Our Partners

Community Partners

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

WSCAT is grateful to the CTWS Tribal Council, CTWS administrative leaders and staff, and CTWS tribal members for their support of our organization since WSCAT’s incorporation as a nonprofit in 2008. WSCAT recognizes that we exist in Warm Springs at the pleasure of the Tribal government and in service of the Warm Springs Tribal community, and we welcome the heartfelt support, ideas, and tangible contributions that CTWS leaders and individual community members make to our efforts. It is through the support of the Tribal Council and administrative leadership that WSCAT has a place and space to operate; we thank the Tribes for the funds in 2012 that helped us to purchase our building and helped us establish small business promotion and educational programs.

KWSO 91.9 FM

KWSO 91.9 FM is a non-commercial community radio station owned and operated by The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. For years, KWSO has allowed WSCAT the opportunity to share information about its programs on the station’s airwaves, enabling WSCAT to better serve the people of the Warm Springs Reservation. We thank all the staff at KWSO for giving us the chance to tell our story, discuss our programs and projects, and invite the community to participate in our programs, through public service announcements and interviews. KWSO is an indispenable part of our community, and we thank you for everything you do!

Warm Springs Area Chamber of Commerce

WSCAT has worked with the Warm Springs Area Chamber of Commerce (WSACC) for 10 years to promote and develop small business on the Warm Springs Reservation. In 2017-2018, WSCAT hosted a process by which the WSACC elected a new board, refined its articles of incorporation and bylaws, and officially incorporated as a 501(c)3 in July 2018. WSCAT looks forward to a deeper, stronger partnership with the Chamber as it builds its membership and capacity, and hopes that together we may strengthen the small business economy of the reservation.

Columbia Bank

Since 2009, WSCAT has worked with Columbia Bank’s Madras Branch to serve over 300 clients enrolled in our IDA program. Columbia Bank maintains all of our client accounts (currently approximately 120 accounts), our federal and state matching funds accounts, and all of WSCAT’s business accounts. WSCAT staff and board would particularly like to thank Columbia’s IDA account manager Amanda Collver, who has worked with WSCAT to serve the Warm Springs community since 2013. During this time, as our program has quintupled in size, Ms. Collver and the staff at Columbia Bank have provided exceptional service, for which we and our IDA clients are grateful. Columbia Bank’s corporate team in Portland, particularly Adam Stein (Vice President, CRA & Fair Lending Manager), have developed solutions enabling us to streamline our client data tracking processes and serve our clients much more effectively and efficiently. Mr. Stein and Columbia's corporate team have also provided WSCAT with Community Reinvestment ACT (CRA) grant funds of $1,500, $1,000, $5,000, $2,500, $3,000, and $3,000 in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively. Thank you for your services and for your generous contributions to our community, Columbia Bank!

Warm Springs Tribal Credit Enterprise

The Warm Springs Tribal Credit Enterprise provides Warm Springs community members with home, small business, and personal loans, and has been a critical WSCAT community partner since 2011. Since early 2014, Tribal Credit Enterprise has allowed WSCAT to use of its state-of-the-art conference room for all Indianpreneurship and Pathways Home homeownership courses. More importantly, Tribal Credit Enterprise has contributed staff expertise to these courses, with Bruce Engle, one of the organization’s former loan officers, co-instructing many of these classes. Without the major contributions of Tribal Credit and Bruce Engle, WSCAT would not be able to host these courses.

Warm Springs Housing Authority

Since March 2015, the Warm Springs Housing Authority has worked with WSCAT and Tribal Credit Enterprise to provide Pathways Home homeownership courses. The Housing Authority has four staff members trained in this curriculum, with one staff member, Arlissa Rhoan, serving as a primary Pathways instructor. We are very pleased to be working with the Housing Authority to assist Warm Springs tribal members in learning how to finance, purchase, and maintain a home.

CTWS Planning Department

WSCAT is working with the CTWS Planning Department and Land Use Committee to structure future current and future small business promotion projects. These include, but are not limited to, the Warm Springs Outdoor Market, a small business incubator, and a food cart pod. We look forward to a future in which WSCAT works with the department to serve small business owners in Warm Springs, and provide them with places in which they may conduct commerce.

