Mohegan Tribe Set to Host SRI Conference

The Mohegan tribe and First Affirmative Financial Network announced jointly on Friday that the 23rd annual SRI Conference for Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing (The SRI Conference), formerly known as SRI in the Rockies, will be hosted at the Mohegan Sun Conference center in Connecticut in October.

According to the Mohegan tribe, its role as host of the event reflects the sharp rise in interest among Native American nations in community impact investing, which is one of the major elements of sustainable, responsible, impact investing.

Bruce “Two Dogs” Bozsum, chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council, said in a statement, “The Mohegan Tribe already makes major investments in housing and education programs, including many that operate in Connecticut outside of our lands and where the members of the Tribe are not the beneficiaries. We see this as an important opportunity to showcase the efforts of Indian nations across the U.S. in the rapidly emerging field of community impact investing. The Mohegan Tribe expects to be among the parties that will benefit from this learning opportunity.”

In a statement, First Affirmative President Steve Schueth, producer of the 2012 SRI Conference, said, “We embrace increasing diversity in the world of sustainable, responsible, impact investing, which we see as one of the real long-term strengths of SRI. The rise of Native American interest in community impact investing is already at a point where it is safe to say that no other unit of government in America has become so invested, both literally and figuratively, in SRI. We see this as a unique opportunity to encourage that trend and to inform others about it.”

Indian tribes are one of the largest sources of income for the state of Connecticut, where both the Mohegan Tribe and the Pequot Tribe pay 25% of their slot machine revenues to the state in lieu of taxes, which, according to the tribe, is more than any other state employer pays the state, and also is more than all other Connecticut corporations pay in corporate taxes combined after corporate tax breaks are factored in. The ammount generated is in the tens of millions of dollars.