Four Bands Community Fund - Reports and Media

Basic Hardware in Isabel, South Dakota, Supports Community Needs; Grand Opening Scheduled for November 4th, 2011
The rural town of Isabel, South Dakota, was left without a hardware store after an outside company purchased the building that previously housed the town's local co-op hardware. November 4, 2011, will mark the grand opening of Basic Hardware, the town's new supplier of hardware goods that was made possible by the dedication and commitment of owner and local resident, Tammy Frank, and a business loan from Four Bands. Read the press release.

Tanya Fiddler, Presents a New Native America
An in-depth interview with Four Bands Executive Director, Tanya Fiddler, aired on South Dakota Public Broadcasting that presented an alternative picture of Native American communities. Although facing many challenges, Tanya spoke of the great economic momentum many reservation communities in South Dakota are experiencing.
Listen to the interview.

Four Bands Selected for Aspen Institute's Scale Academy
The Aspen Institute and the Association for Enterprise Opportunity announced today the five organizations selected to be part of the Scale Academy for Microenterprise Development. The Scale Academy is a program that offers grant funding, peer learning events, and technical assistance to a set of high-performing microenterprise organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to scaling up to serve more clients through working to help low-income entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. Read the press release.

Dupree School is Making Waves

Free Tax Preparation Offered by Four Bands and Tribal Ventures

Local entrepreneurs chosen as 2010 Dakota Rising Fellows

Tanya Fiddler, Executive Director of Four Bands Community Fund, testifies to recommend modernization of the Community Reinvestment Act (full story PDF)

Mark Pinsky, President, Opportunity Finance Network; Four Bands' board members Jill Kessler and Mary Olive Johnson; Four Bands' staff Wynona Traversie and Tanya Fiddler; and Elsie Meeks, President, Oweesta on stage at the 5th Annual Native CDFI Convening hosted by Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) and First Nations Oweesta Corporation (Oweesta).

Four Bands Community Fund board and staff members present Sen. Johnson with a quilt, thanking him for his support of financial literacy education on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Pictured from left: Cora Mae Haskell, Board Member Jill Kessler, Donita Fischer, Tanya Fiddler and Senator Tim Johnson.

Annual Entrepreneurship Fair Features Youth Programming, Business Owners Awarded (full story PDF)

Four Bands Community Fund gives boost to local women entrpreneurs (full story PDF)

Four Bands distributes teacher tool kits to implement financial literacy and entrepreneurship into classrooms (full story PDF)

Four Bands and Tribal Leadership “Making Waves” on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation (full story PDF)

Two Native Community Development Financial Institutions Honored for Achievements in Helping Build Native Economies (full story PDF)

Community support high for financial literacy as Four Bands launches new program (full story PDF)

Four Bands Community fund receives national award for excellence (full story PDF)- Four Bands was honored for outstanding work as a Native community development financial institution at the second annual Native CDFI Award Ceremony in Miami, FL. Tanya Fiddler, executive director of Four Bands, received the Visionary Leader Award for Outstanding Achievement for her work on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Four Bands Community Fund Wins $100,000 Great Strides Award from Northwest Area Foundation (full story PDF)- The Northwest Area Foundation presented Four Bands Community Fund one of its four $100,000 Great Strides Awards for 2008. The award recognizes the "innovative strides communites have taken to reduce poverty for the long term."
Click here to read about other Great Strides Award winners.

SD Community Foundation awards $5,000 to Four Bands Community Fund, Inc.

Four Bands is honored to have opportunities to share our story with the public through radio, newspaper, and television coverage. In December 2006, we were the feature of a story for National Public Radio's Market Place. A copy of the text from the story is included. Also check out stories from the Argus Leader, the Eagle Butte News and more.

“Starting a business can be tremendously challenging under any circumstances. Doing it where there's deep poverty and a lack of know-how is much harder. On Indian reservations the need for that extra push is shaping a new generation of business startup programs. Steve Tripoli at the Marketplace Entrepreneurship Desk takes us to one such program on a reservation in South Dakota.” Excerpt from National Public Radio December 21, 2006 story broadcast across the country.

Moreau-Grand Electric Cooperative article - Tanya Fiddler and Four Bands Community Fund appeared in all 31 versions of the cooperative magazine in June, 2007. 112,419 copies were mailed to electric cooperative member in all counties of South Dakota, plus co-op members in eleven counties in western Minnesota.

Latest Press Release
Argus Leader - May 19, 2007
NPR Marketplace - December 21, 2006

REPORTS AND MEDIA - media coverage