Difference Makers

Native CDFIs know their communities. Turning that knowledge into a sustainable lending program takes testing, discipline and the right systems.

In this episode of Difference Makers 3.0, host Brian Edwards talks with Pamela Boivin of the Native CDFI Network and Sheila Herrera, executive director of Tiwa Lending Services, about NCN’s FORGE Certificate Program.

Boivin explains how FORGE helps Native CDFIs assess demand, pricing, staffing, underwriting, risk and capital before launching or refining a lending product. The goal is to develop a repeatable process that strengthens the organization alongside the loans it offers.

Herrera shares how Tiwa is applying those lessons to a small business lending program shaped by young entrepreneurs’ ambitions and conversations with tribal leaders. She describes lending to a local bread maker, recognizing the need for consistent loan pricing and learning from other Native CDFIs. That work has also prompted her to revisit Tiwa’s home loan policies.

As Boivin puts it, FORGE is helping Native CDFIs develop “muscle memory” — the capacity to respond to community needs again and again.

Resources and Links

Native CDFI Network

NCN FORGE Certificate Program

Tiwa Lending Services — About

Tiwa Lending Services — Loan Programs

Tiwa Lending Services — Financial and Homeownership Education

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

Native CDFIs know their communities. Banks have capital. But bringing the two together takes more than a grant.

In this episode of Difference Makers 3.0, host Brian Edwards and co-host Pete Upton talk with Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Tim Rios about how banks and Native CDFIs can build stronger, long-term financial partnerships.

The conversation explores relationship banking, patient capital, risk and familiarity, and what banks need to understand before investing in Native CDFIs. Rios and Upton also discuss Wells Fargo’s support for efforts to develop and strengthen Native CDFIs in California and Nevada — and why successful partnerships require banks and Native CDFIs to understand each other’s goals and build trust over time. 

Resources and Links

Native CDFI Network

Wells Fargo — Indigenous Peoples Statement

NCN RISE — Emerging Native CDFI Development

Oweesta Corporation — Native CDFI Capital Access Convening

Wells Fargo — CDFI Lending and Investment

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

The first half of 2026 brought both momentum and uncertainty for Native community development financial institutions.

Native CDFIs continue to expand their reach, with about 65 certified institutions nationwide and nearly three dozen more organizations working toward certification. The Native CDFI Network has also launched new initiatives to support emerging lenders, strengthen lending expertise and build capacity across the industry.

At the same time, Native CDFIs are navigating a rapidly changing policy environment in Washington.

In this mid-year update, host Brian Edwards sits down with Native CDFI Network CEO Pete Upton and NCN policy consultant Ian Record to discuss the push for increased Native American CDFI Assistance funding, proposed changes to federal grant programs, bipartisan efforts to strengthen Native entrepreneurship, and the importance of building relationships with policymakers.

The conversation also looks at what comes next for a movement that continues to grow despite uncertainty in Washington.

Guests and voices in this episode:

• Pete Upton, Native CDFI Network
• Ian Record, Native CDFI Network

Resources and Links

Native CDFI Network
https://nativecdfi.net

RISE Initiative (Native CDFI Network)
https://nativecdfi.net/rise

CDFI Fund — Native Initiatives
https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/programs/native-initiatives

Administration for Native Americans
https://acf.gov/ana

Tribal Business News
https://tribalbusinessnews.com

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

California is home to the largest Native population in the United States and 109 federally recognized tribes. Yet only three Native CDFIs currently operate in the state.

Recorded during and after the 2026 California CDFI Summit in Sacramento, this episode explores the effort to strengthen existing Native CDFIs, support the creation of new Native-led financial institutions and expand access to capital in Native communities throughout California.

Guests and voices in this episode:

• Nate Schaffran, California Coalition for Community Investment (CalCCI)
• Teresa Boardman, Five Rivers Loan Fund, Inc. 
• Pete Upton, Native CDFI Network
• Jodi Fischer, Native CDFI Network
• Jessica Kaczmarek, The James Irvine Foundation

Resources and Links

Native CDFI Network
https://nativecdfi.net

RISE Initiative (Native CDFI Network)
https://nativecdfi.net/rise

California Coalition for Community Investment
https://www.calcii.org

Five Rivers Loan Fund
https://www.fiveriversloanfund.org

The James Irvine Foundation
https://www.irvine.org

Tribal Business News
https://tribalbusinessnews.com

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach recently traveled to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana, for his first trip to Montana since taking office — part of a broader swing through Indian Country that also included visits to the Flathead and Coeur d’Alene reservations.

