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Oweesta Corporation
2432 Main Street, 1st Floor
Longmont, CO 80501
303.774.8838
info@oweesta.org
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Mon-Thu: 8am-4pm MT
(Our team is available across several time zones.)
Oweesta is an equal opportunity employer and provider. We do not discriminate, learn more here: Title VI, Section 504.
ABOUT OWEESTA
Oweesta is the longest standing Native CDFI intermediary offering financial products and development services exclusively to Native CDFIs and Native communities. Specifically, Oweesta provides training, technical assistance, investments, research, and policy advocacy to help Native communities develop an integrated range of asset-building products and services, including financial education and financial products.
Asset-building tools stimulate reservation economies by providing tribal members the opportunity to acquire financial management skills and build and accumulate assets through small business creation, homeownership, education, and much more.
Filing Civil Rights Complaints
If you believe you have been subjected to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, or reprisal for prior civil rights activity, you have the right to file a complaint. Complaints may be filed directly with the Director, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity, at the following address:
Director, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, DC 20220
Alternatively, complaints may be submitted via email to crcomplaints@treasury.gov.
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Oweesta on the Road: We’ve Wrapped in South Florida
(November 12, 2026) A team from Oweesta received the full Hollywood — or in this case, Fort Lauderdale — treatment. Chrystel Cornelius, President and CEO; Mel Willie, Chief Officer of Strategic Partnerships; and Vincent Grant, Senior Programs Officer, just wrapped a visit to the set of All Access with Andy Garcia where they spoke about the power and impact of Native CDFIs for an upcoming segment of the show. When complete, the production will explore how Native CDFI investments in Indian Country help build Native economic sovereignty.
Enjoy some BTS (Behind the Scenes, for those who are wondering) shots from the set. And learn more about the segment here.
Oweesta at Native Gathering Day and OFN42
What a week! In October, Native CDFI leaders, Tribal partners, investors, and funders gathered in New Orleans for Native Gathering Day and OFN42, Opportunity Finance Network’s annual conference and the nation’s signature CDFI industry gathering.
As the largest and longest-standing Native CDFI intermediary, Oweesta facilitated Native Gathering Day, welcoming a few hundred attendees from across the country and several Tribal communities. After Native Gathering Day, Oweesta participated in OFN42 panels on housing, clean energy, and New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs). We also came home with an award, new partners, and plenty of action plans.
We’re grateful to everyone who gathered with us.
Native Gathering Day
Native Gathering Day opened the week with a full day of conversation among Native CDFI leaders and partners. Jeffery Darensbourg, PhD, scholar and cultural educator, opened the day with a welcome and land acknowledgement.
The conversations then covered capital access, policy, New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC), and affordable housing solutions and ended with a high-energy pitch challenge. Three messages threaded throughout the day:
Tawny Wilson, Senior Director of Advancement, summed up how we all felt:
Representing at OFN42
At OFN42, Native CDFIs were part of the conversation, from the main stage to breakout sessions.
Native CDFIs on the main stage
A conference highlight was the plenary “Opportunity Next Conversation: Native Communities,” with Pete Upton, CEO of the Native CDFI Network; Lakota Vogel, executive director of Four Bands Community Fund; and Skya Ducheneaux, OFN board member and executive director of Akiptan. They discussed the future of Native CDFIs, why optimism matters, and how stronger relationships can fuel economic development in Indian Country. They also asked what Native CDFIs’ growth reveals about the CDFI movement as a whole, and how non-Native CDFIs and partners can support it.
Oweesta panels
Oweesta participated in several deep dive conversations, offering insight and knowledge from more than 26 years of partnering with Native CDFIs and Tribal communities:
Celebrating Native CDFI leadership
Native CDFIs took home two national honors at the Opportunity Honors ceremony on October 22. Oweesta received the Adina Abramowitz Impact Award for Organizational Growth and Change, becoming the first Native CDFI to receive it. Four Bands Community Fund received the second annual Native CDFI Leadership Award. Congratulations, relatives.
Revisit the fun!
Thank you to OFN, our partners, and everyone who made the special week what it was. We’re carrying our conversations with us!
