Minneapolis Fed Bank Seeks to Boost Indian Reservation Economies

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis plans to start a national center to spur development on Indian reservations.

Minneapolis Fed president Narayana Kocherlakota announced the plan for the Center for Indian Country Development on Friday during a speech in Washington.

The Star Tribune reports that  the center will be co-directed by Sue Woodrow, a Fed official in Helena, Montana. There will be a search for another co-director.

Kocherlakota says the plan is to have the center up and running by midsummer.

The bank's region covers an area from northern Wisconsin to Montana and includes several large reservations.

Kocherlakota says real per capita income growth has accelerated on reservations since the 1990s, but income remains "disturbingly low" relative to the rest of the nation.