IndigEconomies

In this episode we are joined with Native Women Lead co-directors and co-founders Alicia Ortega and Jaime Gloshay (Navajo, White Mountain Apache and Kiowa based in Tewa territory, New Mexico), who are two of eight co-founders of Native Women Lead, based in Tewa Territory, also known as Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Native Women Lead, co-founded by 8 Indigenous women in 2017 (with everything done in co-creation and shared leadership) has emerged with an incredibly visionary model for restorative finance rooted in traditional values moving beyond the norms of financial violence with their own underwriting criteria as an antithesis to the 5 cs of credit. When reviewing a loan application they apply these five Rs: Is the business relational? Are they rooted in Indigenous values and community needs? Is the business restorative-- does it aim to support their employees so that they can close their own racial wealth gaps? Is there 7th generation impact to Indigenous families, communities and economies from their business--is it regenerative? And is it revolutionary? Are they game-changing, are they solving a problem?

What is different about Native Women Lead is they believe Indigenous women and trust them from the get go, which is vastly different than the  institutional racism within financial institutions that expects people to prove their trustworthiness through meeting the 5 cs of credit that many Native women borrowers are unable to meet. Their approach is, "lets do this together, and lets show the systems that we are phenomenal and we are investable."

NWE is focused on growing a healthy waterway that provides a broad circle for support for Native women stepping into their power as entrepreneurs, leaders, and ultimately the backbone of their communities. They are emerging as entrepreneurs and leaders, weaving community, culture and resources together to empower one another to manifest change.

In this episode we interview Addie Lucero (Taos Pueblo/Yaqui)-- owner and operator of Dancing Butterfly Naturals-- dedicated to making skin and hair care products and medicines with locally sourced ingredients from the Taos Pueblo Mountains and northern New Mexico. We talk about the balance between maintaining traditional knowledge while engaged in the modern dollar driven economy, we talk about barter and connection to place, we learn about Indigenous women focused financing and more.

We interview Angela Ferguson, a fiercely dedicated seed saver, corn grower and food sovereignty practitioner and advocate who continues to maintain and revitalize Indigenous trade networks. She is the supervisor of the Onondaga Nation Farm, a working farm that provides traditional foods for families throughout the Onondaga Nation. It serves as a place where cultural learning around food and farming are practiced.

Throughout the interview, Angela shells bean seeds, and with seeds clicking and popping in background, she tells us about food as currency, alternative trade networks, pre-monetary currency, practices of reciprocity that are being revitalized and food as the common thread.

Angela notes how a lot of the work at the farm is about integrating people with the foods and sacred knowledge that comes from elders and the connection that pulls it all together.  I think this is part of the definition of sovereignty:

Can we feed ourselves?

Can we still perform our ceremonies?

Can we still speak the language?

Are we still willing to learn and pass on that oral tradition?

We have begun using food as currency. We have eliminated using the US dollar as a form of value placed on our goods and resuscitated the thought process getting back to old trade routes using food as value.

"A lot of places in my food travels had a lot of people calling their seed places a seed bank, and I thought, well, banks are full of promissory notes. That’s what a dollar bill is— an IOU. I don’t feel that our seeds are an IOU, they are something so sacred that they need to be honored. I did not like the word ‘bank’. When you give things, you give them unconditionally, so you don’t expect anything back. The seeds do that for us, the food does that for us."

"There were people who starved to death on the Trail of Tears but they didn’t eat the food that was in their pocket because they knew they had to keep those seeds going for the next generations to come. That is very intense thinking when it comes to food and I think people have gotten so far away from that mindset, that if they can reconnect again -- it is what will eliminate the value of a dollar. If someone would hand me a jar of seeds or $20, for me the $20 has no value but the seeds can feed a generation. They can support a lot more than those $20 could."

(Intro and outro music by Polvora and Barcelona Afrobeat)

In today's episode we speak with Chrystel Cornelius (Ojibwe; Oneida), CEO of the Oweesta corporation---the longest standing Native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Intermediary and Skya Ducheneaux (Lakota), ED of Akiptan---a relatively new Native CDFI dedicated to agricultural lending in Indian country.

Both share with us what Native CDFIs are (Institutions that provide capital access to marginalized communities that don't have regular avenues to enhance their personal credit histories, and their entrepreneurship); how they operate (providing technical assistance and capacity building in conjunction with lending activities); what relationship based as opposed to transactional financing looks like (in it together as community members, as relatives); what to consider if wanting to start a CDFI (market studies and long term investment capital) and the needs of Native CDFIs (long-term patient loan capital and investor partners committed for the long haul).

We hear about the power of truly working with borrowers as partners a key to their success and the collaborative nature of the broader Native CDFI industry. Chrystel notes that "even if we are in competition for a grant, we support each other, which is different than banking institutions and competing non-profits. We know there are so few of us left and we really are interested in the next 7 generations. Every day is somewhat of a prayer. We are so blessed to be put in these positions by our Creator. How do we conduct ourselves? How do we be a true relative?"

We then ask about the biggest needs for Native CDFIS. Their responses:

1. long term, patient loan capital

2. market studies

3. operations grants

As Skya from Akiptan notes, "there is so much need for loan capital in Indian country. But when I say loan capital, you can't just give a Native CDFI some money for a couple of years and check a box and say yay I helped the Native CDFIs. No, its not like that, if you want to help make a long term sustainable impact and change there needs to be long term, patient, innovative capital that goes with that...Just give me a call or  come to Eagle Butte and visit with me...or just pick up your phone and call your local Native CDFI and ask what you can do. We would love to talk to you. The best way to support us just to be equal thought partners."

We finally ask what advice they have for those wanting to start CDFIs in their communities and learn about what to consider, whether it actually be starting a new CDFI or partnering with an existing institution to expand their lending landscape. Chrystel noted that first and foremost Indian country really needs an expanded platform of interested investors to integrate into continuing to build prosperity. Yet for those interested in started a new CDFI, Oweesta continues to remain a pillar in supporting the Native CDFI industry and can help support. 

That is but a short synopsis. Learn more by listening now!

Resources:

www.oweesta.org

www.akiptan.org

Also check out the Opportunity Finance Network CDFI locator tool: https://ofn.org

And a thank you to the musicians! Credits: Sangre de Maíz by Polvora; Final Say by The Custodian of Records; and 04 by Barcelona Afrobeat International Orchestra. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US)

In this episode we speak with Janie Hipp, CEO of the Native American Agriculture Fund, currently the largest Indigenous led philanthropic institution formed out of a successful lawsuit against the federal government for systemic racism against Native peoples in the United States. Janie comes to this work with decades of experience in the world of food and agriculture in Indian country. We talk to Janie about her vision of a resilient Indigenous food system; the role of agriculture in strengthening tribal economies in the US; her views as a Chickasaw woman on self determination; the role of intertribal alliances and generally what we need to move this work forward collectively.

We learn about community responses to the covid crisis in Chibueo, Ecuador and Shiprock, Navajo Nation and how these communities are responding to maintain their collective wellbeing during the initial months of covid, what their agricultural economies look like and movements in both places to strengthen and revitalize ancestral collective practices and community economies.