[CircleUp] First Nations Development Institute Announces $175, 000 in Little Eagle Staff Fund Grant Awards

[Stewart Sarkozy]

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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Sarah Echohawk Vermillion                   
Phone: 303-774-7836 
e-mail: svermillion at firstnations.org

 

First Nations Development Institute Announces $175,000 in Little Eagle
Staff Fund Grant Awards
 
October 16, 2008
 
First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) has awarded grants
to six Native community-based economic development organizations through
its Little Eagle Staff Fund (LESF). The mission of the Little Eagle
Staff Fund is to support Native community-based economic development
organizations who offer unique financial services and products that
promote economic development. 
 
"It was a very competitive year for proposals," stated Sarah Dewees,
First Nations' Director of Research and the program officer for the LESF
grant program. "We received many excellent proposals because there is
both growing demand and substantial need for funding for this type of
work."  First Nations initially received 47 letters of intent from those
interested in applying for grant funding. From those 47, twelve groups
were invited to submit full proposals. Of the twelve, six were selected
for funding.  
 
The six organizations to be awarded grant funding under the LESF program
are the Wigamig Owners Loan Fund Inc., Sitting Bull Tribal Business
Information Center (TBIC), Turtle Mountain Community Development
Financial Institution, the Oregon Native American Business &
Entrepreneurial Network (ONABEN), Katikitegon Community Development
Corporation, and the Ho-Chunk Nation. The grants range in value from
$12,000 to $40,000, and the projects include financial education,  loan
funds, and entrepreneurship development.  Three grants will be given to
help groups start community development financial institutions (CDFIs),
two grants specifically support financial education programs, and one
grant will support an entrepreneurship training program. 
 
"We are proud to be able to support these innovate economic development
organizations that play such an important role in creating an 'enabling
environment' for economic development on Indian reservations and in
other Native communities," stated Michael E. Roberts, President of First
Nations Development Institute. "We are thankful to our funders who have
supported this grant program."  The Little Eagle Staff Fund is currently
capitalized by Bank of America, the Johnson Scholarship Foundation, the
Washington Mutual Foundation, and a fourth partner, as well as through
the generous support of First Nations' individual donors. 
 
The focus of the LESF projects is to educate individuals about
successful financial management techniques with the broader implication
that this knowledge will support Native individuals and communities to
become self-reliant and economically prosperous.  "Our mission is to
change our economic landscape one family at a time by providing the
essential educational components related to making sound financial
decisions," stated ChrystelCornelius, Executive Director for the Turtle
Mountain CDFI. "We are also creating an outlet to provide capital and
lending products that will increase community and individual assets and
help build wealth within our community."
 
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
well-being of their communities. 
 
For more information about this project, contact Sarah Dewees, Director
of Research/ sdewees at firstnations.org; or visit First Nations
Development Institute's website at www.firstnations.org. 
 
 
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