First Nations Oweesta Corporation

Since 1999 First Nations Oweesta Corporation, the only certified Native community development financial institution (CDFI) intermediary in the country, has been working to increase the number of CDFIs and asset building programs in Native communities. Oweesta’s goal is to provide opportunities for Native people to develop assets and create wealth by assisting in the establishment of strong, permanent institutions and programs, leading to economic independence and strengthening sovereignty for all Native communities. Their unique programs and trainings reach Native communities located on reservations, traditional Indian lands, Hawaiian homelands, and in Alaska Native villages.

Asset Building Programs & Services

Oweesta offers economic development programs in four dimensions: Institution Development; Financial Education & Asset Building; Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Development; Lending & Capitalization. Within these focus areas, Oweesta provides training, technical assistance, investments, research and advocacy to help Native communities develop an integrated range of asset-building products and services. These asset-building tools stimulate reservation economies by providing tribal members the opportunity to acquire financial management skills and build and accumulate assets through small business creation, homeownership, and education.

Expanding Access to VITA Programs & Increasing EITC Outreach

Through funding from the Citi Foundation and financial assistance from the IRS VITA Matching Grant program, Oweesta coordinated two coalitions in response to alarmingly high uptake of Rapid Anticipation Loans (RALs) on the reservations in South Dakota. The two coalitions, the Pine Ridge Native Asset Building Coalition and the South Dakota Native Tax Preparation Coalition, are made up of the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce (PRACC), The Lakota Fund, Thunder Valley, the SAGE Collaborative, Four Bands Community Fund, Sitting Bull College, Sisseton-Wahpeton Community College, Sinte Gleska University, and Black Hills State University.

To date theses coalitions have held an EITC Awareness meeting, a VITA volunteer training, a Super Tax Day in Pine Ridge and provided mobile filing sites to many communities within the Pine Ridge Reservation and other reservations in South Dakota.

Their work addresses a logistical dilemma that many community members encountered by creating sites that are easily accessible to those in more rural areas and eliminating the need for long-distance travel. Increasing access to VITA sites has also helped decrease the number of Native peoples accessing RALs offered by paid preparers. Furthermore, there expanded volunteer trainings have been further enhanced by Liz Diers, professor at Black Hills State University. Liz is an active member of both coalitions and has been a valuable asset as an expert information resource and has helped to develop a highly competent volunteer base for the coalitions.

Simultaneous to expanding VITA programs, Oweesta increases EITC awareness in Native communities. In partnership with the Native Financial Education Coalition (NFEC) and with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Oweesta has designed an initiative that provides EITC outreach tools to Native communities to help them launch local campaigns, increase access to EITC, and link them with financial education and other asset building opportunities, including Individual Development Accounts.

Identifying Barriers & Advocating for Policy Change

Oweesta’s Research, Policy & Advocacy department supports its asset building efforts by pinpointing causes of distress in communities and proposing redirected paths towards healthy Native economies. Oweesta collaborates on research studies that focus on identifying and mitigating barriers to Native control of and access to financial assets and uses its national voice to create and retain the integrity of policy favorable to building assets in Native communities.

On April 29th,2009 Oweesta will sponsor NFEC’s 5th Annual Policy Briefing in Washington D.C. This event, held each year during Financial Literacy Month, serves as the touchstone for collaboration on expanding financial literacy among American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Particularly relevant to today’s economic crisis, the policy briefing will include presentations by Native community practitioners and the release of specific recommendations for federal, state, and tribal policymakers to expand financial education and asset building opportunities for Native people living both on and off-reservation. Their policy agenda advocates for expanded financial education opportunities, mitigating predatory lending, increased access to EITC, and increased utilization of IDAs in Native communities.