CTWS Department of Health and Human Services

WSCAT has a strong working relationship with the CTWS Department of Health and Human Services, especially with managers and staff from the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Department, Diabetes Prevention Program, Native Aspirations Summer Youth Work Program, and Culture and Heritage Department. WSCAT provides financial skills training at VR’s life and work skills academies, and provides WSCAT with outreach opportunities and occasional client referrals. WSCAT works with the Diabetes Prevention Program’s community garden manager to provide gardening opportunities and healthy food options for community members. WSCAT has built a strong partnership with the Native Aspirations Program; in the summer of 2018 we co-trained 75 summer youth workers in the Financial Skills for Families financial empowerment course. WSCAT’s staff have also worked with the Culture and Heritage Department staff to raise funds, help prepare program budgets, attend language bowl events and culture camps, and provide guidance on program evaluation strategies. We enjoy working with each of these programs, and with other partners in the CTWS Department of Health and Human Services.

The Museum at Warm Springs

In 2014 and early 2015, the Museum at Warm Springs allowed WSCAT and a group of Warm Springs artists and craftspeople a place to begin discussing the formation of a Warm Springs artisans sales and marketing cooperative. Since then, WSCAT has surveyed 49 community artisans to discover whether and the extent to which they would be willing to participate in a cooperative. In February 2016, the Museum awarded WSCAT, in tandem with a 5-person Warm Springs Artisans Cooperative Steering Committee, a $1,200 Washanaksha grant, to conduct a larger feasibility study and create a business plan for the cooperative. Since then, WSCAT has received two additional $1,100 Washanaksha grants in support of our work with Warm Springs artisans and their new nonprofit organization, Tananáwit.

Tananáwit

In early 2013, WSCAT, along with a steering committee of five Warm Springs tribal members, began the process of determining whether an arts-based entity, modeled on cooperative principles, could provide Warm Springs artists and community members with new economic and educational opportunities. Four years later, after surveying community members, holding meetings and workshops, and working with ONABEN and other partners, Tananáwit formed a board of directors, developed by-laws and articles of incorporation, received 501(c)3 nonprofit status, and is surging ahead with plans to grow the arts community in Warm Springs. In May 2021, Tananáwit hired Jaime Scott, it's first-ever executive director. The organization is now surging ahead with projects and programs in service of the Warm Springs arts community, and will open a store for its members in the Commissary in late 2022. Tananáwit, a Community of Warm Springs Artists, is a community-based organization whose mission is to facilitate economic opportunity for Warm Springs Indian Reservation artists, provide educational opportunities for aspiring Native artists, and to increase knowledge and understanding of the tribal arts and crafts of the Columbia River Plateau.

The Spilyay Tymoo

The Spilyay Tymoo (Coyote News) is the bi-weekly newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, first published in 1976. The paper focuses on local, regional, and national Native American news. WSCAT regularly contributes articles to the Spilyay on community issues, especially issues relating to WSCAT’s mission. The Spilyay provides a forum for us to discuss asset building, financial skills development, creating outdoor markets, cooperatives, and business incubators, and much more.

Astir Agency

In September 2015, after comparing the work of five different regional and local digital design companies, WSCAT selected Astir Agency of Bend to design our website. Astir’s team, composed of Elise Jones, Tim Jones, and Erik Bergstrom, helped us create an engaging platform that will enable us to serve our community and educate the world about Warm Springs and our organization for many years to come. We are grateful to the Astir team for taking the time to get to know us, for expertly facilitating a process by which we could reflect on how we wanted to depict our organization and our community, and for having the creativity and patience to create a beautifully designed product (with astonishing art and graphics!), that highlights the strength, resilience, and humanity of our community. Thank you, Elise, Tim, and Erik!

Funders

Business Oregon

In January 2022, Business Oregon awarded WSCAT an $89,411 technical assistance grant, enabling us to hire a small business program specialist and a food cart trainer/manager. WSCAT utilized these funds to pay salaries of staff who are buliding the capacity of existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in the community. This followed a Business Oregon technical assistance grants of $45,000 in early 2021, which enabled WSCAT to work provide assistance to entrepreneurs, including microgrants, to entreprenerus struggling during the COVID pandemic. In April 2020, Business Oregon's Rural Opportunities Initiative (ROI) awarded WSCAT a $44,000 grant to develop systems for operating stores and business operations in WSCAT's Commissary small business incubator project. This followed our May 2018 ROI grant, of $73,242, which has enabled us to strengthen the Tananáwit artists community in preparation for the development of a storefront for the Tananáwit Art Store. The ROI grant funding also provided support for the development of policies and procedures to manage the small business incubator, selecting appropriate businesses to operate in it, and developing a marketing plan and road signage for the Commissary's retail shops. In October 2018, WSCAT (along with partner COIC) received $250,000 from Business Oregon's Regional Infrastructure towards towards the renovation of the historic Old Commissary building, and in November 2018 received a $56,000 grant from Business Oregon's Brownfields Fund to mitigate lead-based paint and asbestos in the building. We have used these grants to move the Commissary, make the building safe for future use, and install water lines, including both water and sewer, at the new Commissary site.

