Welcome to INFCA, the
Indigenous Nations Federal
Charter Association
| Behold, they have given you the center
of the Nations' hoop to make it live…
Give them now the flowering stick that they may flourish and the sacred pipe that they may know the power that is peace, and the wind of the white giant, that they may have endurance and face all winds with courage. --Black Elk |
INFCA is a Native American cooperative association centered on developing a viable economy in the mostly rural Indian Country. We do this by providing what is needed to achieve goals that are common to many Indian Country communities, such as greater protection of the environment, greater common resources, and greater general prosperity.
Our goals are attainable through the networking and development of native-owned cooperative associations and tribal credit programs, which advance the financial, legal, and technical resources of tribes, tribal members, and non-Indians alike by providing specialized knowledge of grant programs, a network of tribal businesses, investment banking, tribal bonds, investment and pension opportunities, and customized support and consulting to enhance the success of ventures.
Additionally, INFCA is designed to participate
directly in the necessary transition toward ecologically sound industry and
infrastructure by developing an endowed trust that is used to purchase and manage
land for use as a buffalo and wildlife refuge and for the production of renewable
energy.
Native
American Free Enterprise
Much of Native American development centers on the Tribe as the basic unit to be developed, sacrificing the individual in favor of the government. Most tribal organization and leadership patterns were imposed for the more convenient exploitation by the dominant society. Arguably, Native American poverty reflects this emphasis on the tribe that fails to harness individual entrpreneurial effort and free enterprise. The Indian Reorganization Act of the 1930's, sometimes called the "Indian New Deal", has little in it for individual Indian entrepreneurs, and provides for a collapsed and highly-centralized hierarchy which spawns at best, socialized governments, and in its worst instances, virtual dictatorships. Not surprisingly, the Lakota, who have a history of decentralized, power-sharing governments, have failed dismally under the Indian Reorganization Act. The Lakota's organizational traditions are based upon the hoop and not the triangle.
While the Indian Reorganization Act is applicable to Oklahoma people; there are additional laws unique to Oklahoma, which FDR's social engineers put in place. This law is the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of June 26, 1936. This law allowed the revival of the tribal governments in Oklahoma.
We all recall that dozens of our Tribes were forced to relocate in Oklahoma. Later, the land base was removed from the Tribes and individuals were allotted land. To remedy the loss of the land base and the spreading and mixing of our Indian people, Section Four of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act recognizes the rights of individual entreprenuers to form cooperatives of ten or more Indians, and the membership can be from different Tribes. Most Oklahoma Indians have removed from their allotments and homelands. We find Chickasaws living in Creek jurisdiction and Osages living in No Mans Land, still other Natives live in "Unassigned Lands".
There are additional laws which reinforce Section Four of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. Recently, Senator Nighthorse-Campbell succeeded in having passed the Native American Business Development, Trade Promotion and Tourism Act provisions, 25 U.S.C. 4301-4308. This Act recognizes the rights of Native American people to form private or quasi-governmental cooperative associations and corporations. The Act even goes further and establishes the right for Native Americans to establish international trade relations. Weakness is overcome when Natives everywhere exercise their strength. This new law coupled with the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act gives Oklahoma Indians the strongest bundle of rights of Native people anywhere. It is time that we all start working these unique rights we have and begin to exercise our prerogatives. There are many advantages Oklahoma Indians have other than simply the right to operate gaming facilities. These new laws enfranchise us in a new way.
We should not forget that the Europeans
borrowed from the American Indian the concept of individual liberty. Later,
these Euro-Americans took the land, along with both the tribal and individual
liberties of the Native American people. During the FDR era the Tribes were
given what were essentially socialist governments. Except in Oklahoma, the right
to create Native cooperatives to develop entreprenuers has existed since 1936.
