CDFIs are essential to ensuring all communities and residents have access to safe, affordable credit when traditional financial institutions are not able to do so. These market-based institutions know their communities needs best and leverage private sector investment. Building bridges between the public and private sectors is what CDFIs do well and we need to preserve the expertise of these organizations by ensuring a robust funding of $324 million for the CDFI Fund.
Mary Stoick from Sunrise Bank in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the reason my family’s business, which had been in operation for 71 years, is still thriving. We were on the verge of collapse, and being evicted from our old location at that point made it even more challenging. In a desperate attempt to save our business, I decided to take a risky gamble and enter the food truck business. We were incredibly fortunate with the outcome of that decision. While our food truck business was thriving, we faced significant difficulties in finding a lender with fair pricing. Mary informed us that unfortunately, all the allocated funds for their tax credit loan had been exhausted, and they would no longer be able to provide us with funding through that avenue. She emphasized the slim chances of success, urging me to let it go, but I refused to give up. I relentlessly pursued her for days, and finally, something gave way. There were just enough funds to allow us to continue our family legacy. We are now approaching 80 years old, and I have a son. If he chooses to follow in our footsteps, he could potentially extend our business history to 125 years. None of this would have been possible without Mary and Sunrise Bank. This is not an exaggerated or fabricated story; it’s a true account of my life. Mary stands out among many as one of the few who genuinely cares for her customers, making her a rare gem. I sincerely hope that this allocation goes through so that she can continue to do for others what she has done for me.
Our Native communities are very close knit and culturally dependent upon the community to hold those sacred ways in place. Our communities need the CDFIs as they better understand and serve the community members in a way that is critical to the success of home ownership, small business support and primarily teaching the outside world’s credit system and how it affects each member. We strive to strengthen the financial wellbeing of our communities where government and the outside world falls short.