The Johnson Charitable Trust

The Johnson Charitable Trust (JCT) has provided significant support to the Warm Springs Reservation community in recent years, including a 2017 grant to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs' Culture and Heritage Language program's Rise and Shine Cultural Project providing educational opportunities for youth. In September 2018, the JCT provided WSCAT with a $10,000 capital grant for renovation work on our Old Commissary small business incubator project. Many thanks to the kind folks at the Johnson Charitable Trust, especially Ashley Campion, Greg Chaille, and Jeni Schleuter!

Ford Family Foundation

In June 2018, the Ford Family Foundation provided WSCAT with a $5,000 grant to strengthen our financial record-keeping and tracking capacity. The grant has enabled us to work with an esteemed CPA firm to bring our record-keeping and tracking to a significantly more professional level, to prepare us for our first-ever organizational audit, and to provide us with a stronger financial foundation for future success.

Travel Oregon

The Oregon Tourism Commission, doing business as Travel Oregon, is a semi-independent agency created by the Oregon Legislature in 2003 to enhance Oregonians’ quality of life by strengthening economic impacts of the state’s $11.8 billion tourism industry. Travel Oregon cooperates extensively with local communities, industry associations, government agencies, and private businesses in the implementation of its strategic plan. In July 2018, WSCAT received a $100,000 grant from Travel Oregon for the development of retail and community gathering space in the historic Old Commissary building (soon to be relocated to a prime space adjacent to Highway 26) and for the promotion of the space as gateway to and from Central Oregon. The budget will provide funds for capital renovations of the Commissary, e-marketing and road signage, and for an electronic travel kiosk to educate travelers about the Warm Springs Reservation, its culture and history, and how and where to support local businesses on the reservation.

Umpqua Bank

In service of small communities throughout the state, Umpqua Bank, founded in Canyonville, Oregon in 1953, provides grants to nonprofits for educational and various other purposes. In March 2019, Umpqua Bank provided WSCAT with $4,000 to assist us in bringing our Old Commissary small business incubator project to reality. WSCAT is deeply grateful to Umpqua Bank and strongly respects its efforts to be a responsible corporate citizen!

Central Oregon Visitors Association

The mission of the Central Oregon Visitors Association (COVA) is to market and promote Central Oregon as a year-round visitor destination, to improve the economic vitality of the region. WSCAT is grateful to COVA for providing us with funding ($10,000) in September 2019 to develop, in partnership with the Tananáwit Artists Community, local artists, and Matt Wagner of the Hellion Gallery, a pair of murals in downtown Warm Springs.

United Way of Deschutes County

In April and August 2020, in response to challenges confronted by people on the Warm Springs Reservation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Way of Deschutes County provided WSCAT with two grants - a $5,000 COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund grant and a $7,000 COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience grant. WSCAT used the first grant to purchase needed supplies for community members, including gloves and sanitizer and protective signage for people at serious risk of contracting the coronavirus. WSCAT also purchased materials to make protective masks, and produced and distributed hundreds of masks to the community. We also produced and backed gift certificates redeemed at local Warm Springs businesses, created signs and banners posted in the community to encourage solidarity and appropriate health and safety practices, and developed elder gift packets and garden kits. The second grant will be used to continue assisting the community through the crisis, enabling WSCAT to continue coordinating donations and providing assistance to community member-owned businesses. Thank you during this challenging time, United Way of Deschutes County!

The Healy Foundation

The Healy Foundation supports people and organizations working to make communities more equitable for all and in being stewards of the land, and provides unrestricted funds to nonprofit organizations striving to protect ecosystems, mitigate climate change, reduce child poverty and provide youth advocacy and education. In April 2020, the Healy Foundation provided WSCAT with $10,000 in unrestricted funding to enable us to continue serving the Warm Springs community during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are extremely grateful to the Foundation and its trustees for your support!

One 2 One Foundation USA

WSCAT is grateful to the One 2 One Foundation USA for its contribution in June 2020 of $25,000 to purchase a SOURCE hydropanel array from Zero Mass Water to provide a renewable supply of clean drinking water for the Warm Springs community. SOURCE hydropanels look like solar panels, but instead, produce clean drinking water made from only sunlight and air as opposed to traditional systems that filter ground water. The 10 hydropanels located on the west side of the WSCAT office will produce up to 50 liters of drinkable water a day. This water will be available in the office and at our food cart for community members to fill up water bottles.

