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3/14/2024

READOUT: U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba Joins National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Rese…

READOUT: U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba Joins National
Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s
Reservation Economic Summit
March 13, 2024

At the Summit, Chief Malerba shares Treasury Department initiatives supporting Tribal
economic development, including small business financing and expanding access to capital
LAS VEGAS, NV – Today, U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba delivered remarks at the at the
National Center for American Indian Enterprise Developmentʼs (NCAIED) 2024 Reservation
Economic Summit (RES), the largest and longest running national American Indian business
event in the United States. During her remarks, Chief Malerba outlined how the Biden-Harris
Administration has made strengthening the self-determination and economic vitality of Tribal
Nations and Native people a key priority.
One way the Treasury Department has been focused on Tribal economic development is
through the implementation of President Bidenʼs American Rescue Plan (ARP). The ARP
included over $30 billion for Tribal governments, including $20 billion from the State and Local
Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program – the largest single infusion of federal funding into
Indian Country in U.S. history. And earlier today, during virtual remarks at RES, Secretary of the
Treasury Janet L. Yellen announced new small business funding for Tribes under the State
Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), reauthorized and expanded by the ARP. To date, the
Treasury Department has approved SSBCI plans for up to $265 million in small business
funding for 80 Tribes.
The Treasury Department has also focused on working across the public, private, and
philanthropic sectors to maximize federal investments like SSBCI and increase access to
capital for Tribal communities. Last month, Chief Malerba participated in a roundtable
discussion at the White House with key federal agencies, financial institutions, and
philanthropies on increasing capital access for Tribal communities, during which Chief Malerba
reinforced the Departmentʼs commitment to facilitating investment in Indian Country. At the
roundtable, two new public-private partnerships were announced: The Tribal Community Vision
Fund, a national multi-year initiative to expand capital access in Indian Country; and
the Indigenous Futures Fund, which seeks to accelerate the flow of SSBCI capital to Native
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2179

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3/14/2024

READOUT: U.S. Treasurer Chief Lynn Malerba Joins National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Rese…

entrepreneurs and enterprises. Specifically, the Indigenous Futures Fund seeks to raise $2
million in grants and $25 million in investment capital to address the immediate needs and
opportunities of Native businesses, as well as support the long-term capacity of financial
intermediaries working in Indian Country.
In addition to engaging with Tribal leaders at RES, this week, Chief Malerba and senior
Treasury o icials visited the Moapa Band of Paiutes in southern Nevada, where the delegation
toured the Tribeʼs solar energy installations and discussed the new tax credits and clean
energy finance unlocked by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA established a new credit
delivery mechanism – elective pay (o en called “direct pay”) – that enables Tribal governments
to take advantage of clean energy tax credits, expanding the reach of those credits to help
build projects more quickly and a ordably, which will in turn create good-paying jobs and
lower energy costs. Until the Inflation Reduction Act introduced this new credit delivery
mechanism, Tribal governments could not fully benefit from tax credits like those that
incentivize clean energy construction. The Inflation Reduction Act also established another
mechanism – credit transferability – that expands the range of entities that can benefit from
clean energy credits.
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https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2179

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