Every month the Northern Cheyenne elder dutifully stepped into his local bank to cash his pension check and pay his bills.  But because he didn’t have an account, the bank charged him $10 to cash his check and $2 for each of the five money orders that he purchased to pay his bills.  He never gave these fees much thought because he accepted the bank’s rules.  But more importantly, going to the bank made him anxious.

When Henry Thompson, land grant extension director at Chief Dull Knife College, starts to tell this story, her eyes light up. On the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, per capita annual income is $7,736, about 46% of individuals live below the poverty level, and nearly a quarter of households lack telephone service. Financial education is making a difference. Thompson has seen her tribal members, one by one, take control of their finances, build economic security, and become empowered.

Chief Dull Knife College is a member of the Tribal College Financial Empowerment Initiative, a group of tribal colleges that focuses on financial education as a way to strengthen local families and economies.  With the backing of a powerful coalition of federal, private, and nonprofit partners, these tribal colleges promote a holistic view of wellness that includes economic health and empowerment.  Their curriculum builds upon strong Native values, such as self-sufficiency and resourcefulness, and teaches people how to avoid becoming trapped by the dominant economic system.

Thompson starts her financial workshops by asking community members to remember how their ancestors managed their resources in order to survive. People remember when the tribe worked together throughout the year, and nothing was wasted. Then she asks, “When payday comes today, what happens?”  She draws a circle representing the tribal economy with dollar signs that leak outside the circle to reservation border towns and faraway cities.  Everyone nods in agreement when they realize that a dollar spent at a local business remains with the tribe and brings strength to the tribal economy.

Chief Dull Knife College is using the Building Native Communities curriculum produced by First Nations Development Institute (a nonprofit located in Fredericksburg, VA) and the Fannie Mae Foundation. Designed with Native people in mind, the curriculum draws upon Native traditions and values.

It uses stories, visual aids, activities, and references to demystify personal finances. The training modules include developing a savings plan, managing savings and checking accounts, understanding credit, and applying for loans.

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI in Albuquerque, NM) uses the Money Smart curriculum produced by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Although Money Smart wasn’t designed with Native people in mind, Joan Goodman, coordinator at SIPI Family Extension and Education Program, and Dorothy Wester, SIPI business instructor, adapt it to the cultural context of the neighboring Native American communities.

Financial education is helping students and young people, too. Goodman and Wester provide financial education to teenagers by showing them how to set goals like saving to buy a car or go to college. At Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College in Hayward, WI, Family Living Extension Educator Trina Starr provides training for new tribal college students to help them successfully budget their scholarship money through the entire semester. Additional programs reach grade school children by incorporating financial education in after-school programs and youth group activities.

As tax season approaches, these tribal colleges will be working within their communities to help tribal members avoid the predatory tax preparation schemes that not only charge high processing fees, but also take taxpayers’ money through hidden “rapid refund” charges.  Some tax preparers don’t even know about the Earned Income Tax Credit that could credit up to $4,140 for a family making less than $33,178 and who raise more than one child.  Not only will these tax savings or refunds benefit individual families, but they also encourage greater consumer spending into the community’s economy.

Land grant institutions strive to build rural economies, strengthen families, and empower individuals.  The added challenges of being a tribal land grant institution means serving tribal nations that often lag far behind the mainstream economy.  But if Henry Thompson and others keep delivering financial education in their communities, the future is looking bright for tribal economies.

Thompson finishes her story by recounting how the local branch manager eventually noticed the Northern Cheyenne elder spending $20 in monthly fees. Thompson and the branch manager suggested something new.  They enrolled the elder in a financial education class at Chief Dull Knife College, and when he completed the class, the bank opened free checking and savings accounts for him. The man now keeps the $240 a year that he used to spend in fees in a savings account. And today, he walks into the bank with confidence and pride.

John Phillips is the USDA tribal college liaison for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. He has worked with tribal college land grant programs for six years including extension work on the Cheyenne River Reservation, international programming, and coordination of national initiatives. For a free copy of the Building Native Communities curriculum, call (800) 659-7557. For a free copy of the Money Smart curriculum, visit: www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart. To join the Tribal College Financial Empowerment Initiative, contact John Phillips at (202) 720-4366, or email  jphillips@aihec.org.