Financial Skills for Families
In 2001, First Nations Development Institute worked in partnership with the Fannie Mae Foundation to produce the Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families curriculum, a culturally appropriate guide to financial education in Native communities. In 2011, in partnership with First Nations Oweesta Corporation, First Nations Development Institute revised this workbook and released the 4th edition. Copies of the student workbook and the Instructor’s Resource and Training Guide are now available.  If you have questions about the Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families curriculum, please email Jaci Ree (jaci@oweesta.org.)

Order printed copies of Financial Skills for Families - Workbook (4th Edition) or Financial Skills for Families - Instructor's Resource and Training Guide at $10 per copy at our Publication Store, (requires a Credit Card), complete the Publication Order Form (to use a Purchase Order or pay by Check)
             or
Download them below at no cost.

Investing for the Future
In 2009, in response to demand for a more advanced investor education curriculum, First Nations Development Institute created the Building Native Communities: Investing for the Future curriculum. Copies of the student workbook and the Instructor’s Resource Guide are available here.

Order printed copies of Investing for the Future - Workbook at $10 per copy at our Publication Store, (requires a Credit Card), complete the Publication Order Form (to pay by Check)
                 or
Download it below at no cost. 

NOTE: The Investing for the Future Instructor's Guide is available for download only. For additional online Instructor resources, please visit the InvestNative Resource library.

Learning by Doing: Financial Education for Native American Youth Receiving Large Lump-Sum Payouts (2012) (1.85 MB)
In October 2012, First Nations held a reality fair specifically tailored to Native individuals receiving a large per capita or minor’s trust payment for Western Shoshone tribal members.  The $pending Frenzy provided youth with fake money in the amount of their trust fund payment to give them experience managing a large amount of money and learn about a range of spending and investing options.  This report assesses the strengths of the experiential learning technique and how it can be utilized in Native communities to prepare tribal members for large lump sum payments.

Financial Education in South Dakota’s High Native-Enrollment Schools: Barriers and Possibilities (2010) (885 KB)
Learning to use resources wisely and to plan financially for the future are important steps on the road to asset building, wealth creation, and self-sufficiency. They are particularly important skills for Native American youth, who—on average—come from lower income backgrounds than non-Native youth and have more ground to cover to reach financial security.  This report looks at high Native-enrollment schools in South Dakota, reaching out to 17 teachers, administrators, community activists, and state education officials to better understand the barriers and possibilities of school-based financial education.

Integrated Assest Building Strategies for Reservation-Based Communities: A 27 Year Retrospective of First Nations Development Institute - Chapter 2: Financial Management Skills in Native Communities (2007) (3.25 MB)
The Financial Education chapter of Integrated Assest Building Strategies for Reservation-Based Communities: A 27 Year Retrospective of First Nations Development Institute begins with two introductory sections that demonstrate the importance of both developing financial management skills and increasing research related to the potential effects of increasing financial education opportunities in Native communities. The chapter is then broken into three sections focused on topics seen as essential for developing greater financial management and investment skills in Native communities.

Family Economic Success in Native Communities: Adapting the Annie E. Casey Family Economic Success Framework to Rural and Reservation-based Native Communities (2004) (480 KB)
This paper identifies challenges related to family economic success in Native communities, discusses unique issues related to Native communities, and outlines a framework for economic success that will reflect the unique opportunities and challenges in these communities.

Financial Education in Native Communities: A Briefing Paper (2003) (902 KB)
This briefing paper serves as a resource for tribes, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and community practitioners. It was also designed as a working document for discussion at the Native American Financial Literacy Coalition national policy development forum on Financial Literacy in Indian Country held on May 28-29, 2003 in Denver, Colorado.

A Partnership for Financial Education: Financial Education with the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (2008) (2 MB)
On August 13, 2008 the MHA Tribal Chairman Marcus Wells, Jr. sent a letter to First Nations Development Institute to request that they deliver financial education trainings in the small regional communities of Twin Buttes, Mandaree, and White Shield. This report provides an overview of those trainings.

