Press
Release Summary: LONGMONT, COLORADO-As much of the country faces
a struggling economy, Native American communities will receive a
boost from private and corporate funders in an effort to bolster
the educational, homeownership and financial assets of Native American
families and individuals.
Press
Release Body:
Media
Contact: Sarah EchoHawk Vermillion, Vice President
of Development and Communications
Phone: 303-774-7836 / e-mail: svermillion@firstnations.org
Reservation Communities Receive Boost for Entrepreneurship,
Homeownership & Financial Education
March 17, 2008
LONGMONT, COLORADO-As much of the country faces a struggling economy,
Native American communities will receive a boost
from private and corporate funders in an effort to bolster the educational,
homeownership and financial assets of Native American
families and individuals.
First Nations Development Institute, a national
nonprofit Native American organization, has gathered
a consortium of funders for its Little Eagle Staff Fund.
With $435,000 in funding from Bank of America, Johnson Scholarship
Foundation, Washington Mutual Foundation,
and a fourth partner, the Little Eagle Staff Fund will
provide grants and technical assistance to ultimately make the residents
of reservation communities better-educated consumers of financial
products and services.
A call for letters of inquiry for grants from the Little
Eagle Staff Fund will be formally announced at a dinner
on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at First Nations’ National
Oweesta/L.E.A.D. Conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Denver
. A featured speaker at the conference and stalwart ally of First
Nations’ financial education efforts targeting Native
Americans will be Dan Iannicola, Deputy
Assistant Secretary for the Department of the Treasury’s Office
of Financial Education. The Oweesta/L.E.A.D. Conference
will attract up to 200 tribal leaders to focus on economic
development, organization development and financial literacy issues.
“First Nations and our funding partners
celebrate through the Little Eagle Staff Fund the
opportunity to create a nurturing and enabling environment for the
growth of institutions that support small- and medium-sized enterprises
on American Indian reservations,” said
Michael E. Roberts, President of First Nations.
“By providing grants and other assistance, the Little
Staff Fund will ultimately create new wealth opportunities
for and increase the assets of reservation community members.”
Little Eagle Staff Fund letters of inquiry will
be due to First Nations Development Institute on
Monday, June 2, 2008. Eligible applicants will be tribal programs
and Native nonprofit organizations that focus on asset and wealth
creation programs in Native communities. Grants will strengthen
program administration, management and implementation. More information
about the LESF program and the application process
will be available through First Nations website
beginning April 4, 2008.
The announcement of the Little Eagle Staff Fund and
its focus on financial literacy is particularly timely, coming on
the heels of First Nations’ newly-issued
report, “Borrowing Trouble: Predatory Lending in Native
American Communities.” The report details the predatory
practices of lenders that target Native American communities
with loan products that are often designed to exploit vulnerable
borrowers who generally cannot afford to repay the loans.
First Nations Development Institute is a national
American Indian-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded
in 1980. Through a three-pronged strategy of educating grassroots
practitioners, advocating systemic change, and capitalizing Indian
communities, First Nations Development Institute
is working to restore Native control and culturally-compatible stewardship
of the assets they own – be they land, human potential, cultural
heritage, or natural resources – and to establish new assets
for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native communities.
First Nations was founded with the belief that: "when
armed with appropriate resources, Native peoples hold the capacity
and ingenuity to ensure the sustainable economic, spiritual, and
cultural wellbeing of their communities."
For more information, contact Sarah EchoHawk Vermillion,
Vice President of Development and Communications at 303-774-7836
or svermillion@firstnations.org or visit www.firstnations.org.
###
Contact
Details: Sarah EchoHawk Vermillion
Vice President of Development and Communications
703 3rd Ave, Suite B
Longmont, CO 80501
303-774-7836 or svermillion@firstnations.org www.firstnations.org.
2012
