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 highlights how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) work alongside their small business clients to accelerate change and create economic opportunities in Native communities. Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they shine a spotlight on the people accelerating economic change in Indian Country.

The legal foundations of tribal economies

Long before federal banking systems or modern economic policy, Native nations were building trade networks, governing territory and sustaining complex economies.

In Episode 1 of Difference Makers 3.0, legal scholar Robert J. Miller — a citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe and professor of law — joins Brian Edwards and Pete Upton to examine the historical and constitutional foundations of tribal sovereignty.

From pre-colonial trade systems to the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, Miller makes the case that tribes are sovereign governments, not racial groups — a distinction that shapes everything from treaty rights to modern Native finance.

In this episode, Miller discusses:

• Why Indigenous economies were sophisticated long before European contact
• How property, inheritance and trade operated in tribal nations
• What the Constitution says about commerce with Indian tribes
• Why Native CDFIs are expressions of sovereignty — not DEI programs
• How modern Native finance reflects government-to-government relationships

🎧 Listen now:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2352819/episodes/18669874-before-the-banks

Reading material:

🔗 Reservation Capitalism by Robert J. Miller, Adam Crepelle

🔗 Morton v. Mancari (1974)

🔗 U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 (Indian Commerce Clause)

🔗 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (1975)

🔗 Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (UNESCO page)

🔗 Chaco Culture National Historical Park (National Park Service)

Difference Makers highlights how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) work alongside their small business clients to accelerate change and create economic opportunities in Native communities. Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they shine a spotlight on the people accelerating economic change in Indian Country.

Difference Makers 3.0 is a yearlong podcast series from the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News that explores how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are reshaping the future of tribal economies — one loan, one partnership, one bold idea at a time.

This season, the podcast moves beyond small business stories to spotlight the full spectrum of what Native CDFIs do — from consumer lending to homeownership, credit repair to capital stacking — and why they matter more than ever.

Through in-depth interviews with Native CDFI leaders, funders, tribal partners, and clients, Difference Makers 3.0 traces the movement’s history, the policy fights shaping its future, and the collaborations that are helping Native CDFIs grow their impact and build long-term capacity.

Difference Makers highlights how Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) work alongside their small business clients to accelerate change and create economic opportunities in Native communities. Join the Native CDFI Network and Tribal Business News as they shine a spotlight on the people accelerating economic change in Indian Country.