Federal Agencies Native American Offices and Programs

Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

• Office of Tribal Relations - This office serves as the USDA’s primary contact point for Tribal issues.  The office is responsible for government-to-government relations, Tribal consultation, Alaska Native Claims Settlements Act, and other related issues. 
  
• Rural Development - This office supports economic development in American Indian and Alaska Native communities through a variety of financial programs and technical assistance. 

Department of Commerce (USDC) 

• Minority Business Development Agency - MBDA actively promotes the strategic growth and expansion of minority business enterprises (MBEs) by offering management and technical assistance through a nationwide network of over 40 business centers. 

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 

• Office of Native American Programs - This HUD office promotes safe and affordable housing for low-income Native Americans.  
  
• User Webpage for Updates on Housing Needs of Native American Communities - The Office of Policy Development and Research maintains a page to the HUD USER website that provides information about a current study: the Assessment of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Housing Needs.  
  
• Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program - The Section 184 program is a home mortgage federal loan guarantee for enrolled members of federally recognized tribes or for Tribally Designated Housing Entities.  

Department of the Interior (DOI) 

• Office of Indian Energy & Economic Development (IEED) - IEED operates a guaranteed loan program in which banks, CDFIs, and other lenders may participate to further economic development activity in Indian Country. 
  
• Indian Loan Guarantee Program - This program guarantees up to 90 percent of a loan made to an Indian-owned business. The maximum guaranty is $500,000 for individual tribal members, but can go higher for tribes and tribal enterprises.  This is a rebate to the borrower (under the guarantee program) of the difference between the bank's interest rate and the rate set for Indian loans by the U.S. treasury, for up to five years. 
• Federal Loan Programs for Economic and Community Development throughout Indian Country and Alaska - This matrix provides useful information on loan and grant programs available from federal agencies.

Small Business Administration (SBA) 

• Office for Native American Affairs - The SBA’s  Office of Native American Affairs seeks to ensure that American Indians, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians seeking to create, develop and expand small businesses have full access to the necessary business development and expansion tools available through the Agency’s entrepreneurial development, lending and procurement programs.   

U.S. Treasury 

• Fund’s Native Initiative Programs, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) - The CDFI Fund's Native Initiatives are designed to increase the access to credit, capital and financial services in Native Communities through the creation and expansion of Native CDFIs. 
  
• Minority Bank Deposit Program (MBDP), Financial Management Service - The MBDP is a voluntary program designed to encourage federal agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector to use MBDP participants as depositaries and financial agents.