These rights were once exercised and there are elders who still recall those
experiments in Indian Country prior to World War II. Now we have had a Native
son as a U.S. Senator, who helped extend the cooperative association right to
all Native Americans. Wisely, he fashioned the law and placed the responsibility
to administer this new Indian Country development law with the U. S. Department
of Commerce and USDA Rural Development. Unfortunately, these programs have not
been funded. Congress should fund these new laws because they are the greatest
promise to nourish indigenous nations where they can become strongest, at their
roots. The cooperative association most resembles our traditional Native economic
organization and our American free enterprise system.
INFCA
Tribal Reserve
Indigenous
Nations Federal Charter Association (INFCA) Tribal Reserve controls five U.S.
Treasury-certified Community Development Entities (CDEs) and has equitable ownership
in the various INFCA trusts, cooperative associations and tribal Credit Program
branches. Tribal Reserve securities are available to qualified investors, tribes,
and Native Founders Consultants by private placement. The Tribal Reserve has
the authority to create Credit Programs and cooperative associations that stem
from U. S. laws, the sovereign right of federally-recognized Tribes, and the
Indigenous Nations Federal Credit Program Tribal Reserve Act of 2001.
INFCA
Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust
The Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust is the Native cultural development and land preservation arm of INFCA. Currently, we have helped to establish a Boy's and Girl's Club in Chickasha, Oklahoma with ongoing operations to establish charters with Native communities in Oklahoma City and other towns and cities. We are working with language preservation groups, selected tribes, and tribal cultural groups to establish specialized language immersion courses for Native language teachers. We support pow wows and the song and dance of our ancestors. We assist in establishing and supporting cultural and environmental preservation groups and projects. We have supported the following governmental and not-for-profit groups with legal, technical, and business support:
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The Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust is chartered to obtain lands for wildlife conservation programs, raising bison for tribal member's use, and renewable energy programs such as siting commercial wind turbines. Another goal is to assist Native American artists and crafts people by establishing Indian art galleries in foreign countries for the sale of Native works. The Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) entity, as well as a protected Native American trust. Twenty-five percent of the holding company, INFCA Tribal Reserve net revenue, and twenty-one percent of the total dividends which are currently reserved for tribal subscription, are dedicated to the Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust to support its operations.
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Buffalo Reserve Trust Partner Sites |
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Indigenous
Nations Credit Program:
Financial Products, Community Development, and Entrepreneurial Services
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Indigenous Nations Credit Program (INCP) fulfills the congressional enactment to create privatized associations of Oklahoma Indians to operate the tribal credit programs- mandated in the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act (OIWA) of June 26, 1936; 25 U.S.C. §501-507; also, Native American Business Development, Tourism, and Trade Promotion Act of 2000, 25 U.S.C. §4301-4307. Our association is open to all Natives, their businesses, tribes, municipalities, counties, qualified non-Indian investors, and their corporate entities. INCP has multiple branches certified with CDE status and has an application pending for New Markets Tax Credits with the Department of Treasury's CDFI Fund. Acting under the authority of the Tribal Reserve, the various branches of the Indigenous Nations Credit Program specialize in financing Indian Country individual, business and tribal projects of all types. We possess the authority to underwrite and issue tribal bonds and to take advantage of federal tax incentives and guarantees. Native wind power development financing is a Credit Program priority. Through our subsidiaries we have the ability to originate loans from $1,000 to $1,000,000,000. Loan terms vary with the project and ultimate source of funding. |
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INFCA works with citizen energy interest groups, legislators, and investors to develop renewable energy projects for the state and Tribes alike. |
Native
American Community Development Entities (CDEs):
Indigenous Nations Credit Program
also helps Native Tribes, local governments, businesses, and individuals with
legal, financial and business planning. We assist tribes in reaching their goals
and assist Native individuals to establish Cooperative Associations, all pursuant
to the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of June 26, 1936. INCP can bring capital
to tribes and Native people to be used in an accountable and responsible manner.
Sources of capitalization are U.S. government grants, tribal and municipal bonds,
loans, technical assistance, and foreign and domestic, venture capital funding
sources. We have access to capitalization not normally available to tribes.
