S2 Ep4 – Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

Katelyn Phinney (00:01.976)
Hello and welcome back to Funded by Clearinghouse CDFI. I’m your host, Katelyn Phinney. You are joining us on season two for a very special episode of Funded. Today we are celebrating Native American Heritage Month.

Katelyn Phinney (00:23.812)
Today, we are honored to bring to you an episode that resonates deeply with the themes of resilience, cultural pride, and economic empowerment. As we recognize Native American Heritage Month, we want to celebrate the vibrant ways that these communities are reshaping their economies through innovative partnerships with community development financial institutions, or CDFIs.

Katelyn Phinney (01:22.528)
And before we get too far into today’s episode, I do want to make an important note at the beginning of our conversation to ensure that all discussion points are respectful and accurately represent Native American cultures and perspectives. So as we delve into today’s discussion, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the cultural depth and significance of the topics that we’re exploring.

We are committed to approaching all conversations around Native American communities with the utmost respect and aiming to honor their histories, perspectives, and contributions. So our goal is to provide accurate and thoughtful insights that celebrate the resilience and cultural richness of Native American tribes. While we are grateful to those who have shared their stories with us and recognize

Katelyn Phinney (02:14.84)
We are grateful to have gotten the opportunity to partner with these communities and have them share their stories with us. And we also recognize the responsibility that we carry in representing these voices authentically and respectfully. So thank you for joining us. Let’s get into it.

Katelyn Phinney (03:15.854)
So our mission here at Clearinghouse CDFI is to be a full-service and direct lender financing projects that create jobs and services to help people work, live, dream, grow, and thrive, and help the communities. Tribal lands are one of those communities that we’ll be focusing on today.

Katelyn Phinney (04:09.858)
The goal of funding this podcast has always remained to be an educational resource for anyone looking to get financial help and inclusion. And today, this episode is dedicated to the Native American communities specifically. We are gonna be looking at a case study from an NMTC and Native American project that we’ve recently funded called the Coville Project.

And I’ll also be sharing with you a short list of resources of how you can find other information on Native American financing.

Katelyn Phinney (05:40.462)
So this case study, specifically, is an NMTC project that we were able to finance in 2023.

Katelyn Phinney (06:10.826)
One of the best and most efficient ways that we’re able to deploy funds into Native American communities.

is through a program called the NMTC program, the New Markets Tax Credits Program.

Katelyn Phinney (06:34.898)
Our company, the Clearinghouse CDFI, was one of 104 organizations across the United States to receive more than 5 billion in this NMTC allocation through the federal government.

Katelyn Phinney (06:52.612)
It’s estimated that these award recipients will make nearly $1.2 billion in MTC investments in non-metropolitan areas, which includes an estimated $126 million to native areas alone.

Katelyn Phinney (07:21.986)
The NMTC program stimulates community development in economically distressed areas through tax credits that attract private capital investment.

Katelyn Phinney (07:35.022)
This federal tax credit incentivizes people to help invigorate struggling local economies by allowing investors to make larger.

Katelyn Phinney (08:29.316)
To get a full understanding of what the NMTC program is capable of, you can visit the CDFI Fund link down in our description below.

Katelyn Phinney (08:53.804)
These funds were deployed to one particular, well, a portion of these funds were deployed to one project in particular that we’ll be discussing today. And that is the Clearinghouse CDFI project.

And that is our Coville project located in Omaha, Washington. It was a $36 million loan that the Confederated tribes of the Coville reservation have.

Katelyn Phinney (09:38.477)
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, also known as the Colville, have entered into a joint venture with the Indian Health Service to construct a 33,000-square-foot health facility in Omak, Washington. The current facilities in Ohmock are inadequate because of space concerns.

It’s currently a facility that is only 5,000 square feet and the replacement facility will be a modern technology.

The replacement facility will be a modern, technologically advanced facility with the required staff to provide an expanded level of healthcare services specifically designated to meet the healthcare needs.

Katelyn Phinney (10:30.132)
of the Coville area, the Coville reservation area. The existing services that will be continued are ambulatory care, medical,
our ambulatory care, medical care, dental clinic, pharmacy, audiology, and laboratory.

Katelyn Phinney (10:58.764)
This loan will also allow the existing services to continue, which are ambulatory services, medical care, dental clinics, pharmacy, audiology, laboratory, health education, nutrition services, mental health services, along with other social services that the COVID-19 pandemic may require.

Katelyn Phinney (13:22.478)
Clearinghouse CDFI is very proud of any NMTC money that we can deploy to native lands.

Katelyn Phinney (13:44.43)
So before I leave you, I want to provide a few resources for those interested in supporting tribal economic development and finding more ways to empower this community.

Katelyn Phinney (14:22.178)
One resource I want to share with you is the Native CDFI Network.

Katelyn Phinney (15:27.14)
So since 2009, the Native CDFI Network has been creating opportunities for Native community development financial institutions to share their stories, identify collective priorities, and strengthen the industry. They aim to ensure that Native people are represented in national policy, dialogue, and spread the solutions created by CDFIs throughout Native communities.

Katelyn Phinney (16:29.076)
If you have a specific interest in learning about Native American Heritage Month and its rich culture and deep history.

then we encourage you to please visit the Cismon- then we would encourage you to please visit the Smithsonian’s website.

Katelyn Phinney (17:13.924)
Here you’ll find a range of Native American events, resources, podcast episodes, and featured exhibitions to learn more about what this month means to the Native American community.

Katelyn Phinney (17:49.482)
If you are looking for a more in-depth conversation and discussion around NMTC allocation into tribal communities, we have a blog post posted to our Clearinghouse CityFI website, and it is also linked for you in the description down below. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at fundedthepodcast.ccdfi.com.

I think that is where I’m going to leave today’s episode. And until I see you again, I’m wishing you a very celebratory Native American Heritage Month, and I’ll see you on the next episode of Funded. Goodbye.