Strengthening Native Community Lending Infrastructure on the Navajo Nation - Change Labs proposes a three-year institutional strengthening project under PA 5 to build the Native-controlled financial infrastructure necessary to sustain access to business capital for Navajo entrepreneurs beyond the time-limited State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Change Labs is headquartered in Tuba City, Arizona, operates an Entrepreneurship Hub in Shiprock, New Mexico, and serves the Navajo Nation, a rural reservation spanning approximately 27,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Approximately 11 Change Labs staff responsible for lending, financial management, portfolio oversight, compliance, data management, and capital formation will participate directly. The ultimate beneficiaries are Navajo entrepreneurs and Navajo-owned businesses that rely on sustainable sources of capital to start, sustain, and grow businesses in their communities. The need is driven by the scarcity of conventional financial services on the Navajo Nation and structural barriers to traditional credit, including distance, limited banking infrastructure, trust-land restrictions that constrain the use of land and homes as collateral, and underwriting practices that do not always reflect rural reservation economies. Change Labs has responded by building lending infrastructure, including the Navajo Nation's first microfinance program and a major role in deploying SSBCI capital with the Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development. By 2027, Change Labs and the Division expect to support deployment of approximately $13.3 million in total SSBCI-related capital. Because SSBCI is temporary, Change Labs must ensure that the systems, expertise, controls, and institutional capacity required to steward capital remain in place after that federal capitalization ends. The project will address this need through three integrated objectives. First, Change Labs will implement strong lending, portfolio-risk, and financial-management infrastructure by operationalizing its existing loan loss reserve methodology, documenting core lending and risk-management procedures, establishing quarterly portfolio-risk reviews, and strengthening management and Board reporting. Second, Change Labs will build and institutionalize Native financial leadership through professional development, expert-supported implementation, competency assessment, cross-training, standard operating procedures, and succession responsibilities across critical community-finance functions. Third, Change Labs will build and operationalize long-term capital infrastructure by strengthening systems for managing multiple sources of lending capital, implementing governance and financial controls required by future capital providers, advancing institutional and CDFI readiness where applicable, and pursuing additional public, philanthropic, and private lending capital. EAGLE funding will strengthen the Native-led institution already responsible for deploying and managing capital rather than create a new entrepreneur-facing service program, provide third-party technical assistance, or fund a stand-alone feasibility study. By project end, Change Labs will have stronger lending and risk-management systems, deeper internal Native financial expertise, and functioning infrastructure to steward and redeploy capital beyond SSBCI.
