NACDC jumpstarts Small Business Incubator for Blackfeet entrepreneurs
Fredrick Conway / September 2007

Merlin and Janet Running Crane (left and middle), who own a small grocery store on the Blackfeet Reservation, recently met with Frederick “Butch” Conway (right) for service from the Incubator.

Browning, MT -- The latest project of the collaborative called Forward Blackfeet Community, the Blackfeet Small Business Incubator, is now underway. The new organization is spearheaded by the NACDC and is funded by a generous grant from the Tzo’-Nah Foundation.

Fredrick “Butch” Conway is the coordinator for the Incubator and has been working with the local Blackfeet business community and emerging entrepreneurs, as well as working with other collaborators to get the space and equipment ready. The Incubator will support micro and small businesses by bringing Blackfeet entrepreneurs together for training, planning and problem-solving. The project will use curricula that have been revamped to meet the needs of the small business people on the Blackfeet Reservation. Janet Paige, a small business expert consultant for NACDC, sees the training materials as a flexible model that could be modified to work in any Native community. NACDC anticipates working with community leaders on the Fort Belknap and Fort Peck Indian Reservations in 2008 to develop small business incubators as well. Each of those communities has identified an incubator as a critical business need.

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NAB Turns Houses into Homes
Paula Crawford / April 2007

Dragon Vukovic, Jaime Mijares, Niquanor Mijares, Paula Crawford

Denver, CO -- Paula Crawford, NACDC/NAB’s home mortgage originator, has been busy. Very busy.

With support and leadership from within and outside the bank, Paula has been working with literally hundreds of mortgage borrowers across Indian Country. Given the nature of trust land in Indian Country, lending to individuals for homes has historically been abysmally rare. Paula and her partners at HUD and GreenPoint Mortgage, however, are out to change this and turn history on its head.

In April of 2007, Paula closed NAB’s first Section 184 mortgage with Jaime and Niquanor Mijares of the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The couple purchased their home in Morrison, Colorado where they and their three kids will begin a new future.

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Minibank Accounts Give Students Their First Banking Experience
By Emily Hone / Morning News / 02/28/2007

FORT HALL - A proud group of students gathered Friday for a ribbon cutting that signified the opening of the Shoshone-Bannock Junior/Senior High School Minibank.

No less proud were Gerad Kipp and Michelle Guzman, who raised enough money so each of the school's 168 students can open an account in the bank.

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Native American Bank Works With Navajo Entreprenuer
Native American Bank / December 2006

St. Michaels, AZ - NAB Assistant Vice President Jon Panamaroff saw great promise with Romero Brown and his Navajoland Days Inn and Denny’s Restaurant located on the Navajo Nation in St. Michaels, Arizona. The hotel remains one of the few hospitality establishments on the vast reservation that is home to over 250,000 Navajos, covers over 7,400 square miles in three states.

In addition to operating a successful hotel on the reservation, Mr. Brown, also owns an adjacent Denny’s Restaurant. Since opening in 2003, the Denny’s has become a staple restaurant in St. Michael’s, which is just up the road from the capital of the Navajo Nation. With the Assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Loan Guaranty Program, NAB was able to secure financing to these quality establishments.

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Native American Bank, NA Supports the Heathcare of the Chippewa Cree Tribe
Native American Bank / 07/13/2006

Rocky Boy, MT, The Native American Bank, NA (NAB), with the bank participatory help of
Woodlands National Bank and National Cooperative Bank, closed a $2.8 million loan with the Chippewa Cree Tribe (CCT) for contract health care shortfalls. The loan transaction was entered into by the Tribe and pledges future tobacco tax revenue sharing from the State of Montana.

“This new source of revenue proved to be useful when we needed it most,” stated CCT Chairman John “Chance” Houle. Chairman Houle and the council unanimously approved the transaction and are excited about being able to clean-up previous obligations to health care providers across the state of Montana.

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Native American Community Development Corporation Kicks Off Small Business Initiative with Grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Native American Bank / 06/20/2005

Denver, CO, Native American Community Development Corporation ("NACDC") of Denver, Colorado and Browning, Montana has begun implementation of its small business development and organizational capacity-building initiative aimed at modeling and sustaining the successful delivery of financial capital and development services to Native communities.

The initiative is funded in significant part by a three-year $688,151 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan under its Food Systems and Rural Development Program.

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NAB & NCB Provide $2.4 Million in Financing to Foster Native American Homeownership in Nebraska
Native American Bank / 11/02/2004

Denver, CO, Native American Bank (NAB) has partnered with National Cooperative Bank (NCB) to provide a total of $2.4 million of financing for the development of residential and commercial properties in Ho-Chunk Village, a development wholly owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. The development properties are located on fee simple land adjacent to the Winnebago Indian Reservation.

