It is official: Natives are stimulating Colorado’s economy in a big way. According to the recently released Colorado American Indian and Alaska Native Economic Impact Report, Natives, who make up nearly 2 percent of Colorado’s population, contribute more than $1.5 billion annually to the state’s economy.

“I don’t think we ever imagined we’d be seeing the numbers we are looking at in this report,” said Ernest House, Jr., executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs (CCIA), who first conceptualized the study more than 10 years ago with Darius Smith, director of the Human Rights Commission for Denver. “We knew it would be big. We just didn’t think it would be this big.”

Research for the two-year study was conducted by the Office of Economic Development and International Trade for Colorado and the Denver American Indian Commission (DAIC). The final analysis was compiled by Spirit of the Sun/Revolution Advisors, a Colorado-based consulting firm, which reported that there are more than 485 Native-owned businesses in Colorado spanning 40 different industries and employing more than 8,000 people.

Some of the state’s largest employers include the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, which own businesses on and off their reservations in 17 different industries, including, mining, oil and gas, arts and construction.

“I think the findings of the impact report are going to add confusion, and that’s a good thing because the narrative that is typically told in Indian country is one of abject poverty,” said Smith. “We need to start telling the story of hope and success … and look at Natives as contributors, not just consumers of social services.”

CCIA Executive Director House said the study will be a game-changer on the state level. “I am excited about the policies we can start changing to improve the government-to-government relationship even more in regard to economic development in Indian country,” he said. House explained that there are outdated policies aimed at entrepreneur development that don’t include Native-owned businesses or tribes.

Another key partner in the study was the Rocky Mountain Indian Chamber of Commerce (RMICC). Shadana Sultan, RMICC’s executive director, said this report serves notice that Native businesses are an economic force to be reckoned with: “There’s always a tendency for corporate partners to discredit or dismiss the American Indian community because we have smaller population numbers. But when you tell them that our per-capita contribution to the economy in Colorado outpaces the Hispanic and African American communities, and that one in four American Indians in Colorado have at least a bachelor’s degree—and one in 10 have a master’s, juris doctorate or Ph.D.—it starts a different conversation and they start paying attention.”

This study is the first of its kind for Colorado. “There have been similar studies done in Oklahoma and Idaho, but they were focused on the impact that came directly from the tribes,” said Brian Wilkerson, managing director of Spirit of the Sun/Revolution Advisors.

Wilkerson explained that this groundbreaking study went several steps further, concentrating on the economic impact from Colorado tribes, Native-owned businesses, non-profit agencies, education and events. “We wanted to create a broader picture, especially since Denver has historically been a crossroads to the West for Native Americans, and there is so much Native activity centered around Denver,” he said.

Lynn Armitage is a contributing business writer and an enrolled member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin.