Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury revealed additional support for Tribal Nations during the Native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Network’s 5th Annual Policy and Capacity Building Summit. The announcement includes $8.6 million in State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Capital and Technical Assistance (TA) approvals aimed at Tribal governments.
The Treasury’s SSBCI Capital Program has allocated over $500 million to assist Tribal small business financing programs, marking it as the largest federal investment in Indian Country small businesses to date. Additionally, the SSBCI TA Grant Program aids programs offering legal, accounting, and financial advisory services to eligible small businesses.
The recent approvals encompass an extra $7.4 million in Capital Program allocations directed towards 11 Tribal governments, including a notable allocation for the Penobscot consortium. This consortium represents five Tribal governments and is approved for up to $3.2 million. It plans to implement a loan participation program focusing on hospitality and social services sectors, particularly supporting start-up businesses with ten or fewer employees. This initiative aims to foster entrepreneurship, create well-paying jobs, and boost tourism by funding small businesses in hospitality.
Furthermore, these announcements incorporate TA Grant Program awards amounting to $1.2 million. With these new approvals, Treasury has sanctioned Capital Program applications totaling over $530 million across 246 Tribal governments and has granted $5.3 million in TA awards to 20 Tribal governments.
In conjunction with the SSBCI approvals, during the Summit, Treasury also released a policy brief titled “Financial Products and Services for Native Communities: Landscape and Policy Recommendations.” This document emerged from a roundtable hosted by Treasury concerning Native communities’ access to financial services and highlights four recommendations: maintaining and enhancing investments in federal programs that aid Tribal access to capital; implementing relevant suggestions from Treasury’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy; broadening responsible financial services on Native lands; and augmenting technical assistance for Native-owned small businesses.
These initiatives are part of Treasury’s ongoing commitment to bolster Tribal economic development efforts which have included establishing Treasury’s first Office of Tribal and Native Affairs, allocating $30 billion for economic development funding for Tribal governments, and advancing proposed tax guidance addressing long-standing Tribal tax questions.
