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In 2000, the Council began to discuss the need to purchase land to
build a Tribal complex. Since we are a small Tribe which only receives a few
annual donations with most of our financial viability originating from membership
dues, there were immediate concerns about how we would be able to make
such a purchase. At this point, the need to purchase land was pushed further
down the priority list.
In March 2002, several parcels of land on all sides of our Tribal
seat became eligible for purchase. With so much impending land development,
it became a crucial time for CIED to purchase a parcel of 41 acres of land
which had become available within approximatally 1/4 mile of the tribal seat for $155,000.
Due to the land's location, we knew the land would need to be purchased quickly and
a meeting was held to decide how we could obtain the land. It
was decided that we would close our scholarship fund and certificate of deposit, then
consolidate the funds into our current savings account. We also decided that
we would ask members for donations to pay for upfront costs and pledges toward
the monthly payment.
In April 2002, we were able to secure approximately $33,000 toward
the downpayment and closing costs by drawing from existing monetary accounts,
donations, and pledges. The land purchase was finalized in the same month and
we began payment on the remainder of the purchase via a 10-year $121,000 loan.
In the beginning, land payment pledges were coming in at a constant
rate and the Council was confident that we would not have a problem
making the monthly payment, but by October, pledges from members began to
decrease. Several months, we had to dip into our savings to make up the difference.
In March 2003, an article was written in the Daily Press discussing
our land payment problem and we began to receive calls of support and donations from
around the country. A follow-up article was written in the same newspaper in
October and more donations began coming.
Today, our current principal balance is approximately $53,000.
We have come a long way in four years and still have a long way to go.
Our main goals for this land are to build a Tribal complex, covered pavilion
with log posts, Pow Wow grounds, and an authentic Algonquin village and garden.
The village and garden would serve as a teaching tool for the general public.
If you would like to view the proposed land development, please click
the link below. The file is rather large, 11MB, and may take a while to download
and view in Adobe Acrbat Reader. The preferred option is to right click the
link, click "Save Target As" and save it to your hard drive and view it via your
hard drive.
Proposed land layout - 11MB (PDF)
If you would like to send a tax-deductible donation toward our monthly
land payment, please click
here
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