MRG Foundation

MRG Foundation's mission is to inspire people to work together for justice and mobilize resources for Oregon communities as they build collective power to change the world. In July 2020, WSCAT received a $20,000 MRG Foundation Rapid Response grant to develop a film detailing and discussing the infrastructure crisis the Warm Springs community is facing due to the collapse of its water delivery systems. The film will draw attention to how and why the crisis arose, how it affects members of the community, and how it can be resolved.

Maybelle Clark McDonald Fund

The late Maybelle Clark Mcdonald, along with her husband Fred Mcdonald, started the MCM fund in 1970 with the mission of easing the hardship and improving the well-being of humanity. In July 2019, the Maybelle Clark McDonald Fund provided WSCAT with $100,000 in capital funding for our Commissary small business incubator project. We are grateful to the MCM Fund for providing these resources, and are excited for the 2021 opening of the Commissary, with its retail shops, office space, and Economic Grounds incubator!

Oregon IDA Initiative

The Oregon Individual Development Account (IDA) Initiative was created in 1999 by the Oregon State Legislature to bring state agencies, private non-profit and tribal partners, and private contributors together to create opportunity in Oregon. The Initiative is composed of the State of Oregon, under the leadership of Oregon Housing and Community Services Department and the Oregon Department of Revenue, and a host of private partners and contributors working together to help Oregonians achieve their dreams through matched savings accounts called individual development accounts (IDAs). The Initiative is managed by Neighborhood Partnerships. WSCAT joined the Oregon IDA Initiative in 2008, and has received $2,230,150 in grants through the Initiative (including grants in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020). Approximately 70% of these grant funds have been utilized (or are currently being utilized) by Warm Springs community members saving in IDAs, at a $5 to $1 match rate, towards the purchase of a home or home renovation, small business assets, education, a motor vehicle, or assistive technology for disabled community members. The Initiative is helping many Warm Springers in their efforts to acquire assets and feel a greater sense of hope for the future.

The Administration for Native Americans

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA), established in 1974 through the Native American Programs Act, is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ANA promotes self-sufficiency for Native Americans by providing discretionary grant funding for community based projects and training and technical assistance to eligible tribes and native organizations. In an average year, ANA funds approximately 200 projects, including social and economic development, language preservation, and environmental regulatory enhancement projects nationwide. From 2011-2016, a grant from ANA provided the majority of program and administrative funding for WSCAT’s IDA program, its largest and most successful program. In September 2017, WSCAT received notice that we had won another grant from ANA, a 3-year, $840,681 grant to promote small business in Warm Springs through small business education, small business IDAs, and the development of a small business incubator in downtown Warm Springs. We feel this grant will do much to help jumpstart the small business economy on the Warm Springs Reservation. WSCAT is particularly grateful to ANA’s Western Region technical assistance providers, in particular to Dan Van Otten and Kesley Edmo, for their support and keen advice in good times and bad.

Northwest Area Foundation

The mission of the Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF) is to support efforts by the people, organizations and communities in an eight-state region, which includes 75 Native Nations, to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable prosperity. In June 2017, the Northwest Area Foundation provided WSCAT with a two-year, $232,229 “Pathways to Financial Inclusion” grant to enable us to maintain and strengthen our IDA program, provide financial education to at least 120 community members, develop policies and curriculum for two new IDA asset classes, provide free tax filing assistance to 300 community members per year, and provide financial and credit counseling to 100 community members. This funding is enabling us to work with community members, encouraging them to open emergency savings accounts, children’s savings accounts, and retirement accounts, and to improve their credit scores and their access to credit. This grant was renewed in March 2019, and WSCAT will receive $260,000 to maintain and expand these financial inclusion programs through June 2021. In November 2018, the NWAF, under its Vibrant Tribal Economies Initiative, provided WSCAT with a $160,000 "Advancing Economic Opportunity in Warm Springs" grant to conduct a comprehensive study of the reservation economy and develop a comprehensive economic development strategy, in partnership with local stakeholders, based on the findings of the study. In August 2020, NWAF provided WSCAT with a $25,000 COVID-19 emergency assistance grant, providing WSCAT with needed funding to shore up its general operations during the pandemic. WSCAT is very grateful to the Northwest Area Foundation for its generosity to our organization during good times and bad!

