From: bounce-712357-2247481@list.whitehouse.gov [mailto:bounce-712357-2247481@list.whitehouse.gov] On Behalf Of White House Media Affairs OfficeSent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 6:26 PMTo: Inouye, ShinSubject: TREASURY AWARDS $8 MILLION IN RECOVERY ACT FUNDING FOR NATIVE COMMUNITIES
U.S. Treasury Department Office of Public Affairs
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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