The Founding of the Lakota Federal Credit Union on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota

Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota are determined to claim their financial independence but that’s not easy when there is no financially insured bank for savings accounts, business and home mortgage loans. Tawney Brunsch, the Executive Director of Lakota Funds on the reservation was determined to change this. Lakota Funds is an amazing story in itself as the first micro-enterprise loan institution in North America that led to the establishment of Community Development FInancial Institutions across the U.S. But Lakota Funds does not have the ability to capitalize home and business loans so needed to improve the financial wellbeing of the Lakota People. In the good old “can do” spirit of the Lakota people, Tawney recounts how the federal credit union was formed by downloading the manual from the Internet and getting to it with her cohorts. Tawney chose a federal credit union instead of a typical bank because it is member owned and not owned by Wall Street shareholders. Enjoy her successful journey to make it happen.