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July 1, 2009
TG-193

Treasury Awards $8 Million in Recovery Act Funding for Native Communities

At Event on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, CDFI Fund Director Gambrell Announces
Awards for Native Community Development Financial Institutions

KYLE, SD – As part of the Obama Administration's continued investment in economic development in communities around the country through the Recovery Act, Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Director Donna J. Gambrell today announced $8 million in financial assistance awards for 10 CDFIs committed to serving economically distressed Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities across the nation. 

"These Native CDFIs are transforming their communities by helping to create businesses and needed jobs, provide affordable housing and build vital community facilities in places that desperately need them. They are providing personal financial education and developing business skills in communities that have been excluded from our nation's economic mainstream and they are helping to change the lives of the people they serve," said Gambrell.  "In addition to the Recovery Act awards announced today, I'm pleased to announce that the CDFI Fund is releasing a new Native Initiatives five-year strategic plan reaffirming our commitment to overcoming the barriers to capital within Native communities."   

The event was hosted by The Lakota Funds, a Treasury certified Native CDFI that provides microloans, small business loans, and business training and technical assistance to members of the Oglala Sioux Nation living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  The announcement was held at the Lakota Trade Center, a 13,000 square foot building supported by The Lakota Funds that provides prime office space for reservation businesses and programs.  The center has given rise to The Lakota Funds' award-winning Wawókiye Business Institute that provides entrepreneurs with training and a support network of local, regional, and national business experts.

Also announced at the event were the names of the 26 Native institutions selected from across the nation to receive an aggregate total of $3.3 million in technical assistance grants under the Native American CDFI Assistance Program made possible through the CDFI Fund's FY 2009 annual appropriations.

Recognized at the event were five South Dakota-based award recipients: First Nations Oweesta Corporation (Rapid City); Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial, Inc. (Pine Ridge); The Lakota Funds (Kyle); Four Bands Community Fund, Inc. (Eagle Butte); and The Harvest Initiative, Inc. (Fort Thompson) – all of which are leaders serving the community development needs of their Native communities. 

The awardees were selected after a competitive review of 49 applications received by the CDFI Fund from organizations across the nation that requested $16.5 million in funding under the 2009 round of the NACA Program.

The CDFI Fund's Native Initiatives work to increase access to credit, capital, and financial services in communities by creating and expanding CDFIs primarily serving Native communities. This is achieved by funding programs and providing a series of training programs to organizations working in Native areas. The CDFI Fund's Native Initiatives also makes financial assistance awards to certified Native CDFIs and provides grants to Native organizations to help them build the capacity to become a certified Native CDFI. More information can be found at http://www.cdfifund.gov.

For more information about these awards, or about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit the Fund's website at: http://www.cdfifund.gov.

To view the new Native Initiatives strategic Plan entitled, "Building Native Leaders for Tomorrow" please click here.

2009 NACA Program Awards

NACA Program - Recovery Act Awards

Awardee Name

Location

Award Amount

Bank of Cherokee County, Inc.

Tahlequah, OK

$796,522

First Nations Oweesta Corporation

Rapid City, SD

$873,600

Four Directions Development Corporation

Orono, ME

$877,550

Hopi Credit Association

Keams Canyon, AZ

$789,949

Lakota Funds, The

Kyle, SD

$876,060

Lummi Community Development Financial Institution

Bellingham, WA

$596,378

Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial, Inc

Pine Ridge, SD

$870,153

Salt River Financial Services Institution

Scottsdale, AZ

$869,786

White Earth Investment Initiative

Ogema, MN

$590,000

Wind River Development Fund

Fort Washakie, WY

$860,002

NACA Program - Technical Assistance Only Awards

Made Through FY 2009 Annual Appropriations

Awardee Name

Location

Award Amount

Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Inc.

Anchorage, AK

$149,581

Aleutian Financial, Inc.

Anchorage, AK

$149,950

Big Pine Paiute Tribe

Big Pine, CA

$135,040

Bik'eh Hozho Community Development Corporation

Tuba City, AZ

$149,547

Catawba Indian Nation

Rock Hill, SC

$149,281

Chugach Regional Resources Commission

Anchorage, AK

$99,130

Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis

Oakville, WA

$143,343

Dakota Futures, Inc.

Morton, MN

$137,200

Four Bands Community Fund, Inc.

Eagle Butte, SD

$131,451

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians EDC

Suttons Bay, MI

$142,090

Indian Land Capital Company

Little Canada, MN

$144,931

Kanu o ka Aina Learning Ohana

Kamuela, HI

$150,000

Karuk Community Loan Fund, Inc.

Happy Camp, CA

$108,486

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Housing and Community Development Corporation

Baraga, MI

$137,571

Kickapoo Community Development Company, LLC

Eagle Pass, TX

$32,756

Laguna Housing Development & Management Enterprise

Laguna, NM

$150,000

Lumbee Revitalization & Community Development Corporation

Pembroke , NC

$142,174

Native American Development Corporation

Billings, MT

$119,739

NiiJii Small Business Loan Fund, Inc.

Keshena, WI

$117,146

Northern Shores Loan Fund, Inc.

Harbor Springs, MI

$146,871

Quinault Indian Nation

Taholah, WA

$125,268

San Carlos Apache Tribe

San Carlos, AZ

$128,511

Seneca Nation of indians

Salamanca, NY

$24,390

The Harvest Initiative, Inc

Fort Thompson, SD

$148,316

Turtle Mountain Housing Authority

Belcourt, ND

$132,377

Wigamig Owners Loan Fund

Lac du Flambeau, WI

$148,235

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