The Native CDFI Network (NCN) and Oweesta Corporation invite all Native CDFIs and other key Indian Country stakeholder and partner organizations to join their sign-on letter to Treasury officials and Congressional leadership opposing President Trump’s executive order (EO) targeting the CDFI Fund that was issued on Friday.
Titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” the EO targets the elimination or reduction in operational scope of seven federal agencies and offices, including the CDFI Fund. It mandates that the “the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” It directs the head of the CDFI Fund and the other affected entities to submit within seven days “a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.”
The letter explains that the CDFI Fund should not be subject to the EO because all its basic functions are statutorily authorized by Congress, and that Treasury and Congress should protect the CDFI Fund against this unfounded attack to ensure that Native CDFIs can continue to do their transformative work helping to grow Native economies. It also touts the bipartisan support the CDFI Fund has long enjoyed in recognition of that work.
“Native CDFIs are among the most efficient financial institutions in the nation, stretching limited resources to drive economic growth in some of the most rural and remote areas where traditional banks have failed,” said NCN CEO Pete Upton. “We will work tirelessly this week and beyond to ensure the Administration’s review of the CDFI Fund affirms its statutory authority and upholds its critical mission.”
“Native CDFIs have proven extremely successful in deploying capital and technical assistance that starts and grows Native-owned small businesses, cultivates Native homeownership, expands Native food sovereignty, and grows assets and wealth in Native communities,” said Oweesta Corporation President & CEO Chrystel Cornelius. “As Treasury Secretary Bessent shared in his confirmation hearing, the CDFI Fund is a vital federal partner in this endeavor, and we must protect it at all costs.”
The deadline to sign your organization on to the joint letter is EOB today, March 17.
To read the letter, click here.
To sign on to the letter, click here.