When you work with Uprova, you’re not just borrowing money from a lender to make a purchase or cover an unexpected bill, you’re contributing to the future of a Native American tribe, their families and community. You’re helping to preserve its culture, conserve natural resources, provide opportunities to children, elders and more.
Learn more about the Tribe that you promote when you choose Uprova for your funding needs.
Overcoming Adversity
For over 170 years, the Habematolel Tribe suffered from unjust federal policies that forever altered the fate of the Tribe. In 1850, the U.S. Cavalry assaulted the population of the Tribe’s ancestors in the Bloody Island Massacre. Few survived. The California Rancheria Act terminated the Tribe’s government, their way of life and left them with no land. In 1983, the court determined that the Tribe was never terminated and asked that the Bureau of Indian Affairs oversee reorganization and conduct a secretarial election. However, due to circumstances outside their control, the Tribe couldn’t reorganize until 1998 and finally approved their modern Constitution in 2004. For years following restoration of federal recognition and reorganization, the Tribe remained landless with no property. Finally, in 2008, the Department of the Interior placed 11.24 acres of land into trust for the Tribe.
The Tribe has goals:
To preserve its Pomo culture. They have active programs that help preserve their culture. Many of these activities help them rediscover lost traditions, spiritual beliefs and help revive their dying language.
To conserve and preserve natural resources. The Tribe has strong connections to the land, so they strive to conserve and preserve, with a careful sense of land management and natural resources.
To educate and provide opportunities to children. They provide early childhood development programs and educational oriented programs that supplement their regular schooling. The hope and expectation is that they will have a better quality of life than their parents and others before. They have developed scholarship and other educational support programs to promote and incentivize education from childhood through higher education and adult education
To promote the stability and security of the Tribe and its families. Today the Tribe is no longer solely dependent on federal awards. Revenues from the Tribe’s enterprises have empowered a Nation to rebuild and restore its once vibrant culture. These critical economic contributions provide stability and security to the many families of the Tribe, with funds directly funneling into social and developmental programs, and more. The Tribe is an active advocate on behalf of the Native American community and a key influencer within its participating industries. The goal is to champion the economic progress of Native American communities, promote enterprise responsibility and provide vital resources to tribal businesses that ensure long-term financial success.
Lending to the Underserved
With limited access to land, the Tribe needed to find new ways to provide for its people. In addition to opening a casino, to secure a future for the Tribe, the Habematolel entered the online consumer financial services industry. They were uniquely positioned to engage in the industry and proved to have a greater understanding of consumers who, much like themselves, were often overlooked in their most critical time of financial need. After approving a consumer-focused regulatory ordinance and creating a separate arm of the Tribal government to regulate the industry, the Tribe legalized consumer financial services and began allowing consumers access to the Tribe’s jurisdiction, via the internet, to obtain financial products and services. The Tribe’s consumer financial services business has helped successfully transform the economic outlook of the Tribe, while helping consumers at the same time.
A Nation Empowered
Today the Tribe is no longer solely dependent on federal awards. It is not limited by insufficient funding. Uprova provides critical contributions to the economic health of the tribal community allowing the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake to rebuild and restore its once vibrant culture. Without customers like you, that would not be possible.