In Episode 6 of Difference Makers 3.0, Brian Edwards and Native CDFI Network CEO Pete Upton sit down with Beach after a day of touring Native-owned businesses, meeting with tribal leaders and Native lenders, and attending a regional gathering hosted by Native CDFI Network and NACDC Financial Services.

The conversation explores infrastructure, banking access, broadband connectivity, private investment, federal contracting and the barriers tribes still face attracting outside capital.

Beach also discusses why he believes tribes possess major economic advantages many policymakers still underestimate — including sovereignty, entrepreneurial energy and cultural ties that encourage younger citizens to return home.

Along the way, the episode touches on Native CDFIs, financial literacy, diversification beyond gaming and the challenge of building long-term economic growth in rural reservation communities.

Show Notes:

Native CDFI Network
https://nativecdfi.net/

NACDC Financial Services
https://nacdcfinancialservices.com/

Tribal Business News
https://tribalbusinessnews.com/

U.S. Treasury Office of Tribal and Native Affairs
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/tribal-affairs

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

There are about 65 certified Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in the United States — roughly the same number as a decade ago.

But that’s starting to change.

In Episode 5 of Difference Makers 3.0, Brian Edwards speaks with leaders building new Native CDFIs in Oklahoma, Hawai‘i and the Northeast — part of a growing wave of more than 30 emerging efforts working to expand access to capital in communities that still don’t have it.

The episode features Kristen Wagner of the Native CDFI Network, along with Riley Logsdon and Chris Coburn of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Community Development Corporation, Olani Lilly of Changemakers Community Economic Development, and Alexander “Brave Journey” Sterling of Turtle Island Community Capital.

Together, their stories show how the next generation of Native CDFIs is taking shape — not through a single model, but through approaches grounded in the needs, values and realities of the communities they serve.

In Oklahoma, a tribally affiliated lending organization is building toward certification while expanding access to small business and consumer lending in communities where predatory lending remains common.

In Hawai‘i, a community development organization is using finance as one tool within a broader, relationship-based approach — rooted in culture, community and long-term resilience.

And in the Northeast, a new Native CDFI effort is identifying significant unmet demand in a region that has historically lacked access to Native-led capital, with one estimate pointing to at least $180 million in investable opportunities.

In this episode:

• Why the number of Native CDFIs has remained relatively flat — and what’s changing
• How more than 30 emerging Native CDFIs are working toward certification
• What it takes to build a Native CDFI from the ground up
• How tribally affiliated lending models are developing in Oklahoma
• Why consumer lending matters in communities facing predatory lending
• How Native Hawaiian leaders are rethinking finance as a relationship-based system
• The scale of unmet demand for capital in regions like the Northeast
• What drives the next generation of Native CDFI leaders

Reading & Resources

🔗 Native CDFI Network RISE Initiative
https://nativecdfi.net/institute/ncn-ris

🔗 Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Community Development Corporation
https://cheyenneandarapahocdc.org/

🔗 Changemakers Community Economic Development
https://changemakershawaii.org/

🔗 Turtle Island Community Capital
https://turtleislandcommunitycapital.org/

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

Access to capital in Native communities depends on a mix of federal funding, private investment and policy decisions that shape how dollars move on the ground.

Right now, several of those forces are in flux.

In this special episode of Difference Makers 3.0, Brian Edwards of Tribal Business News speaks with Pete Upton, CEO of the Native CDFI Network, and Ian Record, NCN Policy Consultant, about the organization’s Q2 2026 policy priorities — and what they signal for Native lending in the months ahead.

At issue: delayed FY2025 funds, a proposed federal budget that would eliminate key Native lending support, and continued bipartisan backing in Congress that could shape how funding ultimately moves forward. At the same time, Native CDFIs and their partners are working to maintain capital flow and fill emerging gaps.

In this conversation, Upton and Record discuss how these dynamics are playing out in Washington and in Native communities, and what it will take to keep capital moving to Native entrepreneurs, homeowners and tribal economies.

In this episode:

• What NCN’s Q2 policy priorities say about the current moment
• How the proposed federal budget could reshape Native lending programs
• Where bipartisan support in Congress could protect or expand funding
• Why timely funding still matters for small business lending and homeownership
• How philanthropy and intermediaries may need to step in
• What this moment means for the future of capital flow in Indian Country

Reading & Resources:

🔗 Native CDFI Network | Q2 2026 Top-Line Policy Priorities
 https://nativecdfi.net

🔗 Tribal Business News | Trump 2027 Budget News Coverage  
 https://tribalbusinessnews.com

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

Large-scale economic development deals in Indian Country are typically financed through complex capital stacks — combining banks, tax credits and outside investors — with Native CDFIs often left out.

