By working together as a bloc, the Coalition CDFIs can access funding and create more impact at a greater scale. And, their collaboration has paid off with a big win this fall: a recent grant of $45 million over five years.

Lakota Vogel, Executive Director, Four Bands Community Fund
Coalition members and NWAF staff from left: Barbara Schmitt, Black Hills Community Loan Fund; Lakota Vogel, Four Bands Community Fund; Angie Main, NACDC Financial Services; Sharon Small, People’s Partner for Community Development; Christianne Lind, NWAF; Skya Ducheneaux, Akiptan; Eric Swack, Wind River Development Fund; Jael Kampfe, Indigenous Impact Co.; Gerald Sherman, Indigenous Impact Co.; Karla Miller, NWAF

Charlene Johnson, Executive Director and Founder, Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation

Kelsie Kay’s Coffee Depot, Eagle Butte, SD, was founded in Four Bands Community Fund’s incubator space and now breathes new life into an old building on Main Street.
Creating systems change takes time. But it’s also an opportunity for funders to build lasting relationships and commit to support that Native CDFIs can count on and plan around.
PHOTO TOP: Seamstress working at the Paskho Oyate Sewing Pod, Eagle Butte, SD.