The Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC) invited Gloria Reynolds, a Community Affairs Specialist with the FDIC, to share information about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for Native Communities in Oklahoma.  On August 8th, 2013, Gloria presented such information during a webinar for ONAC and the Alliance for Economic Inclusion for Northeastern Oklahoma (AEI) constituents.  

For a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, click here.

To listen to the webinar recording, click here.

March 11, 2014.  We, the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC), announce that we have awarded four ONAC mini grants.

ONAC represents a consortium of Oklahoma tribes and partners interested in establishing asset-building initiatives and programs in Native communities, for the purpose of creating greater opportunities for economic self-sufficiency of tribal citizens.    

In January 2014, ONAC released our first-ever request for proposals (RFP) to fund Native asset building projects in Oklahoma.  We received seven excellent applications from tribal governments and tribal programs based in Oklahoma.  When ONAC released the RFP we had a total of $10,500 to award to recipients (an average of $3,500 each for three grantees).  After receiving seven applications in February, First Nations Development Institute, a national Native nonprofit, and the fiscal sponsor for ONAC, was able to secure $3,500 more to fund a fourth grantee.  Thus, ONAC, in collaboration with First Nations, has awarded a total of $14,000 in mini grants to four ONAC constituents.  We are excited to work with the awardees as they continue to offer Native asset building projects to their tribal members.   If needed, ONAC is available to provide free training and technical assistance to the grantees as they design savings programs and offer financial education related classes. 

The current ONAC mini grant awardees are as follows:

• The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Housing Division will hold four classes for 60 tribal citizens/homeowners to educate them about foreclosure prevention.  They will also purchase a computer to run credit checks with their homeowners as well as supplies, refreshments, and incentives for their classes (awarded $3,500).
• Wichita and Affiliated Tribes will administer a SummerSmart: Wichita Summer Youth Program where, in addition to building tribal pride through teaching Wichita history and culture and promoting good health practices, they will offer savings accounts for the interns and youth participants as well as financial education classes (awarded $3,500).
• The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians will offer a youth employment and financial education program where they will require that the participants save in a matched savings account program (awarded $3,500).
• The Housing Authority of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma will continue to build internal staff capacity and will send a staff member to a training and certification course so they may provide credit counseling and budgeting classes to an estimated 80 tribal members during the grant period (awarded $3.500).

Award Total: $14,000

The Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition thanks those who applied for these grant funds.  ONAC is actively seeking other funding to try to fund the remaining three grantees and will be in touch with them, if we are successful in our fundraising efforts. Additionally, as we received feedback from other constituents in the state that they would be interested in a second competitive ONAC mini grant RFP, we are seeking additional support.  For more information about the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition, please go to http://www.oknativeassets.org/.    If you have any questions about ONAC and the mini grants,  contact Christy Finsel, ONAC Coordinator, at cfinsel@oknativeassets.org.

First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) is pleased to announce the launch of the My Green campaign for Native American youth.  My Green, created by First Nations with funding from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, is an initiative that features a brand new website (http://www.mybigmoney.org/) with tools to help Native youth who will be receiving a large Minor’s Trust or per capita payment – what First Nations refers to as “Big Money” – make smart decisions with their money.

The My Green campaign was created in response to the growing demand for a product to specifically assist the increasing number of youth receiving Big Money payments.  As many of you know, some tribes hold capital earned through successful tribal businesses or settlements with the US government in a trust for tribal youth, and award the payment(s) to youth when they turn 18 (or sometimes later).  Unfortunately, Native youth have a high “unbanked” rate and lower levels of financial knowledge than the national average, and are thus especially vulnerable to making poor financial decisions when awarded this money.

The My Green website (http://www.mybigmoney.org/) features four spokespeople, Native youth ages 17-23, who present their stories about how they managed their Big Money. They share their lessons learned in a series of videos, and they serve as guides throughout the different components of the website.  The site contains several money tools that Native youth can use to learn how to better manage their payments, including a Big Money simulation game that mirrors real-life spending decisions one must make and a question and answer forum that addresses a number of topics pertinent to youth receiving a Big Money payment.

To view all the resources available to our youth, please visit www.mybigmoney.org, like the new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mygreenfndi, and follow the campaign on Twitter @mygreenfndi for all the latest updates. 

Talking Dollars with Danny and Denise is a series of 7 60-second public service announcements that cover a range of financial topics. Danny and Denise discuss buying a car, budgeting their money, what to do with a windfall payout from a trust fund settlement, and much more.
 
These PSAs were recorded by staff at KWSO 91.9FM -  Warm Springs Community Radio. The project was made possible with funding from First Nations Development Institute (www.firstnations.org) and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (www.finrafoundation.org).
 
Use of these PSAs is free to all radio stations. 
 
To download the PSAs and the logos for the project, go to dropbox at http://www.dropbox.com and use the following email and password:
 
email: sdewees@firstnations.org        
password: danny7

If you have any questions regarding this project or need assistance with download the materials, please email Sarah Dewees at sdewees@firstnations.org.

The due dates for the Fiscal Year 2013 Assets for Independence (AFI) applications have been revised to:

• March 25, 2013
• May 24, 2013

The January 25, 2013 application due date has been removed. Applicants who were planning to submit proposals in early 2013 are still strongly encouraged to do so.

As always, applications for AFI funding can be submitted any time through grants.gov. Due dates for applications refer to the last day that an application may be received for consideration under the next scheduled review.

Modified Funding Opportunity Announcement

A modified Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) was released on December 5, 2012. Changes in the new FOA include:

• Revised point structure
• Explicit request to demonstrate experience with allowable asset categories
• Modest revisions to the evaluation criteria

More detail on the modifications and the new FOA are available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2011-ACF-OCS-EI-0137. Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the modified FOA to ensure their application is responsive to the evaluation criteria. The estimated total funding and expected number of awards for 2013 has not changed.

Did you know?

Applicants can register to receive notifications of any changes to the grant opportunity by visiting the AFI opportunity synopsis page on Grants.gov.

If you have any questions about planning your 2013 AFI proposal, contact the AFI Resource Center at info@IDAresources.org or 1-866-778-6037.