U.S. Bank Foundation announced a $1 million investment to 20 nonprofit organizations, including New Mexico Community Capital (NMCC) driven by a diverse group of exceptional emerging leaders who are focused on creating effective community-led solutions toward the increasing economic disparities.
Organizations are in both rural and metro communities and are focused on support for entrepreneurs and small business owners, workforce development programs and financial inclusion efforts for individuals and families as solutions to wealth building.
NMCC increases economic opportunity for Native entrepreneurs by providing foundational business readiness training, including cutting edge digital courses and individually tailored technical assistance. The Native Entrepreneur in Residence 90-day program (NEIR-90) provides a three-month training curriculum focused on business pillars such as management, marketing and financials. The training teaches skills that can help increase business owners’ profitability, which supports economic opportunity and mobility.
“NMCC is helping business owners get to a place where they can thrive, and their businesses can grow,” said Liz Gamboa, executive director of NMCC. “The NEIR-90 program is a shortened version of the impactful Native Entrepreneur in Residence (NEIR) program which has seen 46 graduates over the course of 5-plus years. We are looking forward to starting the program up again in this 3-month format.”
Henry Jake Foreman is an emerging leader at NMCC. Promoted to program director earlier this year, Foreman leads the educational efforts for the Financial & Business Basics program and contributed to the new curriculum for the NEIR-90 program. As with all programs, he works to integrate indigenous methodology into his teaching, a critical method for success with program participants. Foreman went through the original NEIR program several years ago and was selected to develop the Financial & Business Basics program in 2017. He holds a master’s degree in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico.
“We are dedicated to empowering our communities by listening to those with lived experience and supporting their ideas on how to address racial and economic inequities and creating lasting change,” said Arturo Pérez, community affairs manager in New Mexico. “In addition to the funding, we are exploring ways to support these leaders and organizations by creating points of connection and access as well as opportunities to build their networks. We look forward to learning from these leaders as we continue to work to break down traditional power dynamics in philanthropy.”
