With funding support from NeighborWorks America, five organizations located on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations – Lakota Federal Credit Union, Lakota Funds, Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial, Sicangu Wicoti Awanyakapi Corporation, and Tatanka Funds – have joined together to launch the Rosebud Homeownership and Wealth Building Initiative, which will take a number of steps to make homeownership more accessible to tribal members living on the Rosebud Reservation.

Through a series of 12 trainings delivered at varying locations across the Rosebud Reservation, the initiative will help tribal members prepare for the responsibility of homeownership and become mortgage ready. Specifically, the trainings will focus on building financial capability, improving credit, and increasing knowledge of the home buying process. The partner organizations will also work individually with aspiring homeowners to coach them through essential steps in the homeownership process, such as financial goals, saving, credit readiness, and land leases.

On a broader scale, the partner organizations will collaborate with other entities to strengthen non-physical infrastructure components (i.e. - systems and processes) that are essential to establishing and streamlining mortgage lending on the Rosebud Reservation.