Position Summary

The Chief Program Officer at Oweesta Corporation oversees programmatic staff and is responsible for developing policies, workplans, and budgets. This role requires managing programs that impact national policy on access to capital for Native communities, maintaining partnerships, and representing the organization at various levels. Essential duties include leading strategic efforts, developing products and services, marketing Oweesta’s services, and ensuring programs are impactful and sustainable. The ideal candidate should have experience in community and economic development programs, particularly within Indian Country, and possess strong leadership, advocacy, and relationship management skills.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (“Must-Haves”)

• Proven experience in leading community and economic development programs within the non-profit sector, particularly within Indian Country, underpinned by a strategic vision that aligns with Oweesta’s mission and the evolving needs of Native communities
• Demonstrated ability in managing multiple complex programs, focusing on adapting these to the unique dynamics of Native communities and ensuring they support sustainable economic empowerment
• Exceptional team and project management ability, with a track record of developing innovative policy and program solutions that effectively address the unique challenges and opportunities within Native communities
• Advanced skills in data evaluation and monitoring to align with evolving funder expectations, ensuring programs deliver measurable outcomes and impact. This includes the capacity to communicate program success in a manner that meets funder requirements and supports future fundraising efforts
• Strong advocacy and relationship management skills, capable of engaging diverse audiences, building strategic partnerships, and enhancing Oweesta’s visibility and impact within Indian Country and beyond. This entails a deep understanding of Native non-profit ecosystems and the ability to articulate the importance of Native community development to various stakeholders
• Leadership capabilities that facilitate cross-departmental collaboration, particularly with fundraising and lending teams, to ensure program objectives are fully integrated with Oweesta’s overall strategic goals and operational execution;
• A demonstrated ability to lead, motivate, and develop a high-performance remote lending team

Who We Are

Oweesta is the longest-standing Native CDFI intermediary offering financial products and development services exclusively to Native CDFIs and Native communities. Specifically, Oweesta provides training, technical assistance, investments, research, and policy advocacy to help Native communities develop an integrated range of asset-building products and services, including financial education and financial products. Asset-building tools stimulate reservation economies by providing tribal members the opportunity to acquire financial management skills and build and accumulate assets through small business creation, homeownership, education, and much more.

What We Do

Oweesta provides training, technical assistance, investments, research and policy, and advocacy to help Native Communities develop an integrated range of asset-building products and services, including financial education and financial products.

Programs & Services Training:

Tribes throughout North America, Alaska, and Hawaii have been practicing resource management skills for generations, ensuring the survival of our people. Oweesta’s training seeks to connect people’s ancestral experience with acquiring new skills in financial management, budgeting, credit building, etc.

Lending & Capitalization:

Oweesta Corporation understands how crucial investment capital is to a Native community development financial institution;therefore, investing in the communities we serve is a priority. We make every effort to provide loans to qualifying organizations, enabling them to reinvest the capital into their communities or use it as leverage to attract other capital.

Technical Assistance:

Creating Native community development financial institutions is becoming an increasingly popular way for Native people to build stronger, more self-sufficient communities and nations. Oweesta Corporation’s training and technical assistance department offers expert training and customized follow-up assistance to not only help Native communities assess the demand for starting a Native community development financial institution but also take them, step-by-step, through the process of establishing one of these proven and innovative financial institutions.

Research & Publications:

Oweesta Corporation serves as a voice for Native communities to help inform policy that supports Native community development. By speaking out on relevant issues, we can affect change at the state and federal levels to further our efforts and the efforts of our clients to create healthy, thriving local economies. We encourage Native communities to join us in our advocacy work. It is within unity that we will find strength in our collective voices.

To Apply: Please submit a resume and cover letter to sandy@oweesta.org by March 30.