Meyer Memorial Trust

The Meyer Memorial Trust (MMT) provided WSCAT with a $37,230 grant in January 2015 to help us develop and refine financial and human resource policies and procedures, enhance our information technology systems and website; and develop a 5-year sustainability strategy to build greater financial, political, and community support. The website you now see is due in significant part to funding from the Meyer Memorial Trust. In December 2016, the MMT provided WSCAT with another capacity building support grant, this time for $98,696. The grant provided partial salary support for WSCAT's office manager and executive director, and was used to build the capacity of WSCAT through training and mentorship in program planning, the project cycle , monitoring and evaluation, budgeting, grant proposal development, reporting, conducting community outreach, and many other aspects of organizational, program, and project management. The grant has also enabled WSCAT to improve and enhance its financial systems. In 2018, the MMT provided WSCAT with a $200,000 grant for our Commissary small business incubator project. It is the largest contribution for the project that WSCAT has received from a private funder. This grant enabled us to leverage funds from other grantors, and has helped move us towards our goal of raising nearly $2 million in capital funds for the Commissary project. WSCAT looks forward to the day, in late 2021, when we complete the Commissary incubator. In July 2020, the MMT provided WSCAT with a two-year, $250,000 "Investing in Community Leaders" grant. The grant will enable WSCAT to train its staff and community members in organizational and business management, and to develop a local small business workforce, strengthening the local community and local economy. We are grateful to the Meyer Memorial Trust for its ongoing commitment to WSCAT and the Warm Springs tribal community.

First Nations Development Institute

First Nations Development Institute (FNDI) works to improve economic conditions for Native Americans through technical assistance and training, policy advocacy, and direct financial grants in five key areas: Achieving Native Financial Empowerment, Advancing Household & Community Asset-Building Strategies, Investing in Native Youth, Strengthening Native American Nonprofits, and Nourishing Native Foods & Health. In April 2017, FNDI provided WSCAT with a $32,000 grant to assist Warm Springs artists in selling and marketing their art, forming a Native Arts nonprofit on the reservation, and providing training and education to community members in how to manage an artisans group according to cooperative principles. This funding, along with the hard work of Tananáwit's board of directors (elected in December 2017), WSCAT staff, community artists, and local nonprofit experts (particularly Courtney Snead), enabled Tananáwit, as of June 2018, to become a new 501(c)(3) organization!

Oregon Community Foundation

In April 2020, the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) provided WSCAT with two grants to assist the community and WSCAT in overcoming challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis. The first grant, for $50,000, was from OCF's Small Business Stabilization Fund. WSCAT is using this resource to provide direct assistance, both technical and financial, to businesses adversely affected by the pandemic. The vast majority of these funds will be used to provide direct cash assistance to businesses, so that they may continue to employ their staff, pay rent and utilities, and pay other needed costs to remain open and solvent during the crisis. The second grant, for $20,000, will help WSCAT with operating support. Much of this funding has already been used to purchase laptops with docking stations and IT services, so that WSCAT staff have the capacity to continue providing services to the reservation community. In 2018, WSCAT received two grants from the OCF, both in support of our Old Commissary small business incubator project. The first grant, for $20,000 in January 2018, enabled WSCAT to hire a professional fundraiser to assist us in raising capital dollars to relocate and renovate a 100+ year old historic building, the Old Commissary. Our goal is to turn the structure into a small business incubator, with retail space for businesses, co-working and office space for entrepreneurs, and maker space for community artists. The second grant, for $100,000 in May 2018, is for renovation and construction expenses on the Old Commissary. In 2012, WSCAT received a $22,000 grant from OCF. All of these funds were used to match AFI dollars and provide Warm Springs community members with matching funds in their IDA accounts. This enabled 11 Warm Springs community members to obtain and utilize IDAs to pay for college or vocational education and to purchase small business assets. We look forward to working with the OCF on future projects that serve the Warm Springs Reservation and community!

Columbia Bank

In 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 Columbia Bank provided WSCAT with $1,500, $1,000, $5,000, $2,500, $3,000, and $3,000 grants respectively, in support of WSCAT’s IDA and educational programs. The funds are used each year to purchase Indianpreneurship and Building Native Communties: Financial Skills for Families text books, business accounting software, and other items in support of our IDA clients, community members, and aspiring small business owners of Warm Springs. In September 2017, Columbia Bank entered WSCAT and our IDA program in the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines "Strong Communities Award" contest against entrants from South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, with the winner receiving a $15,000 grant. Though we did not win this contest, we are grateful for the exposure, for having the chance to compete, and for Columbia's role in helping to raise our profile. Thank you, Columbia Bank!

