Tribal Leader Roundtable

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has touched each and every person across the globe as individuals, businesses, communities and tribes. The Mohegan Nation is not exempt from that.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes intend to expand operations into three sites in 2025. They are 90 miles to 20 miles apart. We have completed feasibility studies and are working on financing for the projects.

Tribes are making difficult and dramatic choices to protect our communities, tribal citizens and employees’ health and safety from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.

Like many tribal and public casinos across the nation, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and aftermath is our Enterprises toughest business challenge.

During this public health crisis, we worked tirelessly to communicate with both the tribal members and Rolling Hills Casino and Resort employees. Luckily, our planning processes considered such a disruption to our organizations, so we had virtual communications platforms already deployed allowing for operational continuity.

The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians continues to move forward in growing future leaders through education, revitalizing our culture – which was lost when we were forced to assimilate into the white world to survive – and bringing back our traditions.

This crisis has impacted our tribe considerably. About 140 of our members are elders, and many of them rely on the income generated from our gaming enterprise.

The greatest reward is seeing our tribal members enjoy all the benefits we can provide, especially in education, public safety, economic development and fostering of our culture.

Our Council declared a state of emergency back in March and had zero COVID-19 positive cases on our reservation until May 27, largely because of strict mitigation measures. Since then, we have seen two surges and a recent softening in numbers.

Our tribe promotes leadership from the foundational level to the top. Leadership starts with our general membership, goes up through tribal council, executive teams, management support teams, and other committees.