Of the joint financing, $900,000 was provided by NAB with $1.5 million financed by NCB. For the twophase undertaking, NCB committed to purchasing a $500,000 participation in Native American Bank's $1.12 million loan package for Phase 1 of the project. Subsequent to the completion of this funding, NCB will finance another $1.0 million of the total $1.3 million loan needed to complete Phase 2 of the development. Native American Bank will finance the remaining $300,000 of this final phase.

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Native American Bank Expands Services to Alaska
Native American Bank / 10/20/2004

Denver, CO, Native American Bank and Woodlands National Bank have formed a creative partnership to open a loan production office in Anchorage, Alaska.

"This is another step in the growth and evolution of Native American Bank as a major player in providing capital for development in Indian communities," said John Beirise, president of NAB, a tribally-owned and operated bank dedicated to pooling Native American resources to create wealth and opportunity for American Indians. NAB's group of original investors included two Alaska Native Corporations, the Sealaska Corp. of Juneau and Arctic Slope Regional Corp. (ASRC) of Barrow.

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NAB Loans Helps to Bring Security and Preserve Culture for Samish Tribe
Native American Bank / 01/23/2004

Denver, CO - The largest loan made by the Native American Bank to date has made it possible for the Samish Tribe of Washington state to regain ancestral lands while taking an equally large step towards economic independence.

The history of the Samish Tribe includes a 26-year struggle in administrative and federal court to regain federal recognition, which was initially established when the Samish Nation was listed as a signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855. The tribe was removed from the list due to a clerical error in 1969, rendering them-for federal purposes-extinct. The Samish Tribe regained its federal tribal status by a federal court decision on April 26, 1996.

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NAB Provides Innovative Loan That Will Create 500 Jobs in Ten Native Communities
Native American Bank / 11/11/2003

Denver, CO - Native American Bank N.A. (NAB) announced today that they have established a $1 million line of credit that will provide financing for a multi-tribally-owned business and ten Native firms as they implement $50 million in Federal contracts with the Department of Defense (DOD).

Intertribal Information Technology Company (IITC), the recipient of the loan, has been contracted to digitize technical manuals for the DOD. The contract will both improve military readiness and create over 500 information technology jobs in ten reservations, Alaska Native Village and Native Hawaiian communities. The benefit of information technology is that many tasks can be performed in remote locations, so tribal members can stay at home and still be part of a national contract that pays well and has
great upward mobility.

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Three Affiliated Tribes See New Housing in Their Future
Native American Bank / 10/21/2003

Denver, CO - Thanks to the combined efforts of the Native American Community Development Corporation and the Housing Department of the Three Affiliated Tribes (the Mandan, Hidatsda and Arikara Nations), tribal members will have 34 housing units available for lease to purchase.

This is a success story that Stephanie Harmon describes as “very exciting.”

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$1,750,000 NAB Loan a Significant Milestone to Tribal Business
Native American Bank / 09/23/2003

Denver, CO - In a time when the U.S. economy has been somewhat uncertain for small businesses, Mandaree Enterprise Corporation, (MEC) looks upon a bright future. A new line-of-credit totaling $1,750,000 from Native American Bank will allow the 100% tribally owned enterprise of the Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthhold Indian Reservation to develop and expand its business opportunities.

Native American Bank President John Beirise stated, “The establishment of this relationship with Mandaree Enterprise Corporation represents an expansion of our business with not only the Fort Berthold communities but with Indian communities in general. The fact that a successful enterprise such as Mandaree has selected NAB for its growing needs is a significant testimony to our ability to serve Indian Communities”.

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Native American Bank Helping Build Homes on Navajo Nation
Native American Bank / 05/06/2003

Denver, CO - It's a natural alliance: Native American Bank (NAB) fervently supports the development of quality housing in Indian Country and Indigenous Community Ventures, Inc. builds traditional Navajo hogans from local kiln-dried ponderosa pine logs.

"Our vision is to help all of Indian country gain economic independence by providing access to capital and financial services," says NAB Assistant Vice President for Commercial Banking, Elfonzo Nephew. "Home construction and ownership are a vital part of this process in which Tony's group is actively engaged," he explains simply.

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Bank Fosters Economic Development for Alaska Indians
Native American Bank / 12/01/2002

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Bank executive John Beirise couldn't go along with the "acquire and fire" mentality that gripped the banking industry in the mid-1990s, so he launched off on his own.

While industry consolidation benefited shareholders, it did little to provide support for the long-term development of people and communities, said the 57-year-old Beirise, whose career largely was spent at Continental Bank in Chicago and Mercantile Bank in St. Louis.

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