CDFI - Important Part of Infrastructure

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Tammi Schone, USDA Rural Development, South Dakota, on August 28, 2013 at 5:00 PM

The 8th Annual Governor’s Native American Summit was held last week at Utah Valley University in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Utah’s Rural Development State Director Wilson “David” Conine wanted to share with attendees the importance a community development financial institution (CDFI) can play in tribal development.  He turned to his counterpart, South Dakota Rural Development State Director Elsie M. Meeks who has over 20 years of experience working for Native community economic development.

Meeks recognized CDFI as an important part of the infrastructure for delivering consistent funding for housing and small business development activities that benefit low and moderate income people.  They combine multiple sources of public and private capital in order to make loans and investments available in ways tailored to the particular underserved geographies and types of businesses or borrowers.  Developing capacity among these types of organizations can increase utilization of USDA programs in a region, many of which provide long-term below-market capital for permanent improvements in rural areas.

A successful example from South Dakota includes The Lakota Fund.  A certified Native CDFI established in 1986 that serves the Oglala Lakota Oyate on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Its products and services include microloans, small business loans, business loans, credit builder loans, training, and technical assistance.  Sources of funding from Rural Development include rural business opportunity grants (RBOG), rural business enterprise grants (RBEG), Intermediary Relending Program (IRP), and rural microentrepreneur assistance program (RMAP).

The keynote speaker for the event was Governor Gary Herbert and Meeks was a guest speaker. The Governor’s Native American Summit provides a forum for Utah’s American Indian population to network with state agencies and other organizations, and more importantly, a chance to strengthen relationships with the eight Sovereign Tribal Nations of Utah.

South Dakota Statewide Native Homeownership Coalition on the Horizon

USDA Blog:

Posted by Christine Sorensen, USDA Rural Development Coordinator, on July 18, 2013 at 1:05 PM

Federal, State, and Tribal partners work on a solution to bring safe, affordable housing to South Dakota’s tribal areas. USDA photo.

South Dakota USDA Rural Development, Governor’s Office of Economic Development, South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA), and the Great Plains Native Asset Building Coalition convened a vital meeting of stakeholders recently to gain input on the creation of a statewide coalition to support and promote homeownership in South Dakota Native communities.

Six of the nine Indian reservations in South Dakota, including representatives of six Indian housing authorities participated in the session, as well as Nathan Sanderson of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.  In addition to USDA Rural Development, federal stakeholders included the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and Indian Health Service. About 50 people gathered for a daylong working session to provide critical impute on the goals and priorities of a proposed coalition.

“This meeting was a historic first step towards collectively working towards increased homeownership opportunities in Indian country,” said USDA Rural Development State Director Elsie Meeks.  “A coalition could support the partners on the ground, housing authorities, state, federal and tribal governments; all working towards not only homeownership but wealth building within Tribal communities”.

The session began with introductions and supporting comments from the State of South Dakota Secretary of Tribal Relations, J. R. LaPlante that expressed his support for the meeting to further the dialogue on tribal housing in South Dakota.  Mark Lauseng, SDHDA Executive Director, hosted and was on the planning committee for the session, “A coalition and the partnerships that it could create will be a vehicle for needed resources and support systems across the state.”

An electronic survey was conducted prior to the meeting and the results showed that the most effective avenues for homeownership preparation are to provide credit counseling and financial/homebuyer education.  Many times it is the local Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that is the integral service provider located within the community.  Tawney Brunsch, Lakota Funds Executive Director andGreat Plains Native Asset Building Coalition leader, supports the homeownership coalition stating, “Asset development and financial literacy are necessary tools on the journey to homeownership.”

With the full support of key stakeholders across the state, a homeownership coalition is on the horizon.  Priorities to engage tribal leaders, develop statewide goals, conduct policy advocacy and peer networking and provide a clearing house for resources and services; the coalition will move the dream of homeownership on Native lands to reality.

USDA recently included South Dakota as a StrikeForce state and the StrikeForce economic development goals for the state include increased and focused support and outreach on Tribal lands by USDA Rural Development, Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency.

    

Tags: Elsie Meeks, FSA, homeownership, HUD, Indian Health Service, NRCS, RD, South Dakota, South Dakota Housing Development Authority, Strikeforce, Tribal, Veterans Affairs

BitDefender