By Lani Hansen, Reporter
OKMULGEE, Oklahoma– Mvskoke Loan Fund has partnered with the Native CDFI Network and Center for Farm Financial Management in hosting a series of webinars for Native American agriculture.
“We received a grant to begin a small agriculture business lending,” Mvskoke Loan Fund Chief Executive Officer, Chris Coburn said.
Mvskoke Loan Fund (MLF) found out during this time there are not a lot of financial tools to help Native producers know how to navigate or to get funding for their businesses. MLF can provide tools that will help them be stronger.
CDFI is a Community Development Financial Institution a category of banking and a MLF is a grantee of the Native American Ag Foundation to begin some ag lending. According to Coburn, MLF is the lead CDFI which is a financial institution. A
“It was our idea to get this information out to everyone,” Coburn said.
There are six webinars which began on April 29 and continue every Wednesday at 3 p.m. through June 3. These webinars are to help ag producers across the country to find data and things they need to psuh their farm or ranch for success.
“We’ve created a partnership of Native CDFI Network through 60 or so Native CDFI across the country that work with different Native population’s in 27 states,” Coburn said.
The Center for Farm Financial Management is believed to be the best resource on ag data and ag information in the country. The Native American Agriculture fund is a private foundation that is getting money out to try and help get Native producers resources.
“These webinars will help people who are in ag business or finance,” Coburn said. “We are one of the lead sponsors of getting this on. Hopefully by the end of May we can begin doing small agriculture business loans.”
Through these webinars, Coburn is hoping that anyone in agriculture will gain access to tools that will help them get better at what they are doing. Many of the tools from the webinars include farm financial planning, financial analysis, business planning, loan application preparation, credit analysis and more.
For more information visit www.mvskokeloanfund.org/ag-resources/ or call 918-549-2603.
