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The Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) will participate in an Asset Building/Financial Education Workshop on Saturday, January 21 from 10:30am – 12:00pm at the Wah Zha Zhi Cultural Center in Pawhuska.
This free event is open to the public, offers a catered brunch, and door prizes will be given away. It will be co-presented by Osage Financial Resources, Inc. (OFR), a community development financial institution based in Pawhuska. OFR is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and Native CDFI that assists residents of Osage and surrounding counties with; asset building, credit restoration, classes on home purchases, financial education and various loans.
One of OFR’s asset building services is a Post-Secondary Education Individual Development Account (IDA) that matches the participant’s savings 8:1. Which means someone who wishes to pursue additional education or training can save $300 of their own money, with OFR matching $2,400, totaling $2,700 which can be directed toward: books, laptops, tuition, etc. The funds held in the IDA, including the match, are FDIC insured.
Brian Ross, Fiduciary Trust Officer with OST’s Osage Agency says, “IDAs are an excellent mechanism for saving toward a worthwhile goal. It provides the unique dynamic of investing in yourself, but not by yourself.”
OFR also offers an IDA for home ownership, and other valuable services. There is an application process for all of OFR’s services and some restrictions will apply.
Additional topics to be addressed at Saturday’s workshop include: college funding strategies, credit restoration, and how to determine the true return on investments.
Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) such as Osage Financial Resources are financial institutions which provide credit and financial services to underserved markets and populations. A CDFI may be a community development bank, a community development credit union (CDCU), a community development loan fund (CDLF), a community development venture capital fund (CDVC), a microenterprise development loan fund, or a community development corporation.
CDFIs are certified by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which provides funds to CDFIs through a variety of programs. The CDFI fund and the legal concept of CDFIs were established by the Reigle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994. Broadly speaking, a CDFI is defined as a financial institution that: has a primary mission of community development, serves a target market, is a financing entity, provides development services, remains accountable to its community, and is a non-governmental entity.
OST is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior and administers Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts for beneficiaries, manages Tribal funds, and seeks to empower Native communities through financial literacy.
The Wah Zha Zhi Cultural Center is located at 1449 W. Main St. in Pawhuska.
For more information please contact Brian Ross at 918-287-5797.
Brian Ross
Fiduciary Trust Officer
Osage Agency
OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL TRUSTEE FOR AMERICAN INDIANS
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
918-287-5797 Phone
918-287-5799 Fax