Jan. 16, 2023

Wells Fargo has announced a $20 million commitment to support economic opportunities for Native Americans, including a housing initiative in South Dakota.

The Invest Native initiative aims to address housing, small business, financial health and sustainability among Native American communities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico.

The program is designed as a grant-making initiative to support a more equitable and prosperous future for Native Americans, the bank said in a statement. The announcement builds on Wells Fargo’s five-year $50 million initiative 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 longstanding 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-family and multifamily 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 the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition 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 the 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 coalition’s sole purpose is to advance homeownership in tribal communities.
• Four Bands Community Fund will team up with the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition to increase capital to Native entrepreneurs and drive small-business growth.

“With our past Wells Fargo grant, Lakota Funds provided financing to a young enrolled tribal member to purchase a seamless steel siding franchise,” said Tawney Brunsch, executive director of Lakota Funds.

“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.”

For more than 60 years, Wells Fargo has supported community-based programs serving the needs of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. Currently, Wells Fargo provides services to more than 400 tribal entities through more than 50 branches on or near tribal lands across 12 states.