Bean Foundation

WSCAT is grateful to our friends at the Bean Foundation of Madras, Oregon, for providing us with a $3,000 grant in January 2017 for general operating expenses. These funds were used to support our financial empowerment, entrepreneurship, and homeownership education courses, and to keep the lights on and power running in our building. Thank you, Bean Foundation!

Casey Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation

WSCAT is deeply grateful to the Casey Family Fund for providing us with general operating funds, including $10,000 in November 2016, $5,000 in October 2017, and $5,000 in August 2018. These funds enable WSCAT to do many things not included in our project-oriented grants, such as keeping our building safe and clean, making it more accessible to the community, and providing support for office and administrative functions. Thank you, Casey Family!

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP)

In 2012, WSCAT received a $96,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create an outdoor market and promote agriculture in Warm Springs. Since then, WSCAT has managed the Warm Springs Outdoor Market, with an average of 5 vendors per week, who have sold arts, crafts, fruit and vegetables, value-added food, and clothing. This funding enabled WSCAT to work with community partners on two community gardens, host an “adopt a fruit tree” event, and purchase a tractor, trailer, and farm implements that are currently available for community use. Though the grant expired in March 2015, and the outdoor market is still small, WSCAT remains committed to growing and promoting the market, to increasing the variety of products available to the community, and to providing a venue for community entrepreneurs hoping to sell their wares. We are grateful to the USDA FMPP program for allowing us to start the market, which we hope will benefit the community for many years to come.

Assets for Independence Initiative

Assets for Independence (AFI), a program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Community Services (OCS), provides a community-based approach for giving low-income families a path out of poverty, by acquiring assets at an accelerated pace. In 2011, AFI awarded WSCAT with grant funding of up to $375,000, 85% designated towards matching funds for Warm Springs community members saving in IDA accounts. In order to receive the AFI matching funds, WSCAT worked with state and private funders, including the Oregon IDA Initiative, the Oregon Community Foundation, and others, to secure $279,750 of the potential $375,000 nonfederal match for the AFI funds. Though our AFI funding expired in September 2017, WSCAT is grateful to AFI for providing IDA funding enabling 47 Warm Springs community members to either purchase a home, pay for college or vocational education, or start or expand a business.

Regional Partners

Rural Development Initiatives

Rural Development Initiatives (RDI) works with rural community leaders throughout the Pacific Northwest to determine what kinds of economic and community development strategies will work best for their communities. RDI’s programs help communities grow local businesses and connect entrepreneurs to financial opportunities, building prosperity and creating local jobs. Since 2018, RDI has worked with WSCAT in wide-ranging ways: through WealthWorks training to WSCAT staff, data collection and analysis support, and technical assistance on promoting entrepreneurship in the Warm Springs community. Since January 2019, as part of a Business Oregon/Kauffman Foundation-funded statewide cohort of rural community leaders and through a USDA RBDG-funded “Warm Springs Development Roadmap” project, RDI has assisted WSCAT in developing policies and procedures for its Commissary small business incubator, provided economic data gathering assistance, helped connect WSCAT with rural innovators around the state to generate ideas and momentum, and assisted us in moving our placemaking and small business ecosystem-building projects forward. In August 2020, RDI developed a grant proposal, with participation from WSCAT’s executive director, to provide us with $98,991 in Business Oregon funding, enabling our staff to provide technical assistance to business owners and training to community members in operating food and arts-based businesses.

Oregon Native American Chamber

The Oregon Native American Chamber (ONAC) is a community of professionals, advisors, organizations, entrepreneurs, and companies collectively working toward success in business and community. ONAC provide information, networking opportunities and mentoring. ONAC’s work is guided by the belief that Native businesses are a foundation for emerging Native economies that would provide employment and educational opportunities and allow our Native communities the opportunity to break the generational cycles of poverty. WSCAT is a member of ONAC, and we consider ONAC to be one of our most important thought partners and allies. Thank you, James and Amber, for helping shape our vision and for being such an important ally in our efforts to strengthen the local business ecosystem of the Warm Springs Reservation.

Neighborhood Partnerships

Neighborhood Partnerships (NP) is a statewide non-profit organization that has managed the Oregon IDA Initiative for the State of Oregon since 2007. In this role, NP works directly with financial contributors to the program, accepting all donations on behalf of the Initiative, and then allocates funds statewide to a network of 10 Initiative Partners, who work in a variety of ways to bring the IDA Initiative to 33 of Oregon’s 36 counties. WSCAT is the smallest of the 10 Initiative Partners. WSCAT is grateful to NP for working with us to bring $1,616,750 in State funds to our organization since 2008. These funds help us to pay our staff, manage our organization, and provide IDAs to Warm Springs community members. We are grateful to all of NP’s committed staff for providing us with technical support, moral support, and the strength to overcome many challenges. We would like to express particular gratitude to Jess Junke and Laina Green, who have gone a million extra miles in service of our organization and community, and to Karie Herrlinger, whose advice on financial matters has enabled WSCAT to become a much stronger organization.

