How Native CDFIs grew from federal study into a sovereign finance movement

In 2001, the U.S. Treasury Department released the Native American Lending Study, identifying 17 structural barriers to capital access in Indian Country. The report helped catalyze what would become the modern Native CDFI movement.

Fifteen years later, Treasury published a follow-up report, Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities (2016), examining how the sector had evolved.

In this episode of Difference Makers 3.0, researcher Miriam R. Jorgensen of the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development and the Native Nations Institute joins Brian Edwards and Pete Upton to discuss:

• Why the 2001 study was pivotal
• How Native CDFIs grew from roughly 10 institutions to nearly 70
• Why capitalization remains a challenge
• The role of tribal government investment
• How Native CDFIs evolved from microloans to complex capital stacks
• What happens if federal support changes

🔗 Read the 2001 Native American Lending Study (U.S. Treasury PDF).

🔗 Read the 2016 report, Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities. Written by Miriam R. Jorgensen, Research Director at the Native Nations Institute and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. Funded by the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, with additional support from the Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Foundation.