According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths in Native communities have steadily risen since 2010, with fatalities at three times the rate of any other racial group. Through an impact deposit, Mercy Partnership Fund is a supporter of Native American Bank (NAB), which is helping bring accessible, comprehensive opioid care to Native tribes in North Dakota.
NAB, a Native-owned, federally chartered bank in the United States that is also a certified community development financial institution, provides access to commercial capital that promotes community and economic development on Native American reservations. This expertise made them a key partner for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Tribe as they established a treatment facility to provide accessible and culturally relevant addiction treatment to their community. The Turtle Mountain Recovery Center on the tribe’s North Dakota reservation remove barriers of geographic and economic isolation to offer inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment, aftercare, recovery housing and mental health services.
When completed in September 2024, the opioid treatment facility will serve 400-550 people annually, more than doubling treatment capacity in the area. The investment in public health and economic development will extend beyond those directly employed by the center, benefiting the reservation and surrounding communities. The nonprofit treatment facility will have a multi-use area to convene community members, sweat lodges, and outdoor classrooms for culturally relevant youth education classes.
Native American Bank is one of several community development banks and credit unions where Mercy Partnership Fund has placed deposits to expand lending. Read more about the work of Mercy Partnership Fund’s more than 60 investees around the world.