Borrowed Time: Use of Refund Anticipation Loans Among EITC Filers in Native Communities (2009) (1.6 MB)
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which supplements the earnings of low-to-moderate income working families, returns over $44 billion each year to these households and their communities and lifts approximately five million people above the poverty line. Unfortunately, paid tax preparers have weakened the economic impact of the EITC by over $600 million a year by offering Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) that give EITC recipients quicker access to their refunds in return for high fees of 50-500 percent APR. Households in communities of color are disproportionately impacted by high-cost RAL products. This report provides data on the use of RALs in Native communities.

Integrated Assest Building Strategies for Reservation-Based Communities: A 27 Year Retrospective of First Nations Development Institute - Chapter 2: Financial Management Skills in Native Communities (2007) (3.25)
The Financial Education chapter of Integrated Assest Building Strategies for Reservation-Based Communities: A 27 Year Retrospective of First Nations Development Institute begins with two introductory sections that demonstrate the importance of both developing financial management skills and increasing research related to the potential effects of increasing financial education opportunities in Native communities. The chapter is then broken into three sections focused on topics seen as essential for developing greater financial management and investment skills in Native communities.

Building Native Communities: A Tribal Leader's Guide to Launching an EITC Campaign (2005) (2.5 MB)
This publication provides guidance to tribal leaders and community organizers who want to improve awareness about the Earned Income Tax Credit and expand affordable access to tax preparation services in Native communities.

Contributions of the Earned Income Tax Credit to Community Development in Indian Country (2005) (203 KB)
This research study, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and First Nations Development Institute was conducted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. This paper explores the impact and potential uses of EITC and other tax refunds in Native communities.

Building Native Communities: A Guide to Claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Consumer Workbook (2004) (800 KB)
The purpose of this curriculum is to enable Native community members to expand their financial skills to access the Earned Income Tax Credit in a cost effective way to help improve the financial standing of themselves, their family, and their community.

Building Native Communities: Saving for the Future, Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) for Native Families (2005) (1.4 MB)
This workbook was developed to provide guidance to individuals interested in learning basic financial skills associated with IDAs. The workbook is designed to be interactive and will help to introduce people to IDAs, learn how to use IDAs to achieve savings goals, and learn how IDAs can help build assets.

Policy Report: American Indian Tribal Communities and Individual Development Account (IDA) Policy (2003) (508 KB)
This paper seeks to explore in what ways American Indians have (or have not) typically had access to IDA policy making and program development. In examining the intergovernmental IDA policymaking processes, the authors surveyed 14 states with American Indian reservations and state IDA policies to assess whether American Indian communities in those states had access to IDA policymaking processes and whether the resultant state IDA policies include American Indian Tribal governments as eligible program fiduciary organizations and/or administrators. Additionally, the authors attempt to assess whether state-administered IDA programs are serving American Indian people.

Sovereign Individuals, Sovereign Nations: Promising Practices for IDA Programs in Indian Country (2003) (449 KB)
This research paper provides an overview of data on Native IDA programs in early 2003 and identifies promising practices and lessons learned.

Assets for the Future: Saving for the Seventh Generation (2000) (191 KB)
An early evaluation of First Nations Development Institute's IDA initiative.

Big Money: Structuring Minor's Trust Programs for Native Communities (2011) (949 KB)
This manual is useful for tribal leaders interested in designing a minor's trust program that promotes responsible money management for Native youth.

Developing Innovations in Tribal Per Capita Distribution Payment Programs: Promoting Education, Savings and Investments for the Future (2011) (290 KB)
This report is dedicated to informing tribal leaders and citizens who are interested in designing per capita distribution programs that include forward-looking features and incentives to promote education, savings, and financial empowerment.

Integrated Asset Building Strategies for Reservation-Based Communities: A 27 Year Retrospective of First Nations Development Institute: Chapter 6: A Catalyst for Asset Building: Native Community Development Financial Institutions (2007) (3.0 MB)
This chapter of Integrated Assest Building Strategies for Reservation-Based Communities: A 27 Year Retrospective of First Nations Development Institute discusses Native Community Development Financial Institutions (Native CDFIs) which offer a locally controlled, community-responsive resource for credit and other financial services to support asset-based development in Native communities.

Investing in Community: Community Development Financial Insitutions in Native communities (2004) (306 KB)
This research paper presents trends and promising practices for Native CDFIs.