The author participated in the local implementation of Clinton Era legislatively created programs that a Congressional delegate once described as having the potential to lift the yolk of paternalism and allow Native Americans an opportunity to achieve the American Dream. Lofty language aside something seemed amiss. Therefore, he recounts – from a practitioner’s perspective – the history to increase access to capital for tribal community- and economic development through a Native Community Development Financial Institutions based in Arizona. The challenges are evident as he states: “Where English canon law was used as a weapon to dispossess Native people of their lands, languages and cultures; western style finance as a tool has been withheld since the colonial period and through current times for the rebuilding and resurgence of tribal Nations.” He ends by reflecting on the continuing effort to build the infrastructure and institutions necessary for a modern economy in a tribal context.