Indigenous Nations Credit Program and several other INFCA subsidiaries have
been certified by the United States Department of Treasury as Community Development
Entities (CDEs), which allow them to offer 39% New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC)
to investors in exchange for equity capital to finance qualified investments
into businesses in low income communities. The CDE status helps to offset the
difficulty Native businesses often have in attracting capital. Our Office of
General Counsel has the expertise to prepare private placement offerings in
relation to NMTC equity investments.
Kee
Goodle Daw
Kee Goodle Daw (KGD) means
“all Indian people” in Kiowa. KGD specializes in natural resource development.
The Cyril Industrial Authority has issued a letter of inducement for
$17 million to INFCA Tribal Reserve for a bond issue to operate a natural gas-fired
30 Megawatt generator. KGD has pledged 2.5 % of its profits to the local school
system and also 2.5 % for the Cyril Industrial Authority, in order to directly
enhance the educational and employment opportunities in the area.
INFCA-Liberty
Cooperative Association
INFCA-Liberty, a CDE, is
a Native partnership between INFCA and the Lone
Star Group , an investment banking and venture capital firm located in Dallas,
TX. INFCA-Liberty’s primary function is to work with private companies, developers,
investors and tribes to provide financial solutions for their capital needs.
The primary market area is the Southwest United States with a particular focus
on Oklahoma and contiguous states.
Other
INFCA-Cooperative Associations
INFCA has formed other cooperative
associations with talented Native businessmen and women, such as INFCA-Warrior
Cooperative Association, INFCA-Caddo Cooperative Association, and INFCA-Kiowa
Cooperative Association. These associations work throughout the state and nation
to provide technical, business, and financial assistance in underserved areas.
Each specializes in their geographic area to thoroughly understand the grassroots
business opportunities possible there.
Native
Founders Consulting Group
Our team of attorneys, architects, accountants,
bankers, economists, executives, engineers, foreign and domestic investment
bankers, physicians, scientists, and tribal operations specialists are available
to provide technical support to Indian and non-Indian businesses, tribes, Native
people, local governments and Native communities for many aspects of community
development. This includes financial and legal infrastructure, grants, tax advantaged
transactions, domestic and international finance, project planning, and oversight.
Indigenous
Nations International, LTD.
The first corporate charter ever
issued in the New World was given to Christopher Columbus by the Spanish King
Fernando for his voyage west. Indigenous Nations International (INI) is incorporated
in England and Wales and it may be the first overseas Native American corporation.
A Tribal Reserve subsidiary, INI has been established with the full powers of
a private limited U.K. company for the purposes of expanding Native American
access to world markets. This includes developing and financing import-export
opportunities, as well as ecologically sound, culturally appropriate, and profitable
enterprises with indigenous peoples throughout the world. The Native American
Business Development, Tourism, and Trade Promotion Act of 2000 encourages establishment
of entities such as INI, Ltd.
The
Honey-Washita Buffalo Reserve and the Arbuckle Area Native American Tourism
Demonstration Project
A rippling water-land at the base of Honey Creek Pass, takes you into the Arbuckle Mountains. This clean, level property provides a supreme tourism venue to experience all that nature has to offer at the most visited tourism intersection in Oklahoma. Centered like a jewel at the crossroads of North Texas and Oklahoma, this tract of land can be viewed from the I-35 and Highway 77 junction, and takes you into the most visited tourism sites in the State. A prime tourism real-estate prospect, the strategic location is a priority candidate for economic development and federal assistance through the BIA, USDA, and other federal agencies. Our property is situated with Honey Creek and the Washita River defining two edges and Interstate - 35 and the Highway 77 intersection to the west side. With the continued expansion of commercial tourism activity in this region, the land values are increasing rapidly, and there are no comparable tourism development sites at this most highly-valued tourism destination.
Nearby, Exit 51 on I-35 at US 77, receives literally millions of tourists exiting each year with thousands of North Texas dollars in their pockets waiting to be spent in the Oklahoma economy
Nearby Tourist Attractions and Facilities:
The Honey-Washita Buffalo Reserve is downstream of the spectacular, 77' Turner Falls where the blue waters of Honey Creek meet the swirling red of the Washita River.
