The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa of Wisconsin and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona recently worked with Travois New Markets to close financing for economic development projects that provide important services to their tribal members.
The Lac du Flambeau Band will have better access to critical dental care at a new facility for its Peter Christensen Dental Campus, thanks in part to $11.5 million in New Markets Tax Credits provided by Travois New Markets. Indion Ventures, a Native-American-owned investment management and tax credit syndication firm, provided more than $3 million in equity for the $12 million facility.
The dental center will house state-of-the-art equipment, an increased capacity of 20 dental chairs and a full service in-house dental lab, and it will welcome patients with a culturally-focused design. The facility will also provide the space for a dental assistant/hygiene school that will instruct in both clinical and classroom settings and will help train the next generation of dental care providers for the reservation through partnerships with Nicolet College and Marquette University. The campus is expected to serve more than 700 households with 25,000 patient visits annually after it opens this spring.
“Finding these New Market Tax Credits was a real blessing for our program,” saidPaco Fralick, health director of the Peter Christensen Dental Clinic.“Without them we would not have been able to complete our campus project. Travois helped us through a tough time, and our community is very grateful. They gently walked us through the legalities of the transaction and helped educate our tribal council and community on this type of financing, which was new to us and a bit intimidating. The first one was the hardest; however, I am sure our Lac du Flambeau will be looking to use Travois and New Market Tax Credits on other tribal projects in the future.”
To read the full announcement, click here.
Working with Wells Fargo and Travois New Markets, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe recently secured New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing for a new $9 million Health and Wellness Center that is expected to be complete in fall 2013. Wells Fargo provided $2.7 million in New Markets Tax Credit equity for the project, which will help fund the 36,700-square-foot center.
“For more than 10 years the employees and community have waited for a building to call ours,” said Pascua Yaqui Tribe Vice Chairwoman Catalina Alvarez. “Currently our employees work from three different buildings in Guadalupe. A centralized location will help our employees provide quality services to our community, and including our employees in the design process brings more ownership.”
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s reservation is located near Tucson, Ariz., but a significant number of its tribal members, about 20 percent, live in the community of Guadalupe. This new health and wellness center will provide health services, job training and education and community outreach to Guadalupe tribal members. The center will also serve as a satellite community center and will offer meeting space for cultural and community events and celebrations. The project is expected to create 72 construction jobs and retain 10 permanent jobs.
To read the full announcement, click here.
About the NMTC program
The NMTC program was created in December 2000 and is administered through the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The NMTC program serves as a catalyst to encourage investment of private equity capital into low income communities and allows taxpayers, such as Wells Fargo, to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in designated CDEs. The credit provided to the investor totals 39 percent of the cost of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year credit allowance period. The CDE provides a qualified equity investment under favorable terms, such as a below-market interest rate and a longer-than-standard period of interest-only payments, to the qualified active low income community business.