In a move to expand federal funding opportunities for Native American-owned businesses, the Small Business Administration has announced an outreach effort under the auspices of the Biden Administration’s Investing in America Agenda.
A just-concluded roundtable conducted at the White House with representatives from the Small Business Administration, Department of Commerce, and Treasury Department, among other agencies, outlined “commitments to, and strategies for, reducing barriers to accessing capital, building on the current system of Native community development financial institutions, and improving economic development in Tribal communities.”
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, according to a White House press release, underscored the importance of both “public-private partnerships and interagency collaboration in expanding capital access,” while also supporting “Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”
Haaland, a former member of Congress representing New Mexico’s 1st District, is the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. She has pushed for greater federal investments in Indian Country, and last year remarked that “we are working to remedy decades of underfunding,” noting that up to $1.4 billion in federal contracts were awarded to Native American businesses in 2023.
An emphasis is particularly being made with what is officially called the Tribal Community Vision Fund, which is tasked with promoting economic and community development in Indian Country.
A second effort comes in the form of the Initiative for Inclusive Entrepreneurship, designed to accelerate the flow of State Small Business Credit Initiative capital to Native entrepreneurs and Tribal enterprises.
In November the Small Business Administration released figures showing that during fiscal year 2023 it had backed around five hundred loans to Native-owned small businesses, for a total dollar value of some $278 million.
According to U.S. Census figures Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians currently own just under 57,000 individual businesses across the country, representing some $65 billion in revenue.
By Garry Boulard