Hundreds of stately pecan trees shade the grounds along the Honey-Washita confluence. The Spanish explorer Coronado lingered here and countless Indigenous dwellers have chosen this place as their camping and hunting grounds. In the present day, the area around Davis is booming, the Chickasaw Nation recently completed Treasure Valley, a new casino and hotel. The tourism and hospitality industries are pumping prosperity into Murray County and South Oklahoma and there is no more attractive or scenic beauty so close to the Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma City metropolitan areas.
The Buffalo Trust offers to sell or lease portions of the land upstream of the Honey-Washita confluence for use in commercial tourism development as part of a coordinated tourism development plan to involve tribal, municipal, state, federal and private interests, to fulfill the federally-mandated Intertribal Tourism Demonstration Project for Oklahoma Indians.
Along and across Honey Creek on the adjacent Honey-Washita Buffalo Reserve, the Buffalo Trust hosts youth camps, equestrian education and pow-wows, and we plan for rodeo grounds, a historical cultural museum and wildlife attractions in partnership with Arbuckle Wilderness and the City of Davis as part of the Intertribal Tourism Demonstration Project. The Buffalo Trust promotes Native American tourism pursuant to the Native American Business Development Trade Promotion and Tourism Act (NABDA), 25 U.S.C. 4301-4307. There are grants, tax credits, guarantees, bonds, and other finance and business assistance available through various federal credit programs to which the Buffalo Trust and its INFCA-affiliates have access and are authorized to administer. The Buffalo Trust has been asked to submit an appropriation through U.S. Congressman Tom Cole, to assist in fulfilling this federal mandate. The Buffalo Trust and its INFCA-affiliates seek tribal, municipal, and private partners. We invite all our Indian Country stakeholders to participate with us in bolstering Oklahoma tourism anchors.
Downstream on the Washita River are many more acres of woods and wetlands,
for which the Buffalo Trust is seeking assistance to establish a wetlands conservation
program. Efforts are underway to obtain matching resources from private and
public sources. This activity will leverage interest in the area and provide
additional resources for tourism marketing.
INFCA's
Youth Camps at the Honey Washita Buffalo Reserve
The Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust teams up with Arbuckle Wilderness, Dreamweaver Outfitters and Dark-water Outfitters to offer Youth Day Camps at our Honey-Washita Buffalo Reserve, located just south of Davis and immediately east of I-35 at exit 51, July through October 2004.Participants learn teamwork, leadership and stewardship. Each activity is staffed by professional adults with knowledge and training. Sponsoring organizations need only provide an escort to the camp, however, adults are always welcome. Only those who participate in camp activities need pay. Activity agendas will be based on the priorities of the sponsoring church or group.The camp can be reserved by groups of 10 to 60 participants, ages 8 to 18 years.
INFCA's
First People's Boys and Girls 
The Buffalo Reserve Charitable Trust helps protect children Oklahoma City is in the unassigned lands and is not included in any tribal service area. Tens of thousands of Natives are without tribal services here. These Oklahoma Native Americans from over thirty-nine tribes are embedded in poverty-stricken minority communities. Our experience in establishing Boys and Girls Clubs in Indian Country communities lead us to the conclusion: We need to get the youth off the streets and into the Boys and Girls Clubs. Out of the neighborhoods and into the woods. By using the internet to organize local networks, we integrate disparate parallel government organizations and private interests into mission-oriented, cooperative associations. We have succeeded in creating partnerships between private interests, churches, schools, and tribal and local governments to create Boys and Girls Clubs in rural Indian Country. On June 1, 2004, we convened the Executive Steering Committee to incubate the first of four South Oklahoma City Boys and Girls Clubs in partnership with existing Native American and urban community Boys and Girls Clubs. This will serve the area with the greatest need.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TO THE INFCA BUFFALO RESERVE CHARITABLE TRUST ONLINE, YOU MAY DO SO WITH THE BUTTON BELOW.
INFCA HEADQUARTERS
30630 S. Western Avenue
Norman, Oklahoma 73072-8744
