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

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 Wawokiye 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.

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 [ http://www.cdfifund.gov/docs/2009/naca/Native%20American%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf ].

* Awards List
* Program Highlights
* NACA Program Awardee Profiles
* NACA Program Award Booklet

Source: U.S. Department of State