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Montana Native Growth Fund
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Monday, April 5, 2021

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WHY is homeownership in Indian country important?

BlogBy Shelby DennyMonday, April 5, 2021

By: Tonya Plummer In the early 1900’s, my grandparents were born by the water, and throughout their lifetimes the concept of their homes remained as fluid as the rivers that ran through the lands where they took their first breaths. My grandmother was born in a teepee on the banks of Enemy Swim Lake in…

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Evan Azure
Programs Officer

evan@nativegrowth.org

 

Evan Azure “Long Bull” is an enrolled Assiniboine at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. He was born in Havre, Montana, and grew up in Harlem, Montana. Evan is the Programs Officer with Montana Native Growth Fund with a focus on community development. Evan adds depth and energy to our team with more than 10 years of experience working in the financial sector, and a heart for relationship building and personal empowerment.  As a recent Branch Supervisor, Evan helped establish and strengthen a growing workforce to achieve and exceed goals, giving him insight into the unique needs and perspective of Fort Belknap’s workforce and future homeowners.

Evan has completed course work in Health and Human Performance from the University of Montana. He holds numerous certifications and program awards throughout his career, including regional Customer Service award and Portfolio Growth award. Evan’s passions include family, hunting, exercising and building relationships. He enjoys working with the communities near and far on community development endeavors.

Tonya Plummer
Executive Director

tonya@nativegrowth.org

 

Tonya Plummer is Executive Director for Montana Native Growth Fund, a Native CDFI focused on building capacity and creating opportunities for sustainable tribal homeownership and strong tribal communities.  An enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Enemy Swim District and Fort Belknap Assiniboine and Little Shell descendent she brings the insight to develop the CDFI’s mission in culturally and contextually relevant ways. Tonya’s career experience in the mortgage banking industry gives her a specialized skill set to strengthen the CDFI’s capacity to fulfill the mission and grow to scale. She has worked on all sides of the mortgage process in origination, processing, closing, secondary markets, compliance and finally as a Conventional, FHA-DE and USDA underwriter.

Tonya has raised her four children in Montana where she was born. She loves hunting, kayaking and singing and believes in living deliberately and seeking the good while honoring her family and name “Oat E Wiya,” or “Thunder Woman.” She is passionate about inspiring a renewed and culturally empowered rise in tribal homeownership as a cornerstone of stimulating and stabilizing tribal economies and securing our sovereign futures

Lisa Horn
Realty Specialist

contact@nativegrowth.org

 

Lisa Horn serves as the Tribal Realty Specialist for Montana Native Growth Fund. An enrolled tribal member of the Aaniiih Tribe of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, she carries her maternal Great Grandmother’s Nakoda name, “Gisu Nuda Wiya,” which translates to “Red Braid Woman.” Lisa brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from her many years of tribal government service, followed by 15 years of federal government service with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior-Office of Special Trustee for American Indians where she worked closely with BIA land processes and in TAAMS.

Lisa holds an Associate’s degree in Business Administration from Aaniiih Nakoda College and is currently pursuing further education. She was born and raised on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, on a ranch built by her parents. She is married and has three children and three grandchildren, all residing at the Fort Belknap Agency area. She has witnessed first-hand the struggles tribal members have with the current housing shortage here at Fort Belknap and is passionate and excited to be a part of addressing the current housing crisis through responsible homeownership.

Ramona Horn
Board Member

 

A member of the Aaniiih Tribe and the Chickasaw Nation, Ramona resides on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation where she serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Island Mountain Community Development Financial Institution.

Ramona believes strongly in empowering not only our youth but our communities through education, and she has the wisdom and experience of more than 20 years of service as a local educator to prove it. She has worked with youth on and near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation as a former Upward Bound Director. She has also worked as the Business/Computer Instructor at Aaniiih Nakoda College, as well as Harlem & Dodson High Schools. Ramona also serves as a board member for IMDG, the economic arm of the Fort Belknap Indian Community.

Ramona received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Education Broadfield at MSU-Northern, and her Associate of Science Degree in General Business and Secretarial Data Processing at Aaniiih Nakoda College. She and her husband have 7 children and 21 grandchildren, and she holds each of them dear as her greatest achievement.

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