Oweesta Is First Native CDFI to Receive National Adina Abramowitz Impact Award for Organizational Growth and Change
Opportunity Finance Network, the national network of CDFIs, presented the national award on October 22 during its 42nd Annual Conference in New Orleans. The award recognizes a CDFI that exemplifies the excellence, innovation, and commitment championed by its namesake throughout her more than three decades in community finance. After serving on staff at OFN, Abramowitz founded Consulting for Change and later served as managing partner of CDFI Friendly America, helping mission-driven lenders nationwide strengthen their operations and deepen their impact. She passed away in December 2023.
“Adina was an incredible mentor, thinker, and guide. She taught a generation of CDFI leaders that reinvention is essential to growth and that strengthening our organizations is just as important as strengthening our markets,” said Chrystel Cornelius, President and CEO of Oweesta. “She brought that wisdom to Native CDFIs and always challenged us to do our best work on behalf of our communities.”
Read the full announcement here.
Oweesta Expands Our Comms Team to Advance Native Economic Sovereignty
Our investment in strategic communications reflects Oweesta’s commitment to advancing Native economic sovereignty by building greater understanding of the Native CDFI industry — and its role in increasing access to capital and creating lasting economic opportunity in Tribal communities.
“Through our strategic-planning process, we heard clearly from our stakeholders that Oweesta must continue strengthening how we communicate the distinct value, impact, and leadership of Native CDFIs,” said Mel Willie, Chief Officer of Strategic Partnerships, Oweesta. “Expanding our communications capacity is an important investment in the strategic priorities that will guide Oweesta over the next five years: elevating storytelling and advocacy, strengthening partnerships across sectors, and creating greater visibility for the Native CDFI industry among the funders, investors, policymakers, and partners needed to advance opportunity in Native communities.”
Read the full announcement here.
Save the Date: Oweesta 2027 Native CDFI Capital Access Convening
Save the Date: Native CDFI Capital Access Convening!
Save the date for Oweesta’s 12th Annual Native CDFI Capital Access Convening, June 7–9, 2027, at the Grand Hotel on Michilimackinac or Mackinac Island, Michigan.
CAC is one of the few national gatherings created with the sole purpose of convening Native CDFIs, Tribal leaders, investors, funders, and financial institutions around a shared goal of increasing the flow of capital into Native communities. This multi-day event includes intensive training for Native CDFIs, a closed-door session for funders and investors, and networking opportunities. Together, we build on our collective voice to advance economic justice across Indian Country.
This year’s theme — Gathering on the Great Turtle: Where Native Futures Blossom — reflects the significance of where we gather and the future we are working together to build.
Support Our Impact as a CAC Sponsor!
CAC sponsors make this unique event possible by creating space for Native CDFI practitioners and Tribal leaders to build relationships with the investors and partners who can help bring their visions to scale. Sponsorship supports learning, collaboration, and connections that extend well beyond the Convening itself. And it also enables us to highlight local Native businesses, artists, entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders, ensuring the economic benefits of our gathering extend into the host community.
Learn more in our sponsorship brochure or by reaching out to Tawny Wilson, Senior Director of Advancement, at tawny@oweesta.org.
Place of the Great Turtle
Long before Mackinac Island became known for horse-drawn carriages, historic hotels, and summer tourism, it was and remains a place of deep significance to the Anishinaabek peoples of the Great Lakes. Known in Anishinaabemowin as Michilimackinac, Place of the Great Turtle, the island sits where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet at the Straits of Mackinac. Its name reflects the shape of the island rising from the water like the back of a great turtle and carries forward a much older story of Indigenous life, gathering, movement, and exchange. Read more!
Mel Willie Joins Oweesta as Chief Officer of Strategic Partnerships
The appointment reflects our continued growth as a national Native CDFI intermediary and our commitment to strengthening the ecosystem of partners, funders, investors, Tribal leaders, and advocates working to expand economic opportunity and support sovereignty across Indian Country.
In his role, Mel will provide executive leadership for strategic partnerships, programmatic collaboration, policy and advocacy initiatives, and national engagement efforts. He will work closely with Native CDFIs, Tribal Nations, philanthropic organizations, federal partners, investors, and peer organizations to advance solutions that strengthen Native economies and expand access to capital and opportunity.
Read our full announcement here.
Oweesta Featured in Forbes’ EQ!
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