve life for Band members and for its non-Indian neighbors in surrounding communities. The Band has invested in community infrastructure, economic development, and other benefits for the entire region.

Employment

  • In addition to 3,000 casino Associates, the Band’s tribal government employs approximately 700 people full time.

Community contributions

  • Since 2006, the Mille Lacs Band and its businesses have given an estimated $3,734,000 in charitable donations to educational causes, law enforcement agencies, hospitals, food shelves, and other organizations and projects that serve local communities and the region.
  • The Mille Lacs Band’s tribal police force does not have a station in Hinckley, so Grand Casino Hinckley contributes $92,000 annually to the Pine County Sheriff’s Office to offset law enforcement and public safety costs.

Buildings and facilities

  • The Band owns and operates the following facilities:
    • Nay Ah Shing Schools for grades K-12 (includes a child care center and a Head Start Program)
    • Early Education building (expected completion date: August 2012)
    • A school bus facility
    • Ne-Ia-Shing and Aazhoomog clinics, and a health care facility located at the Band’s East Lake Community Center
    • Four community centers
    • Three ceremonial buildings
    • Ojibwe Language and Culture Center near Rutledge
    • Two powwow and celebration grounds
    • Three culturally sensitive assisted living facilities for Band Elders
    • A government center
    • An office building for the Band’s Corporate Commission
    • A workforce education and development center
    • An urban office and workforce center in Minneapolis
  • The Band was also instrumental in assisting with the development of two independently operated charter schools on the Mille Lacs Reservation:
    • Minisinaakwaang Leadership Academy in McGregor
    • Pine Grove Leadership Academy near Lake Lena

Infrastructure

  • The Mille Lacs Band has improved infrastructure that benefits the reservation and surrounding communities, including:
    • A 200,000-gallon and a 300,000-gallon water tower
    • Building, paving and repair of reservation roads
    • A water treatment plant
    • ML Wastewater Management, Inc., a nonprofit corporation owned by the Mille Lacs Band’s Corporate Commission, built the regional wastewater treatment plant in 2004 and partners with the Garrison Kathio West Mille Lacs Lake Sanitary District to provide wastewater treatment services to the West Mille Lacs Lake region.
  • The Band has purchased new vehicles for snow removal, trash pickup, public building maintenance, and transporting Band Elders and youth.

Housing

  • Nearly 400 new homes have been built and many existing homes have been renovated since 1991, including:
    • 40 new houses in the Bugg Hill development on the Mille Lacs Reservation
    • New single-family and multi-family homes near Wahkon, in Minneapolis, and in Hinckley
    • Renovations of Band Elders’ homes, including the addition of central air conditioning and garages to numerous homes
    • Renovations of homes for Band families with handicapped members
    • Transitional housing for Band members
  • The Band manages or provides housing maintenance services to approximately 430 homes on or near the reservation. The Band also offers home loan programs, home improvement grants, and affordable housing programs to Band members.

Programs and services

  • The Mille Lacs Band provides a variety of programs and services that support Band members and the surrounding community, including:
    • A tribal police department, which employs 21 full-time peace officers and four civilian staff members
    • Early education program, which includes Early Head Start for children ages newborn to three, Head Start for children ages three to five, and child care at the beginning and end of each day for infants, toddlers and preschoolers
    • Scholarship program, which helps Band members afford higher education and training
    • Mille Lacs Band Tribal College, which offers college courses on the reservation to Band members, community members, and employees
    • The department of labor, which helps Band members obtain or retain employment and become self-sufficient through services that promote lifelong learning as a means to achieve viable and competitive occupational skills
    • Circle of Health tribal health insurance program, which assists Band members with premiums, co-pays and deductibles on covered services
    • Family services, including a foster care program, an anger intervention group, child welfare services, emergency assistance, chemical dependency services, a women’s shelter, and Elder services
    • The Boys & Girls Club of Mille Lacs, which encourages youth to develop healthy attitudes, values and lifestyles by providing recreational and organized sports complemented with culturally driven programming
    • A diabetes program, which provides prevention education and care for Band members, who are 2.3 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Indians