High Impact Community Investments in Indian Country

Community impact investing provides investors with the opportunity to support community economic development, revitalization, growth, and sustainability. Many investors choose to allocate a portion of their overall portfolio holdings to this high social impact asset class.

Clients of Trillium Asset Management were among the first investors in Lakota Funds, a Native American community development financial institution (CDFI) located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. These investments support basic banking services, small business and financial literacy training to “underbanked” Native American communities who have been historically targeted by predatory lending practices.

The Lakota Fund – is a micro-enterprise fund that developed out of the credit starvation and the virtual absence of a local economy on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home to 18,000 from the Oglala tribe. Given an unemployment rate of 90%, these funds are essential. The Lakota Fund provides technical assistance and loan capital up to $25,000 to tribe members who are establishing or trying to grow their businesses. These loans go both to the informal and formal business sectors. An average loan is around $5,000. More information at- www.lakotafunds.org

First Nations Oweesta Corporation (Oweesta) – Territories: Native American Communities including Alaska and Hawaii.
Oweesta is a non-profit certified community development finance corporation (CDFI). It is the only Native CDFI (NCDFI) intermediary in the United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Nations Development Institute (FNDI) that was founded in 1999 to assist tribes and Native communities with technical assistance, training, community development information, investments and loans. More information at- www.oweesta.org

To learn more about Native Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) go to:
http://nativecdfi.net

 

Article by Stephanie R. Leighton, CFA is a partner and portfolio manager for Trillium Asset Management, LLC. She leads the firm’s Large Cap Core and Growth and Income strategies and is a member of the portfolio management team for the Green Century Balanced Fund.

Prior to joining Trillium in 1990, Stephanie was an Investment Officer at Sun Life of Canada and an analyst at Pioneer Investments. She serves on the Indigenous Peoples’ Working Group of US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment and has served on the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Committee on Socially Responsible Investing.

Stephanie holds a B.A. from Bard College and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University. She is a past president of the New England Chapter of the Social Investment Forum. She is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society and the CFA Institute. Stephanie is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.