First Southwest Bank

My solution is to create a Native Entrepreneur Loan Fund alongside networking opportunities, financial literacy and education programs for the Navajo Nation. Access to wealth and equity on the Navajo Nation is paramount to my current activities professionally and personally. I currently work in the Specialized Lending Department for a CDFI bank named First Southwest Bank. We are a community development financial institution that invests in underserved communities in the rural southwest area of Colorado, and are one of only two CDFI banks in Colorado. Our mission is to provide financial support for small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow equity and sustain positive economic conditions. We work with the First Southwest Community Fund to provide diverse access to capital to Native American businesses. My solution is to build on our pilot loan fund and educational events to create a robust program enabling access to capital and community wealth building.

One of my current projects involves connecting Diné people to diverse forms of capital. I have seen this need for access to capital growing up on the Navajo Nation. The closest bank to where I lived was an hour drive away located in Cortez, Colorado. As a young Diné person, I found banks intimidating and didn’t learn about credit until I worked for a bank. The history between Indigenous America and white culture has resulted in Native peoples not trusting in current institutions that serve the current mainstream culture. In my role at First Southwest Bank, I bridge the gap and engage Indigenous communities with connecting our people to capital. Here are some statistics that indicate the scale of the problem of access to capital in Native America from the 2010 Census. $35,062 is the median income of American Indian households, compared with $50,046 for the nation as a whole. 28.4 percent of American Indians were in poverty in 2010 and for the nation as a whole, the corresponding rate was 15.3 percent.

My solution to support and scale positive impact for Navajo Nation includes three areas: build access to capital and community wealth, develop capacity, and strengthen community outreach. By building and designing a Native Entrepreneur Loan Fund with the First Southwest Community Fund, I am specifically designing a program that will serve the unique needs of our rural Native Entrepreneurs. To develop capacity, I am planning events that engage Native American entrepreneurs with resources and knowledge they need to succeed, and plan to pay for financial educational courses for young people and adults. Through events I am designing geared towards Native American entrepreneurs, this will enable for a stronger relationship and produce connections to indigenous communities. Grant funding is needed to achieve these three goals.  Being part of a CDFI bank with a partner nonprofit gives me a unique access to develop access to capital and capacity for native entrepreneurs and enables me to leverage our processes and technology platforms.

I am looking to benefit the Navajo Nation and when I scale operations, include other Native American tribes. My efforts of community engagement involve financial education and literacy to Indigenous youth. Last year in 2020, I produced an event in collaboration with Fort Lewis College called Success for Native America. What does success for Native America look like? Who are those people? These were the questions we addressed in our Live Streamed event at Fort Lewis College. Topics that were discussed was how did you use your cultural upbringings to become successful, how did you overcome obstacles during your journey and what advice would you give students. The event was engaged by Fort Lewis College students and university students from around the country like Vanderbilt and Utah State University. Events such as these, alongside access to capital will provide my community networking and access to community wealth building opportunities. 

My solution is directly aligned with the Challenge’s focus on increasing access to community wealth, through access to diverse forms of capital and financial literacy. In building bridges and connecting Native America to have access to capital and equity, my objectives and intentions for a future in Native America that is prosperous and can sustain community are highly aligned with the intention of this challenge. I was taught by my matriarchal grandmother to build and grow beauty within your mind and to surround yourself with beauty. Pursuing this path in life accentuates beauty for my people and all people. 

I chose the Growth stage because we have a product but we need to build it to capacity and scale our operations. Community collaboration involves working with the Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development. I and our CEO of First Southwest Bank, Kent Curtis, have attended events that serve to educate and connect small business owners and Dine entrepreneurs on the Navajo Nation. We traveled to Flagstaff in 2019 for the Navajo Nation Economic Summit and the Indianpreneurship series in Window Rock, Arizona. The latest event that I am planning involves the Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development, and the Small Business Development Center in San Juan County, Utah to invite Dine business owners together to educate, involve and grow connections for financial growth.