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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Real Estate
The Chugach Regional Resources Commission closed a landback loan from NDN Fund on Sept. 25 to acquire the Seward, Alaska property that houses its operations — an innovative deal that turns a federal leasing program into a path to tribal land ownership.
The 1.52-acre site is home to the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute, a mariculture center that grows shellfish for food security, produces kelp seed for Alaska’s growing mariculture industry and conducts marine research. The new financing allows CRRC to purchase and expand the facility while continuing to receive federal reimbursements for operations under the Bureau of Indian Affairs 105(l) leasing program.
That program, created under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, lets tribes and inter-tribal entities like CRRC lease facilities to the BIA and be reimbursed for related costs. In a release, NDN Fund officials say that pairing 105(l) leases with lending can help Native organizations build equity and secure long-term control of their facilities.
“Successfully navigating the 105(l) process has been transformational for CRRC — by securing our lease agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, we are not only ensuring stability for our programs, but also leveraging that opportunity into long-term ownership of our facility,” Willow Hetrick, CRRC's executive director, said in a statement.
The inter-tribal commission, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving seven Alaska tribes across the Lower Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, and Lower Copper River regions, took over operations of the state-built hatchery in 2004.
NDN Fund, the impact investing arm of NDN Collective, structured the loan after providing three previous grants to CRRC for mariculture work. The organization describes this combination of grants and loans as a "braided capital" approach.
“NDN Collective applauds the Chugach Regional Resources Commission for leveraging the 105(l) BIA program to support their work. This is a model for future tribal development nationally,” Wizipan Garriott, president of Rapid City, S.D.-based NDN Collective, said in a statement.
