Native American Community Development Corporation Kicks Off Small Business Initiative with grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation
June 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. "Economic sovereignty is as important as political sovereignty to Tribes and Native people," said Elouise Cobell, Executive Director of NACDC. "Taking control of the management of our individual and community assets, and utilizing them to build a solid economic foundation is critical to our future as Native people. This initiative will help by facilitating the flow of financial capital to Native communities and projects, and by assisting those communities in building capacity to provide ongoing financial
education and development services."

Efforts will focus on three key areas. The first involves the evaluation of the flow of capital in select rural Native communities to determine gaps and opportunities. This will be followed by implementation of the most effective financing structures. The second is to assist these communities in building and sustaining the capacity to provided financial education and small business development services. The third is to strengthen NACDC as a resource for rural development in Native communities through its interaction with both community development experts and members of the communities being served.

"Our goal is to see significant improvement in economic indicators in the Native communities in which we are engaged in a way that positively impacts individual Native people and their families," Cobell said. "This is how economic sovereignty will be achieved."

NACDC is an IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization formed in 2000 to work in partnership with the Native American Bank, NA, an institution established by 21 Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations. The two organizations working together presents a unique opportunity to couple the delivery of a vast array of financial services with the community and individual support often needed to bring effective utilization of these services in previously underserved communities. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 "to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities.

To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communications technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

NAB was established in 2001 by a group of twenty-one tribal nations and Alaska Native Corporations. It is the only multi-tribal owned bank in the country and the only bank that is solely focused on community development activities in Indian communities.

Native American Bank's corporate offices are in Denver, Colorado, 999 18th Strees, Suite 2460, Denver, CO 80202; (303) 988-2727; fax: (303) 988-5533, and its principal banking office is located in Browning, Montana, 125 North Market Square, P.O. Box 730, Browning, MT 59417; (406) 338-7000; fax (406) 338-7008; toll free (800) 307-9199.

A loan and deposit production office is located at Stone Child Community College on the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana; phone (406) 395-4355.

The Caraway Group, a public relations agency working with Microsoft, is handling this matter on behalf of the corporation. For more information, contact: Rolando Rodriguez, Senior Media Relations Manager; (202) 965-2810