Author: Kelechi E.
Wells Fargo launches the Invest Native initiative, which will invest $20 million in Native American communities in New Mexico, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota, Arizona, and Montana.
The financial services firm will collaborate with Native American-led organizations to address these communities’ financial health, housing, and small business issues.
This article explains what to expect from the Wells Fargo Inves tNative initiative.
What Is the Wells Fargo Invest Native all About?
Wells Fargo has supported Native American communities for the past 60 years. In 2017, the company committed approximately $50 million to address American Indian and Alaska Native communities’ specific environmental, economic, and social needs.
According to Otis Rolley, president of the Wells Fargo Foundation, Invest Native is the most recent chapter in the company’s long-standing commitment to indigenous communities and will last two years. He also stated that Wells Fargo is looking to build on long-standing relationships to strengthen the capability of Native American-led organizations so that they can better serve the people.
Invest Native is a grantmaking initiative starting with three grantees, each receiving a $500,000 grant to promote growth in their states.
Here’s how the grantees will benefit from this initiative:
- The non-profit Native Community Capital will collaborate with the New Mexico Tribal Homeowner Coalition to promote homeownership throughout the state. The goal is to develop a mortgage lending and homeownership campaign that addresses the uniqueness of tribal trust lands.
- Lakota Funds will collaborate with the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition to increase housing access in Native communities throughout the state.
- The Four Bands Community Fund will collaborate with the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition to provide capital to Native entrepreneurs to foster small business growth.
Tawney Brunsch, executive director of Lakota Funds, describes how the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation previously benefited from a Wells Fargo grant.
Furthermore, he said the grant had enabled a young Native American to buy a steel siding franchise and provide a high-quality product to his community. Moreover, the steel business has created new jobs and enabled him to support his family. According to Brunsch, this is the type of work that the new Invest Native grant will provide to the communities.
Wells Fargo and Enterprise Community Partners
Wells Fargo collaborates with Enterprise Community Partners and its Native-led Tribal Nations team to provide strategic directions, thought leadership, training, evaluations, and technical assistance to support this multi-year program and ensure maximum impact.
Enterprise is one of the largest national intermediaries, collaborating with non-profit organizations, tribally designated housing entities, and financial institutions to promote economic and social growth in Native American communities.
The Bottom Line
The Wells Fargo $20 million Invest Native initiative will benefit Native American communities in South Dakota, Arizona, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and New Mexico. The funds will help these communities improve their housing, financial health, and small businesses. Furthermore, Invest Native will function as a grantmaking initiative, with three recipients receiving half a million dollars each to facilitate economic and social growth in their states.
