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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Finance
The nonprofit Native CDFI Network and banking giant Wells Fargo on Thursday announced a year-long initiative to bolster economic opportunities and financial inclusion for Native American communities in California and Nevada.
The new program aims to strengthen existing Native Community Development Financial Institutions (Native CDFIs) and foster the creation of new ones in those two states. It targets a gap in financial resources available to these communities, despite a significant tribal presence, according to Pete Upton, CEO of the Native CDFI Network.
"Native CDFIs offer essential services like homeownership funding, small business loans, and financial literacy education – all essential for building strong Native communities," Upton said in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with Wells Fargo on this initiative to bridge this gap and empower Native communities to achieve economic prosperity.”
While there are 130 federally recognized tribes and more than 780,000 Native Americans who live in California and Nevada, only one Treasury-certified Native CDFI operates in these states: Happy Camp, Calif.-based Five Rivers Loan Fund, Inc.
Two other Native American financial institutions — The Alliance CDFI and Westwater Financial — are based in California and serve Native Americans in specific regions of the state, though they are not currently Treasury-certified as Native CDFIs, according to the agency’s June 17, 2024 report.
Nevada currently lacks a dedicated Native CDFI, though the Rural Nevada Development Corporation extends services to the state's 27 tribes.
With the new initiative, the partners plan a multi-pronged approach — including needs assessments, leadership development, capacity building workshops, and collaboration opportunities — to help support existing Native CDFIs and increase the number of new Native CDFIs in the two states.
“Wells Fargo is committed to supporting economic development in Native communities,” Tim Rios, senior vice president and Invest Native lead at Wells Fargo, said in a statement. “We believe this initiative will have a profound impact on the lives of Native entrepreneurs and their communities.”
Establishing Native CDFIs on or near federally recognized American Indian reservations can improve credit outcomes, according to research by the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD), a unit of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Additional analysis by CICD points toward the crucial role that Native CDFIs play in fostering financial resilience while maintaining a commitment to Native cultural compatibility.
The initiative builds on the Native CDFI Network's broader mission of promoting economic opportunity and financial inclusion in Native communities nationwide. The organization was recently selected to receive an award of $400 million through the EPA’s Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), further solidifying its role in empowering Native populations and driving sustainable economic development.
