READOUT: Treasurer Chief Malerba Joins Native CDFI Network Policy and Capacity Building Summit to Discuss Expanding Economic Opportunity in Tribal Communities

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba delivered remarks and participated in a panel discussion at the 2023 Native CDFI Network Policy and Capacity Building Summit on expanding economic opportunity in Tribal communities. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Treasury Department invested a historic $234 million in Native-owned and Native-majority shareholder depository institutions through the Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) and made the two largest infusions of federal capital to Native-serving community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in the history of the Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). The CDFI Fund in April 2022 launched the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Native Initiative to increase investments in Native communities. Since the NMTC Initiative’s inception, the CDFI Fund has recorded $1.8 billion of investments in Indian Country. As part of this initiative, the CDFI Fund in September 2022 and February 2023 held technical workshops, and provided around 80 hours of direct technical assistance to several Native organizations interested in utilizing NMTCs. 

Recently, the CDFI Fund released two new reports and a guide to assist Tribal entities that want to benefit from the NMTC. These materials present best practices on Tribal economic development, review existing research on Tribal economic development success stories, and help Native entities determine how they can best take advantage of the NMTC. These materials also underscore how new federal funding under the Biden-Harris Administration, and the growing sophistication of Native CDFIs and other Native actors accessing capital, have enhanced opportunities for community economic development in Indian Country. 

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