The MPCDC Community of Practice Series, Purpose, People, and Practice, was created as a collaborative learning forum to strengthen connection and professional support across the Coalition. Through shared knowledge, expertise, and lived experience, Coalition members have an opportunity to learn from one another, explore practical solutions, and build collective capacity.
Throughout 2026, the series has brought Coalition staff together around topics identified as relevant to their work, from lending and youth programming to communications, technology, organizational systems, and staff compensation. Six sessions held to date have brought together 113 participants, demonstrating the strong interest in creating spaces where Coalition members can share what they are learning and doing in their own organizations.
One of the strengths of the Community of Practice is that the knowledge and expertise needed to address many of the challenges Native CDFIs face already exists within the Coalition.
In June, Wind River Development Fund Executive Director Paul Huberty and Chief Financial Officer Lisa Wagner shared their three-tier compensation framework and discussed how a competitive compensation philosophy and mission-aligned incentive plan can support employee performance, recruitment, retention, and recognition.
For Paul, the opportunity to share these ideas with other Coalition members highlighted the value of learning from peers who are working through similar challenges. He also described the Community of Practice as “a forum for Native CDFIs to learn from each other and elevate our collective knowledge.”
The realization that tremendous knowledge is held within the Coalition and that we don’t
Paul Huberty, WRDF
necessarily need consultants to tell us what we already know is what makes
peer learning and knowledge-sharing across the Coalition so valuable.
That spirit of practical knowledge-sharing was also evident during Akiptan Executive Director Skya Ducheneaux’s July presentation, What in the World is Salesforce Capable of? Lessons from Akiptan. After years of developing and refining its Salesforce systems, Akiptan shared examples of tools supporting everything from metrics tracking and grant management to loan pipelines, dashboards, and organizational workflows.
Skya appreciated the opportunity to share solutions that her organization has developed through experience:
“I love to share tangible solutions and examples that work for us—you never know when our best practices might help someone else!”
The response from Coalition members demonstrated just how valuable that kind of practical demonstration can be. The Salesforce session drew 31 participants, the largest attendance of the series to date. Skya noted that many organizations are interested in Salesforce but may not know where to begin. Seeing how another Native CDFI is using the platform can help staff envision what similar tools might look like within their own organizations.
Four Bands’ experience with building its communications department offered another example of the value of sharing work in progress. Shalyn Hawley described the opportunity to present as a way to give back to other Native CDFIs:
“Being able to share our process and what we have created thus far is a way to give back and make the learning for Native CDFIs easier. Any information we or others can share just propels the industry forward.”
For Shalyn, that exchange goes both ways. “Peer to peer learning is so important to Native CDFIs. We are uniquely positioned to share our knowledge about what we have found to be helpful in our communities and learning from our peers is equally as valuable.”
6 sessions | 113 total participants
Across the series, Coalition members have shared practical approaches to lending, youth programming, compensation, technology, financial services, and communications. While each session has focused on a different topic, the underlying purpose remains the same: creating space for Coalition members to share what they know, learn from one another, and strengthen the work happening across Native CDFIs.
2026 presenters included:
Patty Gobert, NACDC · Loan Programs
Dawn LeBeau and Garrett Goliher, Akiptan · Youth Programming
Paul Huberty and Lisa Wagner, Wind River Development Fund · Compensation Plans
Sharon Small, People’s Partner for Community Development · The Morning Star Federal Credit Union
Skya Ducheneaux, Akiptan · Salesforce Capabilities
Shalyn Hawley and Eunice Straight Head, Four Bands Community Fund · Building a Communications Department
As the series moves forward, MPCDC is exploring new ways to grow the Community of Practice and strengthen the peer-to-peer network. Current brainstorming is focused on opportunities that support three complementary areas: community building, practical work topics, and general educational sharing. The goal is to create flexible opportunities for Coalition staff to connect with peers, exchange ideas and experiences, and find approaches that can be adapted to their own organizations and communities.
The Community of Practice is ultimately about more than individual presentations or training sessions. It is about recognizing the knowledge that exists across the Coalition, creating opportunities to share it, and building relationships that make that knowledge more accessible to everyone.
As Paul Huberty put it, the Community of Practice provides an opportunity for Native CDFIs to “learn from each other and elevate our collective knowledge.” And, as Shalyn Hawley reminds us, sharing that knowledge not only supports individual organizations—it helps propel the field forward.
Cover image: “Where Women Stand, Our Nations Stand” by Mike Marshall
