VIDEO: Ho-Chunk, Inc. celebrates 30 years of Winnebago progress with anniversary event

WINNEBAGO, Neb. – Ho-Chunk, Inc. celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special event for the Winnebago community on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.

The Winnebago Tribe started Ho-Chunk, Inc. in 1994 to help its people by creating jobs and diversifying the Tribe’s economy. Now 30 years later, Ho-Chunk, Inc. employs over 2,000 people and has helped create both an ecomomy and middle class on the Tribe’s rural Nebraska reservation.

“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., the Tribe’s economic development entity.

“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’s award-winning approach funds programs, partnerships and charitable donations in the Winnebago community. More Tribal members are entering the middle class with advanced education, skilled employment, home ownership and a revitalized culture.

“I have great hope and aspiration for our people, and this generation,” said Aaron LaPointe, CEO of Ho-Chunk Capital, who lives in Winnebago with his young family. “By working together across the community, we are self-determining our future as a people, and redefining what is possible.”

• The median income of Native Americans on the Winnebago Reservation grew 78% from 1990-2022,
  while Nebraska’s median for all people grew 16%.
• 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.
• The proportion of Native Americans living in poverty 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