Christy Finsel

As a supporter of the work of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, I wish to congratulate the Center on the 25th anniversary of its founding. As an enrolled tribal member of the Osage Nation and a Brown School MSW graduate (2004), I am grateful to the Buder Center and the Center for Social Development for the opportunities and support they have provided me as a student and an alumna.

Although I was not a Buder Scholar, during my Master’s studies, I was privileged to work with Dr. Sarah Hicks Kastelic of the Buder Center and Mrs. Karen Edwards (a Choctaw citizen and Center for Social Development Project Director) on several research projects/reports related to Native asset building.  Their kind inclusion of me on those projects, and the teaching and mentoring they provided, opened me to subsequent learning and employment opportunities.

As a MSW student, I was exposed to the vision of financial asset building espoused by Dr. Michael Sherraden. His work, and that of the Center for Social Development (CSD), influenced my thinking of how to work with people to build their assets with practical asset building tools. During my time as a student, Mrs. Karen Edwards, provided me with a practicum opportunity through CSD in 2003 to design and implement an Individual Development Account (IDA) program at De La Salle Middle School, in St. Louis City, where I had previously taught a Theology class. I worked with several community partners, and the school, and designed and implemented an IDA at the school. I have continued to voluntarily administer the program. From 2004-2015, 163 IDA participants completed the program and 190 students participated in the IDA financial education classes. The students have used their savings to purchase high school tuition, books, uniforms, and other educationally-related assets.  Some have also saved money for college. We have also opened several Children’s Savings Accounts for dependents of the graduates. I am thankful to CSD for their support of that practicum. This will be our 13th year of the IDA program.

Also, while I was a student, Dr. Sarah Hicks Kastelic and Mrs. Karen Edwards introduced me to the work of First Nations Development Institute (FNDI), a national Native nonprofit. FNDI’s articulation of a Native asset building framework notes that Native citizens may not just view assets as financial but that we may also understand assets as including kinship, spirituality, control of assets, personal efficacy, etc. FNDI’s asset building framework resonated with me and has directed my thoughts, and practice, going forward related to Native asset building program design and implementation. I agree that Native communities should be able to build all their assets in ways that
match their world views and that we should not have to fit into cookie cutter models of development that focus on building financial assets to the exclusion of communal and other valued cultural assets. Given this belief, in my Ph.D. studies, I am exploring how understandings of Native assets affect how we engage in Native asset building initiatives. Professionally, since graduation from the Brown School, this understanding of Native assets has also impacted my work, beginning in 2006 to present, as a trainer, technical assistance provider, and researcher working in the asset building field with Native and
non-Native communities. Much of this work has been with FNDI.

In addition to professional introductions, the Buder Center also introduced me to Mr. Eddy Red Eagle, who has since become a family friend. When I was a student, I was invited to a meeting with Mr. Red Eagle, one of our Osage elders, who was visiting the Center. Over the years, he has been a helpful mentor and supporter. Since meeting him, he conducted a naming ceremony for our family and provided a blessing for my husband and me at our wedding. In the next year, we plan to have him conduct the naming ceremony for our infant daughter. This introduction has had a wonderful impact on my family.

The connections that the Buder Center helped me make have led to my current body of work. At this time, I am working with Dr. Sarah Dewees of First Nations Development Institute and providing technical assistance to a tribal college as they design a Children’s Savings Account program; voluntarily organizing Missouri Asset Builder calls; and directing the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC), created to work with the thirty-nine tribes in Oklahoma on asset building efforts. I find this work very enjoyable and life-giving. Of my current work projects, much of my time is spent developing and maintaining the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC). First Nations Development Institute and staff from the Cherokee Nation, Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation, and Choctaw Nation were instrumental in getting ONAC off the ground. The Ford Foundation has been very generous in providing us the funding necessary to move this coalition forward. Mrs. Karen Edwards was the first coordinator of
the coalition and her work laid the foundation for our current efforts.

As the Director of ONAC, I was pleased to recently announce that we have secured funding and are launching a larger Children’s Savings Account pilot with six partners (tribes and Native nonprofits) in Oklahoma. We are thankful for the funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and First Nations Development Institute’s Native Youth and Culture Fund and excited to work with our partners to open a minimum of 270 accounts for youth. In this work, ONAC appreciates CSD’s research about 529 college savings plans and the positive impacts of Children’s Savings Accounts on children and their families. Dr. Sherraden and Ms. Margaret Clancy have been especially supportive of ONAC’s work.

While ONAC will be working with our partners to open Children’s Savings Accounts, we
also support asset building opportunities for adults. ONAC thanks Dr. Molly Tovar, Buder Center Director, for recently attending our annual 2015 conference and speaking on a panel related to asset building and elders. Dr. Tovar’s research was well-received by the conference attendees.

In closing, while I was reflecting about the Buder Center’s impact on my life and their 25th anniversary, I thought about how the Center has done an excellent job of building community. The three Buder Center Directors that I have interacted with from 2002 to present, Dr. Eddie Brown, Mrs. Dana Klar, and Dr. Molly Tovar, invited me, and many others, to participate in the life of the Center. Over the years, the Buder Center has hosted numerous events and welcomed Native people who have come through St. Louis. Additionally, they worked hard to share helpful information and be a convener of Native citizens who reside in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Their reach has extended beyond St. Louis. The Center also has a presence in the state, participates in national Native conferences, and supports a network of alumni who are working in numerous Native communities.

I wish the Buder Center many more years of positive impact in Indian Country. Congratulations on the ways the Center has touched the lives of students, faculty, alumni, and the greater community.