UW Research on Menominee’s Unmeet Needs Gains Media Attention

There’s a good story in today’s Kenosha News on the UW/La Follette School study. Here’s the first part:

Study: Local casino would aid tribe
Menominees say revenue is necessary for them to thrive

BY JOE POTENTE jpotente@kenoshanews.com

A recent study by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor says a Kenosha casino would help to reverse many of the negative effects that the Menominee Nation has suffered since the federal government terminated the tribe in the 1950s.

The report, commissioned and paid for by the tribe, was submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in response to questions about the proposed casino’s effects on the tribe’s unmet needs, a project spokesman said Thursday.

Dennis Dresang, a professor in the UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, wrote that revenue from the Kenosha casino would make “a significant, measurable difference for the Menominee in their struggle to overcome the shattering economic and cultural aftereffects of termination.”

Without the revenue, Dresang said, the tribe’s ability to care for its nearly 8,500 members is severely compromised.

You can read the full story here.

Sign our online petition and say yes to casino competition in SE Wisconsin.