Three Reasons Why a Native MBA is About More Than Business
Business skills are certainly essential in any good business degree experience, but they alone will not create meaningful social and environmental change or provide greater economic opportunity. Only when students possess a strong network of support, a sense of what works, and an appreciation of what doesn’t can they be powerful leaders of change. Here are some examples:
A shared “best-practice” environment. A universal truth of our experience working with members of more than two dozen tribal communities in the Gonzaga University MBA in American Indian Entrepreneurship program is that there is no universal “tribal” identity. Every tribe has its own governance structure, its own resource opportunities, its own leadership, and its own ways to doing things. One of the most important elements of the Gonzaga MBA-AIE experience has been and continues to be the opportunity to learn how their colleagues in other tribal organizations get things done – how they move change, how they identify opportunities, how they build coalitions, and how they examine and explain results.
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o enable compassion and common understanding of challenges. Just as our program provides a pulpit for students to explore and understand what is working, similar value is found in understanding when well-meaning organizations are heading in the wrong direction. The challenges facing tribal communities are vast, often relying on resources that are unavailable, expertise that can be difficult to muster, and a history that promotes a pessimistic outlook. Our students benefit from the opportunity to share where things went wrong, and in doing so understand that while sometimes it might be better everywhere else, sometimes it’s not. They learn that we all face the same challenges, challenges that call for broader intervention with policy, structure, education.
To create community. While a great deal of what we do in the classroom focuses on providing tools and applications, an essential byproduct of that experience is the development of a community of learners dedicated to themselves and each other. Our 60-plus alumni stay in touch with each other – particularly with their cohorts, with whom they spend two years learning skills and gaining knowledge alongside one another. Given the systemic nature of the problems faced by many native communities and the vast human and financial resources needed to fix them, relationships are important. One of the most powerful tools our students possess is the ability to call a friend and colleague who understands their challenge, knows their abilities, and can recommend action.
Over the past fifteen years, nearly 75 students have taken part in the Gonzaga University MBA in American Indian Entrepreneurship. This program, originally created to provide opportunities to business educators in native communities and tribal colleges, has adapted over the years to focus on one of the most pressing challenges in Indian Country – the development of empowered individuals who seek change and possess the technical skills to make change sustainable and meaningful.
Ours is not the only program to focus specifically on the challenges facing tribal communities and native populations, and in the current environment of higher education where every degree and program must justify its unique contribution to the educational landscape, it is appropriate to ask the question why we need “native” MBA programs. We need them because they help students and businesses thrive in Indigenous communities.
Among the challenges in contemporary education is the fight against stigma aimed at the 
1) Bust common myths. Learning disabilities like ADHD or dyslexia have absolutely nothing to do with native intelligence. Pervasive myths about learning disability—myths that keep kids struggling in the back of a classroom in silence—need to be broken. Don’t be afraid to confront stigma when you see it.
3) Language counts. The flames of every movement are sparked by the unacceptability of certain language. We all know deeply hurtful words that were once, sadly, commonplace. A piece of providing a successful education for all students is gaining fluency in the language of learning and attention issues. When we tell our authentic stories of the lived experience of LD / ADHD, we will change the language. Phrases like “ADD moment,” “I’m numbers dyslexic” and “People with learning disabilities are just lazy” will be a thing of the past.
5) Become an ally. Teachers, parents, scoutmasters, firefighters, school guidance counselors, soccer coaches, software developers, librarians. These are all potential allies and advocates. In fact, 1 in 5 are likely to have a learning or attention issue themselves!
This is a common question from visitors to preschool classrooms at 
Things have changed dramatically. Since the mid-1990s, the average age of hearing loss identification has dropped from two-and-a-half to three years old to less than four months old. This has allowed for services to begin at much younger ages, and during the most important time of neurological and cognitive development—birth to age three. Thanks to early identification, advanced technology like cochlear implants and hearing aids, and Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) services like those provided by Clarke, many children who are deaf or hard of hearing are now ready to enter mainstream classrooms by kindergarten. Clarke’s new generation of alumni have access to the same opportunities as their peers with typical hearing—they are succeeding academically, starring in school plays, excelling on sports teams, playing in bands and so much more.
The result: Clarke is helping more children than ever before achieve remarkable outcomes. Typically, more than 80 percent of Clarke’s preschool children score at or above the median score in auditory comprehension, expressive communication and total language as compared to children with typical hearing. Growing numbers of children are able to transition into mainstream programs earlier than kindergarten.
The success of Clarke’s physical locations in Northampton, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Jacksonville, FL—along with the growth of similar programs in other parts of the country—has led to a decrease in the number of children who need specialized, segregated school-aged programs, along with unprecedented numbers of children who are successfully participating in their local mainstream schools. To ensure their continued success, Clarke offers mainstream support services for children with hearing loss who are learning in typical classroom settings. This service has grown exponentially in the past ten years as the population of children with hearing loss in mainstream school settings has dramatically increased. Clarke is the largest nonprofit provider of support services for mainstreamed children with hearing loss in the US (and probably the world).
