Looking to promote economic vitalization and community development, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe leaders have created a Native Community Development Financial Institution.
And they have a homegrown resident to lead it.
Johanna Bartee, a former investment banker, commercial loan officer and project manager with a background in technology solutions servicing government clients, was selected by Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Economic Development Authority to lead the new Jamestown entity as its executive director, tribe officials announced in September.
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are financial intermediaries that provides credit and financial services to under-served markets and populations, Bartee said.
In addition to promoting the area’s economy and community, Jamestown’s CDFI is designed to support the tribe’s overall economic development strategy by creating and supporting business opportunities that benefit the Jamestown people as well as the Olympic Peninsula as a whole.
No stranger to the area, Bartee grew up in Sequim and graduated from Port Angeles High School. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle and Stockholm University in Sweden, and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University in New York City.
Bartee has more than 14 years of professional experience in project management, investment banking and most recently institutional banking. Her banking career focus has been serving non-banking financial institutions such as broker dealers, insurance companies, registered independent advisors, hedge funds and private equity firms, with alternative asset lending products and high value commercial loan requests.
Bartee will work closely with the Economic Development Authority’s board of directors: Jack Grinnell (chair), Matthew C. Adams (secretary/treasurer), Celeste Dybeck, Louis Kardonsky and LaTrisha Suggs.
“I’m proud to join them,” Bartee said.
Local investments
Incentive for investing locally increased recently, tribe officials noted, when the Gov. Jay Inslee announced that a large part of the Olympic Peninsula is eligible for Opportunity Zone investment.
“Certain census tracts of low-to median income people qualify for special tax advantages to individuals who invest in them,” Bartee said — making the peninsula a more enticing a place for investors.
Bartee is responsible for establishing and developing the Tribe’s Native CDFI; the first step, tribe officials say, is to work with the Economic Development Authority board and tribal council about what form the institution will take, before seeking certification with the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The CDFI can begin serving communities with services before being certified by Treasury, Bartee noted. With certification — a process that could take three to four years, Treasury officials note — Jamestown’s CDFI would be eligible for various avenues of funding. That funding includes not only federal grants but also investment capital, including Community Reinvestment Act funding, tribe officials said. That funding encourages commercial banks to invest within the local communities where their customers hold bank accounts.
For more information about the NCDFI, contact Bartee at jbartee@james towntribe.org or 360-681-4650.
Jamestown Networks adds staff
Jamestown Networks announced recently the addition of Debbie Madden as its new accounts manager.
A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest with 35 years of professional and technical experience, Madden is active in the community serving as a volunteer, consultant or board member with several nonprofit organizations. She is also the Executive Director and organizer of the Sequim Lavender Festival.
Jamestown Networks (JNET) is an Internet Service Provider that delivers business- and enterprise-class broadband services throughout Washington state. JNET is a wholly owned Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal business in Sequim.
In her role as accounts manager, Madden will manage and serve clients as well as marketing projects to grow the business. She will focus on rural and tribal communities with access to Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet), a Washington state not-for-profit wholesale telecommunications corporation.
Many rural entitites aross the state, particularly tribes, are looking organize and fund broadband installation projects in their communities, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe representatives said. JNET help them not only as an Internet Service Provider with the broadband services but also with grant writing, project organization, community engagement/marketing and planning.
JNET’s clients include schools, libraries, city and county governments, tribal governments, commercial businesses and state agencies.
For more information, see www.jamestownnetworks.com or call Madden at 360-582-5796.
