Success Stories
Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe
Dating back hundreds of years, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has a rich history in
The Tribe’s story was magnificent, but unknown. The Wampanoag adopted the English style of dress and, in 1683, built the Old Indian Meeting House in Mashpee. By the mid-18th century, the English and Wampanoag were jointly running the town, and non-Indians could not buy land without the tribe’s consent. Members of the Mashpee Wampanoag have fought in every American conflict, and the Tribe’s history of self-government has survived the turbulent times.
The Liberty Square Group began working with the Tribe in 2002 and immediately set out to craft a public relations strategy to help the Tribe gain recognition from the federal government, a battle that began 30 years before that recognition as a sovereign nation was granted on February 15, 2007. The strategy was quite simple: the public, decision makers, and opinion leaders needed to understand the Tribe’s history.
Since that official recognition, the Tribe has been on a new course to sustain the sovereign nation it fought so long to achieve. New programs for increased housing, educational opportunity, job assistance, cultural preservation, environmental programs, health care, and more are now available with federal assistance. And with the right to game on tribal lands granted, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is advancing to open the first gaming facility in Massachusetts: a destination resort casino in Middleborough.
The Liberty Square Group has led the Tribe through the course of this new struggle, helping secure a 2-to-1 vote by Middleborough Town Meeting in 2007 in favor of the casino plan, and now moving to begin negotiations with the Commonwealth on a compact. The Tribe has partnered with several of the world’s best casino developers and hopes to open the doors to its casino in 2011.