ONABEN (Our Native American Business Network)

Ever since WSCAT was formed, we have benefited from our relationship with ONABEN, a Native American nonprofit organization that provides an array of capacity building and program development services and entrepreneurial training for Native American communities and nonprofits. For many years, ONABEN has provided WSCAT and Warm Springs community members with opportunities and scholarships to attend its annual Trading at the River Marketplace, where they learn how to develop their small businesses and their communities, and have the chance to sell their products at the marketplace. ONABEN publishes two Indianpreneurship course books, including Indianpreneurship: A Native American Journey into Business, which is the primary business course WSCAT and Tribal Credit Enterprise provide for the Warm Springs community. ONABEN has certified three WSCAT staff members Indianpreneurship instructors, provided us with very affordable rates on bulk orders of the course, and provided us with plentiful free advice on how to improve our organizational capacity. In 2017, ONABEN and WSCAT committed hundreds of hours of work in assisting Tamánwit, A Community of Warm Springs Artists, in forming as a nonprofit organization. While WSCAT worked to help Tamánwit create a board of directors, incorporate as a nonprofit, and attend trainings and sales events, ONABEN provided five capacity-building workshops and designed the new Tamánwit website. WSCAT and the Warm Springs community feel deep gratitude for the efforts of our friends at ONABEN!

Hacker Architects

Hacker Architects is a Portland-based architecture firm that has worked with WSCAT in its efforts to turn the Old Commissary Building, a 100+ year-old historic building, into a modern small business incubator, providing architectural design work, landscape design, and cost estimates in partnership with landscape architect Walker Macy, Inc. and cost estimator DCW Cost Management. Hacker, Walker Macy, and DCW Cost Management have provided $68,360 in pro-bono work, and pledge in the coming years to continue working with WSCAT and the CTWS to move the project forward.

Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) – Central Oregon Chapter

Across the United States, SCORE has over 11,000 volunteers in 320 chapters, providing mentorship for new entrepreneurs hoping to start businesses and established business owners looking to grow their businesses. Between October 2014 and March 2018, WSCAT worked with five volunteers from SCORE’s Central Oregon chapter. These volunteers provided mentorship, small business training, and networking opportunities to businesspeople on the reservation, primarily for those involved in our Indianpreneurship courses and small business IDAs. Some of these community members have made efforts to move their small businesses forward, and we feel that these businesspeople will form the vanguard of a new, vibrant Warm Springs Reservation business community. We are particularly grateful to Dave Kyle, who not only served as a business mentor for our aspiring entrepreneurs, but raised funds and organized various trainings and events in service of our community.

First Nations Oweesta

First Nations Oweesta, based in Longmont, CO, supports economic growth in Native American communities through the creation, development, and capitalization of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Though WSCAT does not operate a CDFI, we do utilize Oweesta’s financial education curriculum, Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families. This curriculum complements our IDA program, provides IDA clients with coursework required for their successful completion of the IDA program, and aids our staff in providing credit counseling to Warm Springs community members. First Nations Oweesta staff have also provided training to our financial education trainers, given us free and discounted Building Native Communities course books, provided organizational capacity building advice and credit coaching training to our staff, and come to Warm Springs to provide Building Native Communities training to our community members. In March 2018, First Nations Oweesta trainer Chris Hansen provided a Train the Trainers Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families course for 6 WSCAT staff members, 12 Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs staffers, and 2 staff members each from the Nez Perce Tribe and Native American Youth and Family Center. This training is enabling WSCAT and the CTWS to provide financial empowerment services for CTWS tribal members of all ages.

Mercy Corps Northwest

Mercy Corps Northwest, based in Portland, administers the AmeriCorps VISTA program through which we have received nine volunteers - Rachel Nelles, Zach Flathers, Tanja Hommrichhausen, Leah Guliasi, Gabby Robinson, Mallory Smith, Alex Balgobin, Alicia Obermeier, and Kia Addison - since 2013. These individuals have done much to boost WSCAT programs, particularly our small business promotion efforts, artisans’ cooperative, and healthy foods promotion efforts. They have proven to be strong organizers, strong planners, and in some cases, strong grant proposal writers. We are grateful to Mercy Corps Northwest for recruiting them, providing them with training and support, and ensuring that they are well taken care of during their time of service.

