Wells Fargo Launches $20 Million Invest Native Initiative for Native American Communities
January 12 2023 - 10:15AM
Business Wire
Impact will focus on housing, small business, financial health,
and sustainability
Wells Fargo today announces a $20 million commitment to advance
economic opportunities in Native American communities working with
Native-led organizations. The Invest Native initiative aims to
address housing, small business, financial health, and
sustainability among Native American communities in Arizona,
Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The
program is designed as a grantmaking initiative — to support a more
equitable and prosperous future for Native Americans.
The announcement represents a continuation of philanthropic
support of Native American communities, building on the company’s
five-year, $50 million commitment to address American Indian and
Alaska Native communities’ unique economic, social and
environmental needs, which launched in 2017 and was completed in
2022.
“Invest Native is the latest chapter in Wells Fargo’s
long-standing commitment to indigenous communities,” said Otis
Rolley, president of the Wells Fargo Foundation. “We are looking to
build on relationships cultivated over many years and to strengthen
the capacity of Native-led organizations so they can serve more
people. We heard from many Native leaders that growing operational
infrastructure was just as important as expanding essential
programs that build economic stability and independence.”
Over the next two years, Invest Native will:
- Create positive outcomes for families, small businesses, and
communities, including more single- and multi-family housing
construction, access to capital for small businesses and consumers,
and financial health programs
- Strengthen infrastructure for Native-led organizations by
funding projects that improve their technology and systems so
groups can be more efficient in assisting families and small
businesses
- Invest in asset-building tools, peer-to-peer learning and
training, and research that sheds light on the distinctive needs of
Native communities and prepares staff to utilize best practices in
their work
Putting intent into action with nonprofit
organizations
Invest Native begins with three grantees, each of whom will
receive $500,000 grants:
- Lakota Funds will work with South Dakota Native Homeownership
Coalition, or SDNHOC, on expanding access to housing and preserving
community housing to significantly increase homeownership in Native
communities across South Dakota.
- Native Community Capital is partnering with New Mexico Tribal
Homeownership Coalition to strengthen homeownership throughout the
state. The long-term objective is to build a campaign around model
mortgage lending and homeownership activities that address the
unique status of tribal trust lands. The New Mexico Tribal
Homeownership Coalition's sole purpose is to advance homeownership
in tribal communities.
- Four Bands Community Fund will team up with Mountain | Plains
Regional Native CDFI Coalition to increase capital to Native
entrepreneurs and drive small business growth.
Tawney Brunsch, executive director of Lakota Funds, said, “With
our past Wells Fargo grant, Lakota Funds provided financing to a
young enrolled tribal member to purchase a seamless steel siding
franchise. The Wells Fargo capital has enabled the young Lakota man
to provide a quality product with quality service to the Pine Ridge
reservation and surrounding communities. This business venture also
created five new jobs as well as provided an income to this young
man to support his family. This is the type of work we want to be
expanding to others.”
Native Community Capital CEO Dave Castillo stated, “The Wells
Fargo Foundation’s prior grant to us provided a lifeline to our
small business borrowers as they navigated the COVID economy.
Forbearance and forgiveness funds allowed businesses to catch up on
their financial obligations while pivot loans helped businesses
adapt to a new reality. Entrepreneurs solve problems every day;
Wells Fargo Foundation dollars were critical in making the
difficult transition possible. This year we’re excited to utilize
Wells Fargo Foundation dollars to work alongside the New Mexico
Tribal Homeownership Coalition and invest in tribal homeownership
initiatives.”
Lakota Vogel, executive director of Four Bands Community Fund,
added, “In the past few years, I have witnessed Wells Fargo invest
in fostering a more informed strategy about the racial wealth gap
in Indian Country. The investments from Wells Fargo have amplified
indigenous stories about our own experiences of wealth and our
understanding for wealth building.”
Wells Fargo is also working with Enterprise Community Partners
and its Native-led and experienced Tribal Nations team. Enterprise
is the longest-standing national intermediary working with Tribes,
Tribally Designated Housing Entities, Native community development
financial institutions, and Native nonprofits with a national
footprint to make home and community places of pride, power, and
belonging. Enterprise will provide thought leadership and strategic
guidance, technical assistance and training, peer convening, and
program evaluation to support this multi-year effort and foster
maximum impact.
For more than 60 years, Wells Fargo has supported
community-based programs serving the needs of Native Americans,
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. As the leading provider of
capital and financial services to tribes and tribal-owned
enterprises, the company works closely with tribal nations and
business entities to achieve financial sustainability and
prosperity. Currently, Wells Fargo provides services to more than
400 tribal entities through its 50+ branches on or near tribal
lands across 12 states.
To learn more about Invest Native and the philanthropic impact
to Native-led organizations and the communities they serve, please
visit Wells Fargo’s Native Communities website.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial
services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets,
proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of
small businesses in the U.S., and is a leading middle market
banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of
banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as
consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable
operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial
Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth &
Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 41 on Fortune’s 2022
rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities we
serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a
sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing
affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a
low-carbon economy.
News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also
available at Wells Fargo Stories.
Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com |
Twitter: @WellsFargo.
News Release Category: WF- PESG
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230112005216/en/
Media Erin Heaney, 704-635-7090
Erin.Heaney@wellsfargo.com
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2024 to Aug 2024
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2023 to Aug 2024