Fostering Financial Inclusion by Ensuring Cultural Fit: The Case of the NCDFI Industry

While the interviews covered a range of topics relevant to the NCDFI industry, our primary interest in the present paper lies in elucidating those aspects of NCDFI operations and practices most directly relevant to the overarching objective of the NCDFI industry: the fostering of financial inclusion of Native communities while ensuring congruence with the culture of those communities.6 The intervi. [...] To maintain focus on the NCDFIs themselves, however, we do not compare and contrast the practices of Native and non-Native CDFIs, a relevant facet of analysis that we leave for further research.9 UNDERSTANDING BARRIERS TO ACCESS TO CREDIT AND CAPITAL The interviews identified multiple significant barriers to accessing credit and capital in Native communities. [...] NCDFIs are able to customize their community development and financial education products and services to align with the culture and specific needs of the community, in part because they employ staff members who are from the NCDFI-served communities served and who have a deep understanding of these communities. [...] Table 2 provides examples of the variety of metrics of success described by the interviewees, including metrics that are client-centered, metrics based on the characteristics of the NCDFIs, and metrics gauging the performance of products and services. [...] NCDFIs’ commitment to a client-centric approach is a cornerstone of their work, ensuring that success is defined and measured by the fulfillment of the dreams and aspirations of the individuals and communities that they serve.