Neighbor Impact

NeighborImpact is a $15 million, Redmond-based nonprofit organization that helps central Oregon families with financial, food, housing, heating, and energy assistance, and homeownership and financial education and counseling. NeighborImpact, as part of the NeighborWorks America national coalition, is able, from time to time, to provide free training and capacity-building support for central Oregon nonprofits. In 2016, NeigborImpact provided a scholarship to WSCAT to send one of our staff members to NeighborWorks' Housing and Financial counselor's training in Detroit, MI. In 2017, NeighborImpact provided WSCAT with seven scholarships, worth a total of $2,520, to attend NeighborWorks' October 2017 Community Leadership Institute in Los Angeles. WSCAT utilized three of these scholarships, and provided the other four to the CTWS Health and Human Services Department. WSCAT and the CTWS are grateful to NeighborImpact for helping develop young leaders in Warm Springs and build the skill sets we need to serve our community. Thank you, NeighborImpact!

Individuals

WSCAT would also like to extend a special thank you to some individuals who are important to us but do not work for some of our larger community partners:

Becca Tatum, who has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for our organization's efforts to improve the reservation economy and help us through the COVID-19 crisis;
Manuel Ortega, who keeps our grounds clean and beautiful;
Michael Shuman and Al Nygard, who have helped us understand how to address local economic issues through a variety of lenses;
Bonnie Langeliers, our bookkeeper who kept us on track and always went beyond the call of duty;
Clint Jacks, WSCAT’s former board chair who has volunteered hundreds of hours each year to our annual AARP Tax Aide program;
Pamela Douglas, who also volunteers for our Tax Aide program and who helps us file our taxes;
Mike Regimbal, who provides pro-bono support with tax filing;
Michael Leslie of Howling Boy Tech, who set up our new server and computer lab, and who seamlessly manages all of our IT needs;
Henry Rogers of Simplify Simple Computers, who set up our IT systems, kept them running, and provided us hundreds of hours of pro bono service for over 6 years;
Bruce Irwin, who provides us with valuable ideas on how to financially sustain our organization;
Jaime Scott, who helped us grow our outdoor market;
Aurolyn Stwyer, our lead Indianpreneurship instructor from 2014 - 2016;
Wanda Berry; who has helped us with Indianpreneurship, our tax aid program, and many WSCAT projects;
All of our Native Aspirations summer youth workers - Adrianna Switzler and Hunter Onstad (2015), Brevin Holliday (2016), Jocixx Hintsatake, (2017), Austin Rauschenberger (2018-2019), Eliza Stwyer (2019), Arellya Scott (2019), and Lorraine Tulee (2019).
Reina Estimo, for giving us the chance to learn from the Native Aspirations youth;
Lexie Lundgren, Adam Mentzer, Martha Izenson, and Courtnee Grego, for providing free wills and estate planning to our community members;
Legal Aid Services of Oregon (NAPOLS), especially Martha Klein Izenson and Rayven Settler, for providing free legal assistance to our community members;
Sally Kuhl and Anne Arendt, for giving us hundreds of pounds of free-range, grass-fed beef every year (in honor of our late friend Patricia Gainsforth), which we use for our annual Outdoor Market kickoff barbecue and to provide meals for community members attending our classes;
Elise Jones of Fancywork Yarn Shop and Tanya Hughes of Amulette Studios, who demonstrate how local small businesses can be both philanthropic and successful;
Dean and Jeannie Seyler, for your kind donation of a tractor, raised garden bed frames, and fencing for use in our agricultural and youth projects;
Brigitte Wilkins (and the New Home Company of Southern California), for donating 14 Samsung Galaxy tablets for use in our homeownership and entrepreneurship courses;
Courtney Snead, who went the extra mile in helping launch the Tananawit Artists Community;
Courtney Holton, who donates proceeds from his art to our organization;
The many tribal administrators and Tribal Council members who have supported WSCAT's efforts through the years. Special thanks to Alyssa Macy, CTWS Chief Operations Officer from 2015 - 2019, for helping us raise funds and network with private foundations and state agencies, and for providing sage advice and strong support for many of our projects and programs;
The many people, from both on and off reservation, who kindly donate to our organization, particularly Alice Cannon, Lindsey and Tommy Airey, Ryan Everist, Lillian Pitt, and many, many others;
The many former WSCAT managers and staff members who have given much to the organization and community since WSCAT was formed;
Every one of our IDA, small business, and other clients, and everyone who comes to our courses. You inspire us to get up every morning and work for you and with you, for the good of your families, and the good of our community.