WASHINGTON, D.C.-At the recent Reservation Economic Summit, Janet Yellen, of The United States Treasury, announced a new, third round of approvals for tribal support under the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a 2010 program aimed at helping open new avenues to credit by supporting funding institutions. This third funding round during the past nine months brings the number of SSBCI-support tribes to 80 and the total amount awarded to $265 million.
Tribal Business News notes that these investments are crucial in Indian Country, where, as Yellen reported, nearly 46 percent of people live in banking deserts-more than 12 times the national average.
"Tribal economies are critical to the U.S. economy. They have been since our nation's founding, but for too long we've seen significant underinvestment, limited access to capital, and higher poverty rates for Tribal communities," Yellen said during prepared remarks. "At Treasury, we believe that such a severe lack of access to capital is unacceptable-and also that we can contribute to changing it."
Awards in this round of SSBCI funding include:
• Oglala Sioux Tribe – $10,150,666
• Navajo Nation – $88,739,540
• Seneca–Cayuga Nation – $1,196,612
• Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) – $721,863
• Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma – $2,869,249
• Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana – $687,039
• Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada – $621,389
The approved projects range from a loan guarantee program on the Navajo Nation to an equity and venture capital program under the Seneca-Cayuga Nation, which will target investments in the technology and construction industries. Several tribal governments are also setting up loan participation programs.
The SSBCI program opened its doors to tribal approvals in 2021 with a $500 million allocation under the American Rescue Plan Act, the single-largest allocation toward small businesses in Indian Country in U.S. history, per a Treasury statement.
The Treasury began awarding the SSBCI money in 2023, first through a $79 million distribution and then in a second wave, awarding $86 million.
Prior Tribal Business News reporting points to SSBCI funding as a "catalyst" for economic impact in Indian Country. U.S. Treasurer and lifetime Mohegan Chief Lynn Malerba said in a previous story that $1 of SSBCI funding should attract $10 of private investment, creating a multiplier effect.
Malerba reiterated that sentiment in speaking to Tribal Business News about the third wave of funding.
"Tribal economic development is a force multiplier for local economies – improving the lives and livelihoods of Tribal citizens while lifting up our nation," Malerba said. "These resources from the Treasury Department's State Small Business Credit Initiative are part of the largest single investment in Tribal small business financing in our history, and they will unlock new opportunities for Native businesses and entrepreneurs."
