About Us

Joanna Donohoe is a partner with Seven Sister Community Development Group, LLC specializing in affordable housing and homeownership opportunities in Native communities. She has over 30 years of experience working with national intermediaries, nonprofits, lenders, community development financial institutions (CDFIs), and federal, state, and tribal government agencies on banking, housing, and community development issues. She has helped to establish and facilitate national and regional homeownership coalitions including the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury One-Stop Mortgage Center Initiative in Indian Country, the Center for Indian Country Development’s National Native Homeownership Coalition, and several statewide Native homeownership coalitions.

She currently serves as a trainer and technical assistance (T/TA) provider for the National American Indian Housing Council and NeighborWorks America. Previously, she was a T/TA provider for the U.S. Department of Treasury CDFI Fund’s Building Native CDFIs’ Sustainability and Impact training and technical assistance series, in collaboration with NeighborWorks America.

Joanna began her career in Washington, DC where she was a congressional liaison and an attorney at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and a legislative representative for the Independent Bankers Association of America. She also worked as a Community Builder Fellow in HUD Southwest Office of Native American Programs in New Mexico and served as the Director of Financial Education and Asset Building at Oweesta Corporation, a national nonprofit Native CDFI intermediary.

Joanna earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Government from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA in 1989 and a Juris Doctor from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC in 1996.

Barbara has over 25 years of experience in affordable housing, having transitioned from nonprofit work to consulting, allowing her to focus on impactful projects. Her expertise includes single-family housing development, project management, grant writing and compliance as well as technical assistance for Native governments and rural organizations.

Early in her career, she led the development of affordable housing units for multiple Minnesota nonprofits and managed the acquisition and rehab of REO properties during the 2007–2011 housing crisis. She also helped rural communities access federal NSP funds for housing revitalization. From 2012 to 2015, Barbara managed compliance for HOME and LIHTC projects, conducting inspections and ensuring federal regulations were met.

Before beginning her independent consulting LLC,, she worked with MHP, a national technical assistance provider. While there, she assisted beneficiaries in creating funding strategies for project development, assisting in nonprofit organizational development, securing project 10funding, developing policies and procedures, and managing MHP’s flagship housing development training program. In addition, Barbara has managed millions in federal grant awards and provided capacity-building support to rural and Native communities across the country.

Barbara has supported various Native organizations.Examples of her work include helping a South Dakota CDC to build 15 homes by layering State, Federal and foundation funds, assisting a Minnesota TDHE with securing funding for an Elder project, and supporting a SD CDFI in transitioning LIHTC units to homeownership. She was also instrumental in securing a $7.5 million IHBG grant for a Pueblo in NM to build homes for its first low-income rental program.

Bruce Jones is currently on the Board of Directors for Great Plains Housing Initiative which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the South Dakota Native Home Ownership Coalition. He is also a member of CBJ Producers LLC, which is a community development consulting group that focuses on Housing and Economic Development Capacity in mainly tribal communities. Bruce worked 35 years for FmHA and Rural Development USDA which included the positions of Area Director, Housing Program Director, Assistant State Director and Acting State Director in South Dakota. Bruce holds several positions on nonprofit housing boards and has served 15 years as a Board Director for a local community bank.

Tawney Brunsch, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is the Executive Director of Lakota Funds, a Native CDFI serving the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Prior to joining Lakota Funds in 2008, Tawney worked with the Black Hills Federal Credit Union for eight years as a Branch Manager/Lead Lender. At Lakota Funds, Tawney has successfully led the organization’s achievement of key organizational benchmarks, including the chartering of Lakota Federal Credit Union, expanding Lakota Funds’ lending area to the Rosebud reservation, and launching the Child Development Account program.

Tawney serves on a number of boards and advisory committees including the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines Advisory Council, the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board, and the Native CDFI Network’s Policy Committee. She remains committed to economic development on the Pine Ridge reservation in her roles as LFCU’s Board Chairman, the Board Treasurer of Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial and as a leader for the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition.

Lakota Vogel is the executive director at Four Bands Community Fund, an organization that serves the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation and the greater state of South Dakota in the areas of small business development, business lending, financial literacy, and youth entrepreneurship. She is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Prior to her promotion to executive director, Lakota held the position of assistant director for five years. Her previous experience includes serving as a co-chair for the annual pow wow for the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies; completing a fellowship with the National Congress of American Indians; and teaching special education on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, South Dakota, through Teach for America. Lakota earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Social Work, focusing on economic security and social development, from Washington University in St. Louis.

11Lakota currently serves as board treasurer for Akiptan Inc. She is a member of the board of directors of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, chairs the board of Timber Lake Community Daycare, and is a member of the Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition. Her past affiliations include service on the Dakota Resources Board of Directors and on the Investment Committee for the Better Way Foundation.