As a landlocked son of the Midwest, I am anything but a surfer. But even a Kansas City boy has heard of the famous “pipeline”— the surfing mecca found on Oahu’s North Shore. Travois just spent a week on the other side of the island at Pacific Growth Associates’ and Ho’okupa’a’s 2016 Community Development and Financing Conference. The pipeline there was just as strong.
But now I am talking about a different pipeline: the project pipeline. Our partners — including PGA’s own Tamar DeFries — have helped Travois catalyze projects across the state’s Native communities.
As more and more projects come on line, we all need to work together to bring as much allocation as possible to American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian projects. This is the only way we can support the change agents who are creating jobs and opportunity across Indian Country.
Sitting on a panel with Allison Paige of Capital Consultants, Maria Bustria-Glickman of US Bancorp Community Development Corporation and Lee Winslett of Wells Fargo Bank, we heard about local strategies to fight poverty and unemployment on Hawaiian Homelands. Finding great New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) projects always takes a little digging. But with these NMTC leaders at the table, the strongest proposals have a way of coming to the fore.
Meanwhile, Blythe Glynn found some time to do a little digging of her own.
Travois’ own national Indian Country Tax Credit Conference is just getting started today. That, along with the Native American Finance Officers Association and National American Indian Housing Council’s events will provide national forums to discuss deals.
But if you are putting together a state-specific or region-specific conference like PGA’s, please let us know. Travois wants to do as much as we can to scour the country for the best projects and best partners.