That may be starting to change.

In Episode 4 of Difference Makers 3.0, Brian Edwards and Pete Upton speak with Ted Piccolo and Stephen Nunes of Mission Driven Finance about a $65 million flour mill project on the Umatilla Indian Reservation — and how Native CDFIs helped finance a critical piece of the deal.

The Blue Mountain Mill project brought together tribal equity, senior debt from Native American Bank and a $9 million subordinated loan from eight Native CDFIs across the country.

In this conversation, Piccolo and Nunes explain how that financing came together, why Native lenders were brought in early, and how a collaborative structure — what Piccolo calls a “capital weave” — could shape future Native-led projects. 

In this episode:

• How eight Native CDFIs came together to finance a $9M gap in the capital stack
 • Why Native lenders have historically been left out of larger deals
 • How the “missing middle” can stall projects — and how it was filled
 • What a “capital weave” is — and how it works in practice
 • How participation builds capacity for Native CDFIs to take on larger deals
 • Why this model could extend to energy, infrastructure and other sectors

Reading & Resources:

🔗 Mission Driven Finance
 https://missiondrivenfinance.com

🔗 Native CDFI Network
 https://nativecdfi.net

🔗 Tribal Business News coverage of the Blue Mountain Mill
 https://tribalbusinessnews.com

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

Native communities receive less than one-half of 1% of philanthropic funding in the United States — roughly four or five dollars for every thousand dollars foundations give away.

In Episode 3 of Difference Makers 3.0, Brian Edwards speaks with Kevin Walker, President and CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation, about why Indian Country remains on the margins of mainstream philanthropy — and what changes when foundations choose to build deep relationships with Native communities.

Under Walker’s leadership, Northwest Area Foundation made a public commitment that 40% of its grant dollars go to Native-led organizations — a level of sustained investment that stands out in the philanthropic sector.

In this conversation, Walker reflects on how that decision emerged, what philanthropy often misunderstands about Indian Country, and why Native CDFIs represent one of the clearest opportunities for measurable economic impact.

In this episode:

• Why Native communities receive less than 0.5% of philanthropic funding
• How NWAF committed to directing 40% of its grants to Native-led organizations
• What philanthropy often gets wrong about Indian Country
• The difference between a deficit mindset and an opportunity mindset
• Why Native CDFIs are powerful drivers of local economic development
• How foundations can move beyond land acknowledgments toward real accountability

Reading & Resources:

🔗 Northwest Area Foundation
https://www.nwaf.org

🔗 NWAF Native-led work approach
https://www.nwaf.org/approach/native-led-work/

🔗 NWAF strategy supporting Native CDFIs
https://www.nwaf.org/approach/native-cdfis/

🔗 Native CDFI Network
https://nativecdfi.net

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.

How Native CDFIs grew from federal study into a sovereign finance movement

In 2001, the U.S. Treasury Department released the Native American Lending Study, identifying 17 structural barriers to capital access in Indian Country. The report helped catalyze what would become the modern Native CDFI movement.

Fifteen years later, Treasury published a follow-up report, Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities (2016), examining how the sector had evolved.

In this episode of Difference Makers 3.0, researcher Miriam R. Jorgensen of the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development and the Native Nations Institute joins Brian Edwards and Pete Upton to discuss:

• Why the 2001 study was pivotal
• How Native CDFIs grew from roughly 10 institutions to nearly 70
• Why capitalization remains a challenge
• The role of tribal government investment
• How Native CDFIs evolved from microloans to complex capital stacks
• What happens if federal support changes

🔗 Read the 2001 Native American Lending Study (U.S. Treasury PDF).

🔗 Read the 2016 report, Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities. Written by Miriam R. Jorgensen, Research Director at the Native Nations Institute and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. Funded by the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, with additional support from the Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Foundation. 

🎧 Listen now:
 https://www.buzzsprout.com/2352819/episodes/18718249

Difference Makers explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are expanding economic opportunity across Indian Country. From small business lending and homeownership to consumer loans, financial education, and technical assistance, Native CDFIs provide the capital and support that help Native communities build stronger local economies.

Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they spotlight the people, partnerships, and ideas driving economic change in Native communities.