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Susan Hammond,
Executive Director
Target Technology Center
20 Godfrey Drive
Orono, ME 04473
Phone: (207) 866-6545
Fax: (207) 866-6553
Email
Website
Counties
Served: Aroostook, Penobscott, Washington
Incorporated:
2001
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Native Americans throughout the country face unique challenges when it comes to obtaining credit. Because tribal lands cannot leave tribal control, conventional lenders cannot be secured with normal real estate collateral. As a result, banks and other financial institutions have historically been reluctant to make loans to tribal members living on reservations. For residents and homeowners on reservations, this situation has hindered their ability develop assets. It means mortgages are hard to find. It means the equity in their homes, the wealth-building engine of the American middle class, is not available to use for higher education, business borrowing, home improvement, or the many other uses available to the general population. It also makes tribal members more vulnerable to predatory lenders.
Four Directions Development Corporation, an inter-tribal community development corporation, was founded by four tribes to address these credit gaps in 2001. Four Directions’ mission is “to improve the social and economic conditions of Native Americans in Maine.” FDDC serves the members of the four tribes in Maine – the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, and the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians.
To learn more about the Four Directions Development Corporation visit
www.fourdirectionsmaine.org.
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